Glossary of Terms

Asynchronous learning
Learning that can happen anytime, anywhere; students do not all have to receive content simultaneously.

Blended course
A course that is deliberately designed for blended learning, with at least 25% of the learning activities scheduled for online methods and at least 25% scheduled for face-to-face methods.

Blended learning
Blended learning is any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; often used synonymously with Hybrid Learning.

Cloud computing
Computing services delivered from external service providers, even if the services are run by an associated organization at the institution. Cloud services technically are both multi-tenant and SaaS (automatically provisioned, available on an as-needed subscription).

cMOOC
Based on the connectivist theory (Siemens), a cMOOC is "a gathering of participants, of people willing to exchange knowledge and experience for each to build upon." In contrast with xMOOCs, the core of the course (content, activities, artifacts) is built thoughout the course by all participants, instead of delivered to learners as a highly-structured sequence. cMOOCs are generally more of a grassroots effort, using freely available online services such as blogs, wikis, and social media to connect all participants and enable conversations that lead to knowledge generation.

Competency-based education (CBE)
CBE is based on the broader concept of outcomes-based education (OBE), which starts with the desired outcomes and moves to the learning experiences that should lead students to those outcomes. OBE can be implemented in face-to-face, online, and hybrid models. In the narrower concept of CBE, the outcomes are more closely tied to job skills or employment needs, and the methods are typically self-paced.

Course management system (CMS)
(See Learning Management System.)
A CMS is organized around a course while, technically, an LMS should be organized around a learner. Most modern LMSs are actually CMSs.

Distance learning
General term for any type of educational activity in which the participants are at a distance from each other -- in other words, are separated in space.  They may or may not be separated in time (asynchronous vs. synchronous). Online learning is one form of distance learning.

e-Learning
Learning content or interaction that is facilitated electronically, such as delivery of digital content or use of threaded online discussion.

ePortfolio    
Curated digital representation of a person's work and skills, including work samples, digital badges, or testimonials. Many people use web 2.0 tools like blogs and social media to showcase their competencies, as the use of ePortfolios is becoming an industry standard in certain professions, such as computer sciences.

Educational technology (ed tech)
The theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning. Alternatively, the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing, appropriate technological processes and resources.

Flipped classroom
Courses that move the traditional lecture, or content dissemination, away from face-to-face hours and into online delivery outside of class time. The face-to-face class time is used for practice and actual application rather than for introducing the content being studied. The instructor then has time to help students face-to-face with specific problems.

Hybrid learning
(See Blended learning)

Instructional design
The practice of creating "instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing." The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. Ideally the process is informed by pedagogically (process of teaching) and andragogically (adult learning) tested theories of learning and may take place in student-only, teacher-led or community-based settings.

Learning management system (LMS)
Software that provides an integrated suite of online resources and communications capabilities in support of traditional courses and can also serve as a platform for fully online courses.  Many LMS implementations are integrated with Student Information Systems (SIS).

Learning platform
An integrated set of interactive online services that provide teachers, learners, parents and others involved in education with information, tools and resources to support and enhance educational delivery and management.

Learning spaces
Anywhere that students gather to learn. These can be in physical locations (e.g. classrooms) or virtual locations (e.g. LMS); can be formal learning spaces (e.g. classrooms or labs) or informal (e.g. library or coffee shops).

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
A MOOC is a model of educational delivery that is, to varying degrees, massive, with theoretically no limit to enrollment; open, allowing anyone to participate, usually at no cost; online, with learning activities typically taking place over the web; and a course, structured around a set of learning goals in a defined area of study. The range of MOOCs embody these principles in different ways, and the particulars of how MOOCs function continue to evolve.

Online course
A course that is deliberately designed for online learning, with at least 90% of the learning activities scheduled for online methods. The class would only meet in person at the beginning of the term or not at all.

Online service provider
Organizations (mostly for-profit companies, but with at least one non-profit variation) that help non-profit schools develop online programs. These providers, also known as online enablers, online program management  or school-as-a-service, provide various services for which non-profits institutions typically do not have the experience or culture to support. Some examples of the services include marketing & recruitment, enrollment management, curriculum development, online course design, student retention support, technology hosting, and student and faculty support.

Open educational resource (OER)

Content licensed in a manner that provides users with the right to make more kinds of uses than those normally permitted under the law, at no cost to the user. Of primary concern are  four rights:

1. Reuse: the content in its unaltered/verbatim form
2. Revise: adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself
3. Remix: combine the original or revised content with other content to create something new
4. Redistribute: share copies of the original, revisions, or remixes.

Repository
Structured online database of learning objects contributed by users. Repositories usually allow users to add metadata to the learning objects in order to make them more organized and findable though search mechanisms. Many open educational resources and open access journals depend on repositories for file storage and retrieval.

School-as-a-Service    
(See Online service provider)

Smart classroom
A traditional lecture style teaching space that has available technological equipment that can be used to aid and enhance instruction of a course. Typical equipment includes projectors, network hookup, dedicated computer, smart boards and audio-visual aids.

Synchronous learning
A real-time, instructor-led online learning event in which all participants are either in same location or 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.

Web-enhanced course
Any course tied to the traditional classroom, with no reduction in the number of class meetings, but involving some sort of computer usage, say as in a software simulation, or design software for art or engineering applications but still anchored to the normal time spent in classes would fall in this category. Also in instances where usage of internet technology is not used to supplant any classroom activity or time spent in the classroom, but rather augment it. Traditional courses and web-enhanced courses are very similar, indistinguishable in most cases, and therefore they appear in a single category. These traditional, web-enhanced courses are not normally considered to be e-learning courses.

xMOOC
The MOOCs arising out of the Stanford, Harvard and MIT models that have been popularized in national media. Coursera, Udacity and edX are the primary examples.These MOOCs are modeled on traditional course materials, learning theories and higher education teaching methods. For example, they usually are organized around lectures and quiz-type assessment methods. Also these courses typically use little distributed content that is available on the Web outside the platform. Most course content is prerecorded video lectures which are posted on the course home page.