Accessibility: refers to requirements that technology must enable individuals with disabilities (sight, hearing, mobility, cognitive) to use it.

Adaptive learning: also called personalized learning. Refers to a teaching approach where the delivery of content and assessment are tailored to each learner’s abilities and needs.

ADDIE: acronym for the classic instructional development process: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation.

Affective learning: learning that results in changes to emotions, attitudes, appreciations, and values, such as enjoying, conserving, respecting, and supporting.

AGILE: development methodologies based on interactive development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams.

AI: artificial Intelligence; refers to "intelligent" machines that can see, hear, understand, learn, discover, and more.

Assessment: a question, exercise, test, quiz, or other evaluation of the learner's achievement in an e-learning application, or of the learner's level of skill and knowledge before or after training.

Asynchronous learning: instructional delivery online to learners who do not participate at the same time. Channels include email, discussion boards, self-paced courses. Media include Web, Internet, CD-ROM, DVD.

Authoring: similar to programming. Developers assemble media components using a tool (authoring system) to create an application.

Authoring tool: software used to create e-learning courseware. Sometimes called an authoring system.

Avatar: graphical representation of a user, script, program, or non-human system within a virtual world.

Bandwidth: the measure of the amount of information that can flow through an information channel. Usually expressed as bits per second (bps).

Beta Testing: usually the last step just before an e-Learning application is released. Selected users try out the course and document content errors, bugs, usability, level of engagement, etc.

Blended learning: training that combines multiple delivery methods. Usually involves combination of classroom-based training and self- paced e-learning.

Blog (weblog): short messages posted to a web site by an author. Personal use, also used for knowledge sharing and expert communication.

Branching: an instructional strategy that determines the order of presentation based on the learner's response to previous questions, problems, or situations.

Broadband: internet connection via a cable modem, DSL line, or other technology with speeds 1 Mb/s to 10 Mb/s. Needed for rich-media e-learning

Cloud (may be short for "cloud computing"): servers hosted on the Web and used for computation, data storage, and data management.

CMS (Content Management System): Software that manages the design, testing, approval, storage, retrieval, and display of e-learning content.

Cognitive learning: learning that results in changes to knowledge recall and the intellectual skills. Cognitive overload refers to providing learners with too many pieces of information or information that is too complex for them to process effectively.

Collaborative learning: learning through the exchange and sharing of information and opinions among a peer group.

Content curation: sifting out valuable content from a large amount (say, the Internet) and presenting it to learners in a meaningful way. It can also, in the “museum curator” sense, mean tending to a collection of content items to ensure that it stays relevant and current.

Digital credentials: certificates, badges, or other means of validating or measuring completion of e-learning; digital credentials are intended to be portable and easy to share online.

Distance learning: learning activities designed for use by learners who are not in the same location.

Distributed learning: learning involving a blend of online, face-to-face (f2f), and self-study methods.

E-course (also online course): a collection of digital elements (lessons, sections, modules, media, resources, evaluation) that provide internet training on a given subject.

E-learning (also online learning): the use of technology to deliver instructional content and mediate learning activities. May include electronic performance support and knowledge management features.

F2F "Face to Face": Refers to traditional instructor-led learning in the classroom, or to in-person coaching.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions): Usually a document or Web page containing questions commonly asked about a topic, and the associated answers.

Flipped classroom: exposing learners to information prior to and outside of the classroom so class time is used for activities or applying material they have learned.

Game: an interactive experience, where the interaction has been play-balanced to achieve optimal playability.

Gamification: applying elements of games, such as levels, awards and badges, or competition with co-workers, to e-learning content or placing that content into a gamelike framework.

HD (High Definition video): refers to video systems with higher resolution than Standard Definition (SD) video; display resolutions are 1280×720 pixels (720p) or 1920×1080 pixels (1080p).

ICT (Information and Communication Technologies): synonymous with IT (Information Technology).

ILS (Immersive Learning Simulation): an optimized blend of simulation, game element, and pedagogy that leads to the learner being motivated by, and immersed into, the purpose and goals of a learning interaction.

Incremental Design / Incremental Development: a development approach where small portions of the final product are produced and tested; each piece is completed before the next is developed. See Iterative Design.

Informal learning: learning that takes place spontaneously, without structure, hierarchy, aims, etc.

Instructional designer: generically, team member who applies learning theory to the organization and design of instructional programs.

Interactivity: a program or application feature that requires the learner to do something.

Iterative Design / Iterative Development: also called successive approximation or rapid prototyping. Creating and user-testing multiple prototypes of a product, and using the feedback to improve the next prototype. See Incremental Design.

L&D: acronym for Learning and Development.

Learning 2.0: e-learning design that relies on collaboration, informal learning, and blended learning. Should not be taken to mean that people learn any differently today than in times past.

Learning Analytics: data about learners' activities, performance, and progress in a learning environment; learning analytics data can be quantitative or qualitative.

Learning objective: a clear and measurable statement of the behaviour or performance that the learner must master in order to consider the desired learning has occurred.

Learning style: a theoretical and prescriptive description of an individual's unique approach to learning based on strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. This is a popular, yet controversial, concept, unsupported by research.

LMS (Learning Management System): manages the administration of training, usually includes functionality for course catalogues, launching courses, registering learners, tracking learners progress and assessments.

m-Learning (mobile learning): Delivery of training programs on wireless devices such as cell phones, PDAs, personal players (e.g., iPods) and sometimes includes laptops.

Metadata (data about other data): Metadata describes the content of an item or other information about the item.

Microlearning: short, informal learning experiences that learners consume individually, rather than in formal course frameworks; also: brief learning experiences that comprise a planned program with stated learning goals, e.g., breaking a long course into chunks.

MMORPG: acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.

Multimedia: integration of different media, including text, graphics, audio, video and animation, in one program or application.

Needs analysis/assessment: a formal process or procedure for identifying and prioritizing training needs, by analysing the gap between present outcomes and desired outcomes.

Podcast: digital media file or collection of files distributed over the internet, typically via RSS. Users view or listen to podcasts on computers or personal players (e.g., iPods)

Podcasting: the process of producing and distributing content via podcast.

Project management: the art and science of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. Also, the role of the person who manages a project.

Psychomotor learning: learning that results in changes to physical skills.

Responsive Design: responsively designed content detects the type of display in use, as well as the width, height, orientation, and resolution of a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen, and adjusts to fit that window.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication): method for distributing content, including media files, to subscribers over the Internet.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model): a collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning.

SD (Standard Definition video): video system with resolution that meets basic standards. Resolution of SD video is either 480i (US) or 576i or 576p (UK and Europe).

Social learning: learning that happens exclusively or primarily in a social group; in e-learning discussions, it refers to collaborative learning mediated through social software (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and similar Web 2.0 applications).

Social media: online technologies (internet and mobile-based tools) and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.

Spaced Learning: also called “spaced repetition,” this instructional approach alternates short, focused periods of learning with breaks. The breaks give the brain time to process information; repeating material in multiple sessions aids in creating a permanent memory.

Storyboard: noun for a design document (either paper or online), usually containing text and graphics, created to guide further production based on process. Verb for the process of creating this document.

Streaming: technique for downloading media (audio, video, or both) to a user's computer in a continuous stream and playing the media upon arrival.

Synchronous learning: event in which the instructor and learners are online simultaneously and interaction occurs in real-time. Examples: Chat sessions, webinars.

Template: predefined forms that establish the structure necessary to create content easily.

UI (User Interface): a UI is the space where interactions between humans and machines or systems take place.

User-Centered Design: an approach to e-learning design and development that involves actual users at every stage, with the goal of producing easy-to-use e;learning products that meet the needs of actual learners.

UX (User Experience): design addresses users' interaction with a product (such as e-learning). It includes design of navigation and actions a user takes to progress through a module; good UX design leaves users feeling engaged, not frustrated.

Virtual classroom: also referred to as a "virtual learning environment." An online learning environment where synchronous instruction or training takes place among geographically dispersed learners and instructors.

Virtual world: a simulation of a world that supports multiple players interacting, and typically emphasizes 2.5-D immersion (the appearance of 3-D immersion through a screen).

VLE (Virtual Learning Environment): system in which learners and tutors participate in on-line interactions of various kinds, including on-line learning. Sometimes synonymous with Learning Management System (LMS).

WBT (Web-Based Training): synonym for e-Learning or online learning.
Web 2.0: refers to Web applications supporting interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration. Refers to the way users interact with the Web, not to Web technical specifications.

Web Conference: synchronous meeting using web technology, which may include video, audio and application sharing.

Webinar: online seminar, conducted using Web conferencing software. Synchronous event, may sometimes be recorded for asynchronous access.

Whiteboard: an electronically enabled workspace, included in most Web conferencing applications. Users can add content and mark it up, so that it functions as a virtual dry-erase board.

Wiki: a wiki is a Web site on which all users may create, modify and organize content collaboratively, using only a browser (no other software required).

Glossary of Learning Solutions: www.learningsolutionsmag.com