Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) What is PLAR? Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) is a process that allows students to demonstrate relevant knowledge and skills acquired through life and work experiences and translates that learning into course credit. Each course outline has a section to indicate whether the course is PLAR eligible, and what evaluation criteria is required to successfully complete the PLAR process. Wherever possible, it is recommended that courses be PLAR eligible. Steps Identify the course requirements: What are the course learning outcomes? What does the student need to reliably demonstrate by the end of the course? What is a passing grade? Identify suitable evidence of prior learning: How will the student demonstrate the learning if they have a variety of jobs/lived experiences? How will the student provide suitable evidence of the skills, attitudes, and knowledge required? Create PLAR Challenge: Some common assessment types include assignments, exams, portfolios, practical skills, tests, interviews, and projects. Often faculty will ask for a combination of PLAR assessments to fully assess the CLOs and EESs. Important PLARs are challenges/assessments that capture specific learning outcomes to satisfy course requirements. They may be a portfolio, an interview, a presentation, a written or practical test or other, or a combination of different assessment types. A PLAR challenge is not simply asking the student to complete all the assessments that would take place in the course across the semester. Note If the course is PLAR eligible, ensure "yes" is selected for PLAR Eligibility at the bottom of the Governance section on the course outline in Coursedog. Indicate what assessment type(s) is/are required and attach the relevant assessment instructions (e.g. the exam that must be completed or assignment instructions). Please note that students cannot see the attachments or specific evaluation information when this information is added to Coursedog. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.