Collective Agreements

VIUFA AGREEMENT

Letter of Understanding

Prior Learning Assessment

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) assignments shall be provided on a voluntary basis as an addition to an individual faculty member's assigned workload.  A PLA assignment will be provided by agreement of the faculty member, Chair and Dean. 

An individual faculty member may accept PLA assignments for up to a maximum of ten (10) students  and not exceeding 30 credits in an academic year (e.g., ten (10) 3-credit PLA assignments = 30 PLA credits).  Acceptance of PLA assignments for more than ten students or totaling more than thirty (30) credits in an academic year requires the written approval of the VIUFA Chief Personnel Steward and the Vice President, Instruction. 

PLA assignments will be identified on the workload report and considered as part of the non-teaching responsibilities of VIUFA instructional faculty to be referenced in formal evaluations (Article 7.3.1).

The faculty member shall receive two-hundred and fifty dollars ($250) for each 3 credit PLA assignment.  One-half of this amount shall be paid to the faculty member on the first pay period following confirmation of registration and payment of PLA fees by the student being received in Human Resources and the remaining one-half shall be paid to the faculty member on the pay period occurring eight weeks after the registration and payment of PLA fees.  The faculty member will be compensated for the full amount whether or not the student completes the PLA  process.

Where a PLA is undertaken for a course with fewer or greater than three credits, actual payment for each PLA assignment will be pro-rated.  For example, faculty will receive $83.34 ($250/3) for each PLA assignment for one student in a one-credit course; $125.00 ($250/2) for a 1.5-credit course; $166.67 ($250 x 2/3) for a two-credit course; $333.34 ($250 x 4/3) for a four-credit course, etc.

For the purpose of this agreement, where the PLA solely involves the administration of a challenge examination for the course, reimbursement shall be as follows:

1. Pre-existing format (with minor revisions to existing assessment tool): $50.00
2. Customized format (exam designed specifically for individual assessment): $100.00

Should it be known in advance of a semester that PLA assignments in an instructional area will likely exceed 30 PLA credits, the appropriate Dean of Instruction may, at his/her discretion and with the mutual agreement of the faculty member and the departmental chair, provide release time in lieu of payment to a faculty member qualified to accept these assignments.  Such release time can occur only during the academic year in which the PLA workload is assigned.  Release time shall be awarded on the basis of 30 PLA credits being deemed equal to one-hour of instructional workload release or 90 PLA credits being equal to one section of workload release (i.e., 1/8 of a full-time workload). 

If PLA credits in an academic year are insufficient to warrant workload release, payment will be processed as noted above.

Three months prior to the expiry of this Letter of Agreement the Joint VIUFA-Management committee will review the implementation of this agreement, using data and input from the PLA Coordinator, Deans and the VIUFA.

The Letter of Agreement will be in effect for the period of August 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002 and may be extended by mutual agreement.

Signed: June 22, 2001