Setting up Certificates

This page describes how to set up KVS to generate certificates. You may also wish to consult the page on Generating Certificates.

A certificate is a document that contains a description of the capabilities that a student exhibits at the end of a course. The description of the student's capabilities is divided into an overall assessment plus three specific skills. The capabilities of the student can be ranked according to any number of levels.

For example, suppose we wish to implement ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) assessments for students taking language courses.. ALTE defines three skill areas and five levels of competence, and each level of each skill has a descriptive text. These can be viewed as a table, here taken from the ALTE web-site (http://www.alte.org) as of August 2002:

ALTE Levels	Listening/Speaking	Reading	Writing
Level 5	CAN advise on or talk about complex or sensitive issues, understanding colloquial references and dealing confidently with hostile questions.	CAN understand documents, correspondence and reports, including the finer points of complex texts.	CAN write letters on any subject and full notes of meetings or seminars with good expression and accuracy.
Level 4	CAN contribute effectively to meetings and seminars within own area of work or keep up a casual conversation with a good degree of fluency, coping with abstract expressions.	CAN read quickly enough to cope with an academic course, to read the media for information or to understand non-standard correspondence.	CAN prepare/draft professional correspondence, take reasonably accurate notes in meetings or write an essay which shows an ability to communicate.
Level 3	CAN follow or give a talk on a familiar topic or keep up a conversation on a fairly wide range of topics.	CAN scan texts for relevant information, and understand detailed instructions or advice.	CAN make notes while someone is talking or write a letter including non-standard requests.
Level 2	CAN express opinions on abstract/cultural matters in a limited way or offer advice within a known area, and understand instructions or public announcements.	CAN understand routine information and articles, and the general meaning of non-routine information within a familiar area.	CAN write letters or make notes on familiar or predictable matters.
Level 1	CAN express simple opinions or requirements in a familiar context.	CAN understand straightforward information within a known area, such as on products and signs and simple textbooks or reports on familiar matters.	CAN complete forms and write short simple letters or postcards related to personal information.

To implement the ALTE model in KVS, you would define the five levels, enter the corresponding course-level in KVS, and then define the texts for each level/skill combination. The result might look something like this:

Note that, in addition, KVS allows you to enter a description of the student's overall capabilities. You can also write descriptions in any of your correspondence languages, thus enabling KVS to generate certificates in multiple languages.

Creating a certificate template

Certificates are generating using Word templates. The base template name for certificates is "Certificate". Hence, the name of the English template would be "Certificate-English.dot".

In addition to the standard fields, KVS recognizes the following specific fields for certificates:

Setting up Certificates

Overview

Creating a certificate template

General information

Dates and Attendance

Student capabilities