Respondus Exam Authoring Tool is used to create and publish exams directly from your computer to Blackboard. Exams are created offline in Microsoft Word or a text editor, then Respondus will ingest that text file, allow for editing (including equations, web links, and multimedia functions), and upload it directly to the desired course. This article covers how to set up Respondus to publish tests to a Blackboard course. Respondus Exam Authoring Tool may only be used with Windows. Mac users may reach out to inquire about similar alternatives.

Configure Respondus to Publish to Blackboard

In Respondus Exam Authoring tool, open or create a test, then follow these steps to configure the server to publish to your course in Blackboard.

1. In the test editor, open the Preview & Publish menu, then select The Publish to Blackboard wizard. This tool will guide the user through the steps of publishing an exam to the Blackboard server. 
2. Before an exam can be published for the first time, information must be entered about the Blackboard server -and- the user's Blackboard account.
   1. From the Blackboard Server list, select “Add New Server.” A window will open.
   2. You may use the default settings, or enter the following information in manually:
   3. Blackboard Server Address: https://blackboard.und.edu
   4. Default Server Port: 80
   5. Create a short description for this Blackboard server — it can anything you like, such as “My Blackboard courses”. We recommend including the semester or month/year, as you may need to add/update servers over time, and this will help you tell them apart.
   6. You are done entering server information. Respondus will remember it for future use, so you will not need to re-do this step after the initial setup (unless the server information changes).
3. Now you may enter your NDUS.identifier and password.
   1. For your username and password, the information should be the same as what is entered when using a web browser to access your Blackboard course.
   2. If you would like Respondus to remember the login information for future sessions, select the “Remember my User Name...” setting.
   3. Click OK to close the Server Settings window.
4. Before clicking Next, be sure you are connected to the Internet.
5. Click Next to continue. The Windows hour-glass will appear momentarily. If the connection is successful, the next page of the wizard will appear. If the connection is unsuccessful, an error message will indicate that Respondus was unable to connect to the server using the provided settings. You may need to re-do the process using either the default or the manual server settings — whichever you didn't try the first time.
6. After the server has been configured, you may follow the steps here to import exams into your Blackboard course.

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