Overview
As an IQA with the Internal Verifier role, you can view the learner's portfolio, review marking feedback provided to the learner from their Tutor and provide the Tutor with Quality Assurance feedback,
To carry out the "QA" (Quality Assurance) process, navigate to the 'Quality Assure' screen, which can be accessed via the Learning Plan view of a Learner's record or via the programme's component view.
The QA process
- Planning for QA
- Carrying out QA
- Tutors/Trainee tutors responding to Quality Assurance feedback
To carry out the QA, first you need to navigate to the learning plan activities that are ready for QA.
Notification on the performance dashboard
The Requires Attention section of your Performance Dashboard shows the various items requiring your attention. If there are components ready for QA, you will see a Ready for QA card in this section.
Navigate from the learner grid
You can view components that have been marked for Quality Assurance by filtering by the 'Ready for QA' quick filter.
When the learner is selected from this grid, their learning plan is displayed and is filtered to show learning plan components that have been planned for QA and are now displayed as 'Ready for QA'.
Click on the component that is ready for QA. The component details and the associated pieces of evidence are displayed in the panel to your right.
Click the evidence file link to view the attachment. Click Quality Assure to start the QA process.
Navigate via Programme's Component View
As an IQA, you can also start the QA process from within the programme's component view of the learning plan. This allows you to view the criteria for the programme component, see the associated evidence and follow the QA path from here.
You can start the QA process from the Unit level, or Outcome level, or Criteria level.
Unit level
You can select "Quality Assure All" at the Unit level. In this case, the "Quality Assure" marking screen is displayed, and all evidence for the unit is shown in the Quality Assure screen.
Outcome level
You can also select "Quality Assure All" at the Outcome level. In this case, the "Quality Assure" marking screen is displayed and all evidence for Outcome is shown in the marking screen.
Criteria level
When the sections are expanded, you can view the evidence linked to each criteria. In this view, you can select "Quality Assure" against an individual piece of evidence.
The Quality Assure marking screen is displayed only for evidence in a certain state. Note that if the evidence is in a status of 'QA Verified', the Quality Assure option will not be displayed.
Notes
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Where the user has Internal Verifier and Assessor roles, and they are the Case Owner for the learner being viewed, the 'Quality Assure' and 'Quality Assure All' buttons are not displayed. This applies to both the criteria level and unit level view.
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Where the user has Internal Verifier and Assessor roles, and they have marked the evidence for the learner being viewed, the 'Quality Assure' button is not displayed against this evidence.
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Where the user has Internal Verifier and Assessor roles, and they have marked the evidence for the learner being viewed, and the 'Quality Assure All' button is selected, then only the evidence that was not marked by the user is displayed on the 'Quality Assurance' screen.
The Quality Assure screen
On the Quality Assure screen, you can see pieces of evidence displayed on the panel on the left. The section on the right shows the evidence details.
Switching between the Mark Evidence and Quality Assure view
Where the Assessor and Internal Verifier roles have both been assigned, you can switch between 'Quality Assure' and 'Mark Evidence' view. But where the user is the component owner, or has marked one or more pieces of evidence within a component for the learner, then it is not possible for them to switch between the 'Mark Evidence' and 'Quality Assure' screens. Only the 'Mark Evidence' button will be shown in such a scenario.
As an IQA, you do not have the ability to edit the OTJ Hours/evidence type on the Quality Assurance screen. If you are an administrator with both the Assessor and Internal Verifier roles, then you can edit the OTJ Hours/evidence type for evidence that you have marked on the Mark Evidence screen.
Carrying out Quality Assurance
On the Quality Assure screen, select a piece of evidence from the panel on the left to start the quality assurance. The evidence, the mapped criteria and Tutor's feedback for that evidence is displayed.
Click on the evidence title to view/download it.
In the Criteria mapping section, you can view the mapped criteria, but you cannot amend the criteria mapping. You can use the search box to search for criteria by keyword. You can toggle the "Hide Accepted" control to hide criteria that have been accepted - this toggle is set to off by default. You can also view where the criteria has been covered in another component.
In the Tutor feedback to Learner section, you view the feedback that the Tutor provided to the learner for this piece of evidence.
In the Your QA Feedback to the Tutor section, you must provide feedback to the Tutor via the feedback box. In the Quality Assurance Outcome section, you must specify QA Verified or Referred.
If you have not started editing, you can move between pieces of evidence. Once you start editing, you must save your edits before moving to another piece of evidence, or else your edits will be lost. Aptem will warn you of this.
Providing QA Feedback and setting the QA Outcome
Scenario 1 - IQA carries out QA process and sets outcome to 'QA Verified'
Where the IQA agrees with the Tutor's feedback, they can add their comment in the "Your QA Feedback to the Tutor" section. This comment is also recorded in the 'Feedback History' section with a time/date stamp and name of the IQA.
The IQA then selects 'QA Verified' under the Quality Assurance Outcome section.
When the evidence status is updated to "QA Verified", the Tutor and Learner consoles display this status. The activity status is updated to "QA Verified". Note: Where further evidence is added or the activity is changed this status will reflect it's current state based on existing system logic.
A notification titled QA 'Accepted' Feedback is sent to the case owner (Tutor/Trainee tutor). The learner is not sent any message/notification.
Scenario 2 - IQA carries out QA process and sets outcome to 'Referred'
Where the IQA disagrees with the Tutor's feedback, they can add their comment in the "Your QA Feedback to the Tutor" section. This comment is also recorded in the 'Feedback History' section with a time/date stamp and name of the IQA.
The IQA then selects 'Referred' under the Quality Assurance Outcome section. The evidence status is updated to "QA Feedback Received". This status is displayed only in the Tutor console. The learner still sees the earlier 'Accepted'/'Referred' status for the evidence at this stage in the process.
The component Status is also updated to "QA Feedback Received".
A notification titled QA 'Referral' Feedback is sent to the Tutor/Trainee Tutor who marked the evidence. The learner is not sent any message/notification. the earlier 'Accepted'/'Referred' status for the evidence.
A "QA Feedback Received" card is now displayed on the 'Requires Attention' section of the tutor's performance dashboard and on Tutor's view of the learner's dashboard.
What happens after this?
The tutor will then respond to Quality Assurance feedback.
Set a component status as "QA Complete"
As an IQA with the Internal Verifier role, you can set a learning plan component to "QA Completed" to indicate that the component has been quality assured to the required amount and that no further QA is required.
When the component status is currently "Completed" or "QA Verified", you will see a "Mark as QA Completed" button on the "Quality Assure" screen.
Where there is evidence for the component with a "QA Feedback Received" status, this option will not be available.
Once you click the Mark as QA Completed button, the button label is updated to "QA Completed". It is possible to mark a component as 'QA Completed' without giving feedback, or selecting a 'Quality Assurance Outcome'.
The component status is now set to "QA Completed".
Notes
- When the component status is 'Completed' or 'QA Verified', then the 'Mark as QA Completed' button is available for selection, and the component status is updated to 'QA Completed'.
- When the component status is 'QA Completed', then the 'Mark as QA Completed' button is available for de-selection, and the component status is updated to 'Completed' or 'QA Verified'.
- When the component status is 'QA Feedback Received', then the 'Mark as QA Completed' button is not available for selection, and the component status cannot be updated to 'QA Completed'. The following message will be displayed: "There is outstanding feedback action required for this component".