Alpha Testing, Beta Testing, and Customized Testing

Abstract

Once some digital learning contents have been created and provisionally “finalized,” these are ready to be put through more formal review and revision. This chapter deals with development-based assessments, commonly termed “Alpha Testing, Beta Testing, and Customized Testing.” These include internal and external assessments. The typical work of the in-house alpha (α) test involves various elements, including legal requirements, ethical requirements, pedagogical design, accessibility, usability, informational accuracy, technological functionalities, device playability, language(s) clarity, metadata accuracy and completeness, research and usage monitoring, branding, and others. The work of the beta (β) test, which involves the bringing in of outside representative target users, involves testing for user interactivity, user experiential learning, user feedback for learning, social aspects in support of learning, and others. This chapter also addresses other types of customized tests that may be written for particular unique features of specific learning resources, based on their designs, versioning, and adaptations, and other aspects. After the testing, revisions are made to the learning resources albeit not usually a full redesign or retrofitting (based on expense). If anything, unless fundamental errors were made, the revisions and edits will be piecemeal and at the margins. Finally, there is a section on how to assess the practical efficacy of the respective alpha, beta, and customized tests.