PLA Glossary
Advisor: The specialist who is responsible for assisting the learner to develop an education plan and assist with answering questions about developing the portfolio.
Assessment: The process of reviewing, measuring, and evaluating evidence of the student's learning to determine whether credit should be awarded.
Assessment Criteria: Evidence is assessed against performance indicators for each learning outcome. Criteria includes three levels: exemplary, competent, and developing
Assessment Method: A way of providing evidence that learning matches learning outcomes.
Assessment Tools: Templates, instructions, guidelines, and recommendations, to guide the learner in the preparation of evidence.
Assessor/Faculty Assessor: The specialist who is responsible for assessing student learning. In most cases, the assessor is a faculty member who has specialized knowledge in the subject area. Occasionally, a second specialist (perhaps a member of a professional organization) is asked to review the learner's work
Challenge Exams: An examination which, upon successful completion, provides sufficient evidence to award specific course credit.
Course: A formal, organized learning experience, usually taught by an instructor from a prepared outline of content and learning outcomes.
Credit(s): The value assigned to a formal course. Most courses are worth 3 or 4 credits, which means the student is in class for three or four hours per week for fourteen or fifteen weeks. Students enrolled in credit courses are required to demonstrate their achievement; grades are usually assigned. Some institutions use the phrase "semester hours" or "hours of credit" instead of "credits".
Currentness: The extent to which learning is valid at the time of assessment or application. In some fields, such as computer technology, currentness is particularly important in determining whether or not to award credit for prior learning.
Equivalency: A course offered at one institution that is recognized for credit, or toward a program, at another institution.
Evidence: The documents that prove the student's claim of learning. Documentation can be direct (examples of a student's work, a self assessment, responses to an oral exam, published material, products developed) or indirect (letters of reference, certificates of achievement, a letter from an employer who has witnessed you demonstrating the skill(s) required as a learning outcome.).
Evaluation: The process used by the assessor to decide if the student's learning will be granted credit.
Formal Learning: Learning that has occurred through taking a structured credit course.
Learning Outcomes: Learning outcomes are characterised as clear expressions of knowledge, skills, and values that are expected at the end of a unit of learning.
Narrative/ Reflective Statements:
Non-formal Learning: Also known as prior learning, informal learning, and experiential learning. Generally refers to skills and knowledge acquired in situations other than formal study.
Oral questioning: Focused questions pertaining to the evidence provided by the learner
Performance Test: Examples include lab, role play, simulations, worksite, video tape
Portfolio: A file or folder of information that systematically documents an individual's learning experiences and accomplishments to support the credit request. It is developed by the learner to provide the assessor with evidence of learning that matches the course outcome. In the portfolio the learner includes a description of where this knowledge was acquired and a self-assessment of the skills and knowledge that he or she possesses.
Transfer Credit: The process of determining the comparability of two or more sets of learning or courses. Equivalencies are most frequently made for comparable courses, for comparable programs, and for comparable learning outcomes.
Validation Letter: A letter from a non-family member who is familiar with your achievements, including peers, customers, and community project leaders and the like. The letter includes:
- The author's name, address and phone number
- A statement about your skills and knowledge as they relate to the learning outcomes of the course or courses for which you are seeking credit through PLA.
- A description of what you currently are doing or have done in the past.
- The circumstances under which you performed your job, how long and when you performed the tasks in question and how well you performed.
- Particular examples of achievement.
Written Questioning: Focused questions pertaining to the evidence provided by the learner