Let me be the first to point out the obvious... there are no dumb questions!
PAL is the acronym for Possession and Acquisition License.
The government mandated/issued card that allows you to buy your gun goodies.
The course (which is not mandatory) is preparatory to the test (which is mandatory).
There are different types of PAL's, which determine which goodies our government will allow you to purchase/own. Some, are now grandfathered.
That's my condensed version... others may elaborate.