Online Course Delivery: Terminology

Accessibility A characteristic of technology that enables people with disabilities to use it. For example, accessible Websites can be navigated by people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive impairments. Accessible design also benefits people with older or slower software and hardware. -- LearningCircuits

ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) Initiative by the U.S. Department of Defense to achieve interoperability across computer and Internet-based learning courseware through the development of a common technical framework, which contains content in the form of reuseable learning objects.-- LearningCircuits

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) A type of DSL that uses the majority of the bandwidth to transmit information to the user and a small part of the bandwidth to receive information from the user. -- LearningCircuits

Aggregator An aggregator or news aggregator is a type of software that retrieves syndicated web content that is supplied in the form of a web feed (RSS, Atom and other XML formats), and that are published by weblogs, podcasts, vlogs, and mainstream mass media websites. -- Wikipedia

AICC (viation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee): An international association of technology-based training professionals that develops training guidelines for the aviation industry. AICC has and is developing standards for interoperability of computer-based and computer-managed training products across multiple industries. -- LearningCircuits

Assessment The process used to systematically evaluate a learner's skill or knowledge level.-- LearningCircuits

Asynchronous Learning Learning in which interaction between instructors and students occurs intermittently with a time delay. Examples are self-paced courses taken via the Internet or CD-ROM, Q&A mentoring, online discussion groups, and email. -- LearningCircuits

Authoring Tool A software application used by non-programmers that uses a metaphor (book, flow chart) to create online courses. --Brandon-hall research

Blog A blog is a website in which journal entries are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are called "blog posts," "posts" or "entries". A person who posts these entries is called a "blogger". A blog comprises hypertext, images, and links (to other webpages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular "area of interest", such as Washington, D.C.'s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences. -- Wikipedia

Case study A scenario used to illustrate the application of a learning concept. May be either factual or hypothetical. -- LearningCircuits

CMS (content management system) A centralized software application or set of applications that facilitates and streamlines the process of designing, testing, approving, and posting e-learning content, usually on Webpages. -- LearningCircuits

Compliant (standards-compliant) E-learning that meets established standards of, and has received official approval from, an accrediting organization. -- LearningCircuits

IMS (Instructional Management System) Global Learning Consortium Coalition of government organizations dedicated to defining and distributing open architecture interoperability specifications for e-learning products. -- LearningCircuits

Interoperability The ability of hardware or software components to work together effectively. -- LearningCircuits

LMS (learning management system) Software that automates the administration of training. The LMS registers users, tracks courses in a catalog, records data from learners; and provides reports to management. An LMS is typically designed to handle courses by multiple publishers and providers. It usually doesn't include its own authoring capabilities; instead, it focuses on managing courses created by a variety of other sources. -- LearningCircuits

Online Community A meeting place on the Internet for people who share common interests and needs. Online communities can be open to all or be by membership only and may or may not be moderated. -- LearningCircuits

Open Source software 1) Generally, software for which the original program instructions, the source code, is made available so that users can access, modify, and redistribute it. The Linux operating system is an example of open source software. 2) Software that meets each of nine requirements listed by the non-profit Open Source Initiative in its Open Source Definition. -- LearningCircuits

Portal A Website that acts as a doorway to the Internet or a portion of the Internet, targeted towards one particular subject. -- LearningCircuits

RSS RSS acronym for Really Simple Syndication, a family of XML file formats for web syndication used by news websites and weblogs. -- Wikipedia

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) A set of specifications that, when applied to course content, produces small, reusable learning objects. A result of the Department of Defense's Advance Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, SCORM-compliant courseware elements can be easily merged with other compliant elements to produce a highly modular repository of training materials. -- LearningCircuits

Self-assessment The process by which the learner determines his or her personal level of knowledge and skills -- LearningCircuits

Self-paced learning An offering in which the learner determines the pace and timing of content delivery -- LearningCircuits

SQL Language for accessing information in a database and updating entries. -- LearningCircuits

Synchronous learning A real-time, instructor-led online learning event in which all participants are logged on at the same time and communicate directly with each other. In this virtual classroom setting, the instructor maintains control of the class, with the ability to "call on" participants. In most platforms, students and teachers can use a whiteboard to see work in progress and share knowledge. Interaction may also occur via audio- or videoconferencing, Internet telephony, or two-way live broadcasts. -- LearningCircuits

Wiki a type of website that allows users to easily add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative writing. -- Wikipedia