Has anyone dine the LSBS PLA course?
Thank you for checking this out, that is extremely helpful! So far this looks like the only option that might work for my husband in terms of course timing.
We decided to go through Edpro. I have another question. Is there a rule for using 15 hours? For example, is it possible to join late or leave the class 1-2 hours early? How they are counting the absences?
Edpro is saying that counting the hours under her responsibility. Exceeding the limit will result in unsuccessful completion of the course and exclusion from the program.
Are they really serious in practice?
Thanks
Edpro classes count your presence through online session records. When you login and when you logout is recorded, but there may be some technical details to watch out such as proper way to login, etc. The instructor gives information about them at the beginning of the course. You can’t track your absenteeism, you have to ask the instructor to make a query for you to understand if you are near the critical zone. Because of this, if you have to miss a few hours, it is better to communicate to the instructor beforehand. I missed a few hours due to work related issues, others due to flights, etc. But nobody had a major trouble.
My humble advice is to attend and participate as much as possible, not using that 15 hours as a budget. because if a technical problem occurs with the records it may be difficult to correct afterwards especially if it happens towards the end.
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I agree with @Estu. I missed one whole Edpro class because I was on a plane and informed my teacher beforehand by email which she acknowledged. A few other students also missed whole days and let her know at the end of the class in person. I seem to remember her asking them to message both her and Edpro as well.
It is important to keep a clean and unambiguous record of your attendance because I believe this is the primary metric that will fail you if you miss more than the 15 hours and you do not want to get into that discussion with them.
Your participation and demonstration of progress in the class is required but 100% of students in my class got the certificate and the ability was, shall we say, very mixed by the end of it. But nobody demonstrably missed anything like 15 hours.
If you must miss either the start or end of a class then I would suggest you discuss with your teacher beforehand (at the end of a previous class) and send a written message clearly stating the date, times, and duration of your absence so there is an unambiguous record of the time you will miss. And don’t get close to the 15 hours because this would be a very irksome reason to fail the course and be denied the certificate after such a long haul.
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If you must miss 15 hours, you can pay for a much more expensive customized course like CipleMaster where they will reschedule classes for you personally. But that costs like 10x EdPro.
I’ve been asking NIALP questions about the class but not really getting a straight answer! I asked about the timing of the live class and told it was Mon, Weds or Fri depending on the teacher and there were live sessions in the morning, afternoon or evening. Also told you can’t change which session you attend. In your experience were you able to choose which day and time worked for you when you signed up for the course?
I chose Wednesday 9am Lisbon time for the 1 hour session. For the most part, we met at this time. We had 4 different instructors and sometimes the time and date changed to accommodate their schedule.
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Thank you for your detailed answer. One more question. Does the screen need to be kept on all the time? Is it mandatory to be proactive? Thanks
Yes you have to show your face and not do other things like working, etc. If you don’t show your face for a time, the instructor may take you out of the class session. This happened a few times in our class.
Also you need to participate in class exercises and quizzes.
Thank you for the information.
What is the fee? It’s not posted on website. Thank you.
This is great except I need to wait for the biometrics first so maybe in 1-2 years.
Thank you, this is super helpful.
Amazing. Thank you for the contribution.
Does anyone know when you sign up for the CIPLE exam, should you use your residency card number or your passport?
I think it has to be passport, Portuguese citizens can use a citizen card (as if any are taking CIPLE lol)
I used my U.S. Passport N°. However, I think I could have used my Título de Residência. The only reason I didn’t use the latter is because mine has an erroneous NIF printed on the back - AIMA error, and I didn’t want to engage in lengthy explanations regarding this issue.
I will let you know how it goes for me… 
Thanks for your answers. On that note, does the residency card number change upon renewal? If it does, maybe it’s better to use the passport.