Quality Assurance Checks

Today, I was pulling out older bug reports to share formats for QA of a new course. This had me reminiscing. QA is a vital process before final roll out. Why is QA important? It helps identify the bug and errors in the course. It also helps check consistency, content misses, errors introduced during development, animation sequence, audio flow, and so on. QA helps us check the course on the whole whereas ID reviews, edit review, and graphic reviews check each aspect individually. When the course is developed, we get to finally see it function. Now, it is not rare to have one or two bugs in the application. It is important to identify these before the learner takes the course.

How do we conduct QA? We use an xls format to document slide numbers, the issue, the type of issue and so on. We put the course itself under the microscope and dissect it to see whether things are in place. We try out all options available to ensure that the course is behaving the way it should. Areas to be addressed during QA are:

• Functionality
  
• Are all buttons on the interface working properly?
• Are all the screens linked logically?
• Are all the tabs and click to know text working as they should?
• Are the exercises functioning normally?
  
• Is the navigation free of bugs?
  
• Audio
• Is the VO in sync with the OST?
• Is the audio audible, crisp, clear?
• Has any part of the audio got chopped off during integration?
  
• Alignment
• Are all elements aligned to the grid?
  
• Are feedback boxes popping up in the right area?
  
• Are the text boxes popping up in the right area?
• Are the graphics positioned appropriately?
• Has the white space been used appropriately?
• Graphics
• Are the graphics clear?
  
• Are they in sync with what was visualized in the storyboard? (Though this should be ideally taken care of during graphic reviews)
  
• Do the graphics seem to belong to the same family?
• Are they adequately sized and positioned on the screen?
• Do they follow the color scheme?
  
• Consistency and standardization
  
• Is the instruction text standard across the screens?
• Are the feedback boxes standard across the exercises?
• Are the tabs and click to know text consistent across the course?
• Is the font (color and size) consistent across the course?
• Content accuracy
• Are there any content misses?
• Are the screens too text heavy?
• Are there any new errors introduced in the course?
• Are there any edit issues in the content?
  

From prior experience, I know how crucial his stage. I have witnessed how this round can check bugs and ensure an error free course before learner testing. If work is not systematic, errors will come up with every round of QA. This can be very frustrating. Ensure that you always conduct at least two rounds of QA to ensure that your course meets the quality standards.