Glossary
- Academic year
Consists of 2 semesters and is worth 60 credits
- Accreditation
An endorsement given to educational institutions or academic degree programs by an organization that reviews qualifications
- Alumni
Both male and female graduates
- Assessment
The total range of methods used to evaluate learners’ achievement of expected learning outcomes.
An assessment task could be a written or oral examination,
coursework, project work, the writing of a thesis, dissertation or similar
work, or other such forms of performance as may have been approved
in relation to a validated programme of higher education and training.- Accumulation
The process of collecting credits awarded for achieving the learning outcomes of educational components or other learning activities
- Allocation of Credit
The process of assigning a number of credits to qualifications/ programmes or to other educational components
- Assessment criteria
Descriptions of what the learner is expected to do, in order to demonstrate that a learning outcome has been achieved
- Award of Credit
The act of delivering learners the number of credits that are assigned to the component or a qualification. The award of credit recognises that learners’ learning outcomes have been assessed and that the learner satisfies the requirements for the educational component or the qualification
- Advancement
Advancement is defined as the progress of a student from one semester to another within a stage of a programme.
- Assessor
A person who assesses a learner.
- Authenticity
Authenticity is related to validity. Authentic assessment involves
using assessment tasks that resemble the kinds of professional tasks
that arise in the relevant community of practice. The assessment task
must appear authentic to the learner. Examples include the use of a
poster presentation or the writing of a short research article as part
of the assessment task for a final-year investigative project. These
are authentic because they are typical communication channels for
researchers.- Award
An award which is conferred, granted or given by an awarding
body and which records that a learner has acquired a standard of
knowledge, skill or competence.- Advancement
Advancement is defined as the progress of a student from one semester to another within a stage of a programme.
- ACCS
Accumulation of Credit by Certification of Subjects. An ACCS learner
is a person who is working (perhaps part-time) towards a qualification
by studying the component modules at his/her own pace.- Academic Council
A top-level deliberative committee with overall responsibility for
academic affairs.- Approved Programme Schedule
The approved programme schedule provides an overview of
Schedule: the programme. The details provided include: the name
of the programme, the name of award, the NFQ level of
programme and the total number of credits. For each stage of
the programme, the schedule lists the credit available for each
of the modules and the contribution to the grade of each of
the modules’ components. It also specifies the requirements for
learners to progress from one stage to another and to complete
the programme successfully. The approved programme schedule
is attached to the certificate of programme accreditation, and
is deemed to form part of the assessment regulations applying
to the programme. Without diminishing the importance of the
approved programme schedule, it is but a summary of some of
the information that should be in the programme assessment
strategy.
Any special assessment conditions (such as modules which cannot
be passed by compensation) must be included in the approved
programme schedule.- Assessment Criteria
Assessment criteria are the standards or tests by which a learner’s
performance in an assessment task is judged.- Assessment Grade
A label which quantifies the learner’s level of performance of an
assessment task. Communication of the grade to the learner may be
accompanied by qualitative feedback.- Authenticity
Authenticity is related to validity. Authentic assessment involves
using assessment tasks that resemble the kinds of professional tasks
that arise in the relevant community of practice. The assessment task
must appear authentic to the learner. Examples include the use of a
poster presentation or the writing of a short research article as part
of the assessment task for a final-year investigative project. These
are authentic because they are typical communication channels for
researchers.- Approved Programme
An Approved Programme is a Programme of Study, the successful completion of which leads to an Institute Award. The award is made when the required number of credits has been successfully accumulated, at appropriate levels, from approved modules. The programme outcomes, curriculum and credit requirements of a programme are formally outlined in a programme specification presented in a Programme Descriptor as required by the Institute and approved at a Programme Approval Process.
In relation to an approved programme, the provisions of the Programme
Descriptor are deemed to form part of the Regulations applying to the
programme.