QTI
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The IMS Question and Test Interoperability Specification (QTI) defines an XML language for interchanging questions and assessments between different systems.
It consists of a data model that defines structures of questions, assessments and results from questions and assessments together with an XML binding that essentially defines a language for interchanging questions and other assessment material. The XML binding is widely used for exchanging questions between different authoring tools and by publishers. The assessment and results parts of the specification are less widely used.
[edit] Background
QTI was produced by the IMS Global Learning Consortium, which is an industry and academic consortium that develops specifications for interoperable learning technology. QTI was inspired by the need for interoperability in question design, and to avoid people losing or re-typing questions when technology changes. Developing and validating good questions is time consuming, and it's strongly desirable to be able to create them in a platform and technology neutral format.
QTI version 1.0 was materially based on a proprietary QML language defined by Questionmark, but the language has evolved over the years and can now describe almost any reasonable question that one might want to describe.
The most widely used version of QTI at the time of writing is version 1.2, which was finalized in 2002. This works well for exchanging simple question types, and is supported by most tools that allow you to create questions.
A version 2.0 was released in 2005 which improves QTI and also makes it more precise. However at the time of writing, it has yet to achieve critical mass and take off.
