What is QTI – and why does it matter?

A common language for questions

Behind every digital exam sits a bank of questions – often built up by teachers over many years. If each assessment system stores those questions in its own format, they are effectively locked in: moving to a new platform, or sharing questions with a colleague who uses a different system, means starting again. QTI exists to prevent that. It gives questions and tests a shared format that different systems can read and write.

The standard is maintained by 1EdTech, the global education technology consortium formerly known as IMS Global Learning Consortium, which is also behind the LTI standard for connecting learning tools.

How does it work?

The details vary between versions, but QTI usually involves the following:

• Questions described as structured data. Each question – an item, in QTI terms – is written in XML, describing the question text, the answer options, the correct answer and how it is scored.
• Tests built from items. Items can be grouped into sections and tests, with rules for order, selection and scoring.
• Packages for transfer. Questions, tests, images and other media are bundled into a single package with a manifest that lists its contents.
• Several versions in use. QTI 2.1 is the most widely supported version, alongside 2.2. QTI 3.0, finalised in 2022, adds closer alignment with modern web standards and stronger accessibility support – but it is not backward compatible with 2.x.

Why does QTI matter?

The main reason is protecting the institution’s investment. Question banks represent a great deal of academic work. A shared standard means that work is not tied to one supplier, and that changing platform does not mean losing it.

It also supports collaboration. Questions can be shared between departments, institutions and publishers, even when they use different systems. And it keeps institutions free to choose the tools that suit them best, rather than the ones their content happens to be stored in.

What QTI cannot do

“QTI compatible” does not guarantee a perfect transfer. Systems support different versions and different parts of the standard, and many add their own extensions. Simple question types such as multiple choice usually move well; advanced interactions, complex scoring rules, formatting and media are more likely to need attention after import.

QTI also moves content, not history. Student results, statistics and marking are generally handled separately. And a well-formatted question is not necessarily a good one – the standard says nothing about the quality of the assessment itself.

How does WISEflow approach it?

In WISEflow, QTI is one part of a wider approach to interoperability: an assessment platform should fit into the institution’s ecosystem, not force it to change. Our understanding goes a little further than the format alone:

• Bring content from where it already lives. Questions can be imported from QTI 2.1, from Inspera (QTI 2.2), and from Moodle, Canvas and Blackboard – as well as from Excel using a template.
• Content can leave as easily as it arrives. Questions in the content bank can be exported as QTI 2.1, so an institution’s questions are never locked into WISEflow.
• Straight into the content bank. Imported questions land in the WISEflow content bank, ready to preview, tag and reuse in new exams.
• Clear about what transfers. Common question types – multiple choice, multiple answer, true/false, short text and essay – are supported, and imported content should always be checked before use.
• Standards beyond QTI. WISEflow connects to learning platforms through LTI 1.3 and to other systems through an open, documented API.

What should institutions consider?

• Inventory: know where your questions live today, and in which formats and versions.
• Questions for suppliers: which QTI versions are supported for import and export, and which question types?
• Test first: run a sample migration before moving a full question bank.
• Quality check: plan time to review scoring, formatting and media after import.

QTI does not make every system the same. Used well, as part of a considered approach to interoperability, it keeps an institution’s questions – and its choices – in its own hands.