Glossary

Searchable glossary containing hundreds of definitions and descriptions of education terms, acronyms and abbreviations used by the LTS online service and in Scottish education.

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VAK	A learning styles’ model that gained prominence as a practical method for identifying styles by perceptual sense: Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic.
Validity (of assessment)	The extent to which an assessment activity actually measures what it set out to measure.
Values of the 3-18 curriculum	Explanation of the values of Curriculum for Excellence - wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity.
Victimisation	To treat someone less favourably because they have (or are suspected of having) made (or plan to make) a complaint of racial discrimination, or helped someone else do so.
Visual-spatial intelligence	The ability to perceive the visual. Such learners tend to think in pictures and need to create vivid mental images to retain information. Their skills include understanding charts and graphs, sketching, painting, creating visual images and constructing, fixing, and designing practical objects.
Visual learning	Learning by having information presented in the form of text, symbols, charts, diagrams and pictures. Visual learners enjoy: writing their own notes showing important words and ideas, making graphs and diagrams, making mind maps or spider diagrams to show the connections between things, learning from videos or TV programmes, reading books and magazines or looking at the internet, learning from pictures, diagrams, posters and wall charts.
Viva Pinata game	A simulation game developed by Rare Ltd, for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS video game consoles. Likened to The Sims, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, the game tasks the player with turning a neglected plot of land into a beautiful garden
Vlogging or Video Blogging	A form of blogging for which the medium is video.
VPN virtual private network	A Virtual Private Network is a way to provide intranet users with secure access to their network, even when their network shares resources with other networks.