What are the main differences between the Beta Test and Pilot Tests based on the Chapter 6 materials?
Please use your Working Project A to provide some examples.
The main differences between the Beta Test and Pilot Tests involve the feedback mechanisms and planned timing of each test. Beta tests allow ample time to practice the teaching in a controlled environment with example trainees or subject matter experts (SME) and focus teaching and feedback on areas of the module or training the designer is unsure about like activities (Piskurich, 2015). Pilot tests are performed sequentially, following a Beta test and differ in that they hold to the intended time frame and content sequence of the actual module while teaching to a representative size and type of audience. Another difference is that Beta tests allow flexibility of teaching content and design many feedback opportunities throughout in order to review job aids, technology guides, analyze pre/post activities, or review assessment goals while pilot tests aim to model the lesson as precisely as possible to test for accuracy in timing, activity delivery, participant engagement, and assessment mechanisms. The largest difference is that feedback opportunities are limited to post-evaluation methods and not scattered throughout the test to limit the amount of interruptions in the teaching plan. It’s important to use a Beta test for self-instructional and technology-based implementations to test if the content is aligned with the intended timing and if the technology works as expected (Piskurich, 2015). Pilots are also important to self-instructional training and lessons to ensure the user is able to navigate, learn, and perform as intended with the content.
Project A performed a beta test of the Academic Integrity and Writing Support Module as a managed walk through with a focus group of SMEs and the instructors with the original requests, thus the most buy-in and formative feedback. Allowing sufficient time to adapt the lesson based on formative feedback, the module will undergo a pilot test with an academic support program coordinator instructing an audience of 10 faculty who serve as the Center for Teaching Innovation Steering Committee. Based-on their feedback, this module will be launched to all 170 faculty across campus to be voluntarily imported into their course modules for Fall 2021.
Reference
Piskurich, G.M. (2015). Rapid instructional design: Learning ID fast and right (3rd ed.).Wiley.
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