Textbook Quality Assurance (QA) Volunteer Resources
What is a Textbook QA Volunteer?
Audrey Santos
Last Update vor 4 Monaten
Announcement: Starting on 12/20/2022, the Textbook QA role will temporarily be inactive. For current volunteers serving in this role, please close up any project you are currently working on before this date, as the project site will be temporarily removed. We encourage you to support the Literature QA role in the meantime. Thank you!
QA is the final step in the process of creating an audiobook. QA volunteers use the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution app (LAABS) to access audiobooks in our library so that they can test the student experience. As a QA volunteer, you should see yourself as the consumer of this audiobook, standing in for our students, so anything noticeable enough to distract you from the content should be noted.
Please Note: Most textbooks are in Classic Audio format, which differs significantly from VOICEtext audiobooks. In Classic Audio, only the digital table of contents is displayed in LAABS, and we assume the students have their physical textbooks in front of them so they can follow along while listening to the audio. Therefore, the review process for Classic Audio involves mostly listening.
To get started:
1. Please make sure you've submitted an application to volunteer with Learning Ally. If you've already submitted the application, please skip this step. How do you know if you've submitted an application? If you receive emails from us, you are likely already in our volunteer database.
2. Review the Textbook QA Getting started page, which walks you through the steps to begin the QA Process. All documents and links you need for Textbook QA are conveniently located in our volunteer portal. It includes the Assignments page, Textbook QA Guidelines, and the Textbook QA worksheet. Also, check out the Guide to Getting Started with the Audiobook App PDF. Please be sure to watch all training videos and review the guidelines sheet before starting a QA review.
For more details on Textbook QA please refer to the following article Textbook FAQ.
3. Join us on Twist: Twist is an app that serves as a group chat for our Audiobook Production Volunteers and volunteer team leads. Head to the Team QA (Quality Assurance Team Channel) and click the JOIN button at the lower right to enter. Once you're in, click on the Textbook QA Collective thread so you can meet additional volunteers and ask questions.