Table of Contents

Prepare a course for Alpha review

Jason Carroll Updated by Jason Carroll

Overview

The alpha review process is an important step in the design and development of an eCornell STEM course. It offers the design team a chance to get course content in front of real users who work through the content and check the integrity of the coursework, noting any errors, bugs, glitches, typos, or challenges they might run into. This article describes the steps required to prepare a course for the alpha test.

The primary audience for this article is ITG instructional technologists or anyone who is required to prepare a course for technical review.

For more information on the alpha review process, please visit the Alpha Review Process article.

As each course moves through development to the Alpha testing phase, the ID and the Technical Lead (ITG resource) coordinate with Course Operations to ensure that the Alpha sections of the course are:

  • Cloned from the latest course version (Dev, QA or -- in rare cases -- Master) into a separate instance on Canvas.
  • Linked technical components (e.g., Codio exercises) are copied/cloned properly;
  • The Alpha section is correctly linked to the course’s BugHerd instance.
  • The students and facilitator are enrolled in the Alpha section. 
All of the above steps are required. Course Ops will work in Canvas to clone from the latest course version. The Instructional Technologist should not attempt to create the section.

What happens in the development process, prior to Alpha Review course preparation?

  1. IDs make a copy of the Alpha Template and name it appropriately for the program this Alpha is for (i.e. CIS570s - Alpha Review Plan)

ex. Alpha Review Plan

  1. IDs place the copy of the template in the google drive folder structure for that program, and share it with the relevant Program Facilitation Manager, Lori Hoyt (Course Ops), and Jason Carroll (ITG).
  2. IDs complete the copy with the relevant dates and details, as they are defined

How to prepare the Alpha course for review

Course Ops creates Alpha section

  1. Lori Hoyt (Course Ops) contacts ITG a couple days in advance to confirm that the DEV course will be ready for the targeted alpha test start date listed in the associated Alpha Review Plan document. The Instructional Technologist contacts the ID to confirm the start date and then reports back to Lori.
  2. Course Ops creates a new section (ex. "MAE134 ALPHA") then informs ITG.

Connect Alpha Section to BugHerd Project

In the Wrike task 1. Prepare/Conduct Alpha the assigned ITG member is tasked to connect the Alpha section of the course to the BugHerd project.

  1. Navigate to the BugHerd project.
  2. Click the menu button in the upper left corner of the project interface (double arrow icon).
  3. Click Project Settings -> edit project
  4. Click Add another URL and paste in the URL from the alpha version of the Canvas course.
  5. Click Save

Adjust Swimlanes

Adjust the swimlanes to reflect the specific alpha review needs for a particular course. As stated earlier in the article, it is recommended to add an Alpha column to the BugHerd project.

Visit BugHerd Admin Usage Processes for more detailed information on swimlane setup.

Alpha test swimlane example

Add testers & facilitators

Add testers and facilitators as needed. Work with the ID to determine who should be Members vs. Guests; for some Alpha reviews, many of the testers can be Guests, but in other cases we will want them to be full Members so they can be assigned bugs, view the Task Board so as to participate more easily in review meetings, etc.

Codio: Setting Up the Alpha Class Fork

NOTE: This step is REQUIRED for any courses employing Codio activity units! For more information about the Codio LTI course copy features, click this link to the Codio documentation.
The Alpha class fork will be based on whatever project phase in Codio matches the Canvas course the clone was made from: Dev/QA if the Canvas course is in Dev or QA, but Master if the Canvas course is already in Master/-M.

Follow this process whenever a course with Codio units is ready to move from technical review to Alpha review.

  1. In Codio, navigate to the Codio unit for the associated course. (The title typically ends with "Dev/QA Source".)
    1. In the left navigation menu, click Courses, then use the search field to locate the course.
  2. Inside the LTI/LMS area under the Admin section of the left nav of the Dev/QA Source course in Codio, Toggle “ENABLE LTI COURSE COPY” to ON if not already enabled, but don't click “SAVE” yet.
  1. Copy the identifiers from the LTI toggle in Codio.
  2. In a separate browser window or tab, open the Settings of the newly-created Alpha course in Canvas -- then, paste the identifiers from the Codio Dev/QA or Master course into the Codio App Config in the ALPHA Canvas course, then press “Submit”.
    1. See the recorded GIF below to navigate to the Codio App Config in Canvas Settings.
    2. “LTI constant URLs enabled”: codio_course_target_id  (OR verify that the current value is the same as the value in Codio) AND “LTI course copy enabled”: codio_parent_course_id should both match between Codio's Admin Settings AND the Canvas Codio App Config screen. Click SAVE at the bottom of the config window to save your changes.
  3. Fill in the SIS ID field with he course code + '_ALPHA'
IMPORTANT: The SIS ID code will *not* appear populated, since it is not auto-populated when a course is manually copied in Canvas, and Course Ops will not fill it in. The course will not properly fork if this step is missed.
  1. Open any unit in the course in Canvas and the Codio course will fork.
    This may sound like magic, but now that you have copied the SIS ID, Codio just needs any exercise to be opened for it to generate the new fork instance.
  2. For thoroughness, replace the existing LTI parameters in the Alpha Canvas course with the ones from the newly created Alpha Codio course.

How did we do?

Alpha Review Process

Schedule & Conduct Alpha Triage Meeting

Contact