Application Program Interface (API)

An Application Program Interface (API) is a language and message format built into an application that allows it to communicate with operating systems or other computer programs such as database management programs, ERP applications, etc. APIs provide a way for computer applications to speak to each other and work together, sharing data and functionalities.

Application Service Provider (ASP)

An Application Service Provider (ASP) is a company that offers access, over the Internet, to software applications that would otherwise need to be located on a client's own computer. Using ASP applications frees a company from the cost and effort of software installation and upgrades since the application resides on the ASP's servers

Asynchronous

Asynchronous e-learning happens when communication between people does not occur simultaneously. Some examples of asynchronous e-learning include taking a self-paced course, exchanging e-mail messages with a mentor, and posting messages to a discussion group.

Authoring Tool

A software application, used by non-programmers, that utilizes a metaphor (book, or flow chart) to create on-line courses.

Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC)

These standards apply to the development, delivery, and evaluation of training courses that are delivered via technology. The Aviation Industry CBT [Computer-Based Training] Committee (AICC) is an international association of technology-based training professionals that develops training guidelines for the aviation industry.

Collaborative Tools

Collaborative Tools allow learners to work with others via e-mail, threaded discussions, or chat. In some cases, collaboration is used on team-based projects. Collaborative tools can sometimes provide the ability to host moderated discussion groups where students and instructors can collaborate on course-related materials or assignments in an asynchronous environment. In addition, real-time synchronous chat allows learners to communicate with their peers and instructors, emulating a physical classroom setting.

Competency Management

Competency Management is used to identify skills, knowledge and performance within an organization. Such a system lets an organization spot gaps and introduce appropriate training, compensation and recruiting programs based on current or future needs.

Computer-based Training (CBT)

Computer-based training, typically delivered on CD.

Content Gathering

The process of gathering all of the content required to teach instruction. The designer will work closely with the Subject Matter Expert (defined in this Glossary) during this process.

Content Management System (CMS)

Content Management Systems (CMS) are used to store and subsequently find and retrieve large amounts of data. Content Management Systems work by indexing text, audio clips, images, etc., within a database. In addition, CMS often provide version control and check in/check out capabilities. Using robust built-in search capabilities, users can quickly find a piece of content from within a database by typing in keywords, the date the element was created, the name of the author, or other search criteria.

Content Management Systems are often used to create information portals for organizations and can serve as the foundation for the practice of knowledge management. They can also be used to organize documents and media assets. For example, a newspaper agency may use a content management system to provide an archive of every story ever written for the paper. Likewise, they might use the CMS to provide an extensive library of photographs that are reusable for future stories.

Distance Learning

Instruction provided by a human separated by place.

E-learning

Use of CBT or Internet technology for learning outside of the classroom.

Feedback

Information provided to learners about the correctness of their response (different from remediation).

Goal

A broad general statement of course or instruction intent (higher than an objective).

Instructional Analysis

Procedures to determine what type of skills or knowledge is required for a learner to achieve a goal.

Instructional Management Systems (IMS)

The Instructional Management Systems (IMS) is a set of technical specifications defining how learning materials will be exchanged over the Internet and how organizations and individual learners will use these materials. Developed through a partnership of academic, commercial and government organizations, the goal of these specifications is the adoption of a set of open standards for Internet-based education.

Instructional Strategy

Plan of activities (with or without an instructor) to teach content and sequence learning experience.

Instructor guide

A set of materials that provide direction, answers to tests, helpful hints, or any supplement information.

Instructor-led Training (ILT)

Instructor-led training. Provides instruction in a classroom or virtual classroom under the direction of an instructor or facilitator.

Instructor-led Training vs. Classroom Training

For a few years, most of us have referred to the traditional training that takes place in a classroom or workshop as Instructor-led training. However, with more and more collaboration, several organizations are providing an academic structure to their courses. They are now offering their tools in the corporate training space that are both on-line and instructor-led. Therefore, Serebra suggests that the industry should update the term to “classroom based” for traditional training that takes place in a classroom without the benefit of technology.

Job aid

Often generated in paper or electronic format, used to help a worker do his or her job (For example, a flow chart to follow when answering a customer service call).

Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation

Many years ago, Donald Kirkpatrick created four levels of evaluation for training. The first level answers the question: did the trainees like the training? The second level assesses whether they understood the material and could pass a test on it. The third level, usually involving a follow-up to the training six months down the road, examines whether the training changed the behavior of the trained. Level four evaluation tries to determine whether the training had a bottom-line impact on the company, i.e., did trainees sell more or waste less or somehow affect the financials of the company in a positive way as a result of the training.

Knowledge Management System

A Knowledge Management System is an application that collects, stores, and makes information available among individuals in an organization. This system's primary purpose is to capture a company's collective knowledge and then make it simple to retrieve and re-use. A knowledge management system can help companies to avoid reinventing the wheel. It can also enhance the exchange and dissemination of understandings within an enterprise and can increase the level of collaboration between employees.

Learning Content Management System (LCMS)

A learning content management system is an environment where developers can create, store, reuse, manage and deliver learning content from a central object repository, usually a database. LCMS generally work with content that is based on a learning object model. These systems usually have good search capabilities, allowing developers to find quickly the text or media needed to build training content.

Learning Content Management Systems often strive to achieve a separation of content, which is often tagged in XML, from presentation. This allows many LCMS to publish to a wide range of formats, platforms, or devices such as print or web, all from the same source material.

Learning Environment

A Learning Environment is software designed as an all-in-one solution that can facilitate online learning for an organization. It includes the functions of a learning management system for those courses within the learning environment, but it may not be able to track online courses that were not created within that particular learning environment.

A learning environment is characterized by an interface that allows students to register and take courses, staying within that environment for the duration of the course. The program will usually include some self-instructional portions, along with an academic model of a multi-week course. This model is often facilitated by an instructor, where a group can proceed on a week-to-week basis with seminar assignments. Most learning environments also include an authoring capability for creation of additional courses for the instructor.

Learning Management System (LMS)

A Learning Management System (LMS) is software that automates the administration of training events. All Learning Management Systems manage the log-in of registered users, manage course catalogs, record data from learners, and provide reports to management.

There used to be a distinction between Learning Management Systems and more powerful Integrated Learning Management Systems. That distinction has now disappeared. The term Learning Management System is now used to describe a wide range of applications that track student training and may or may not include functions such as:

• Authoring
• Classroom management
• Competency management
• Knowledge management
• Certification or compliance training
• Personalization
• Mentoring
• Chat
• Discussion boards

Learning Object (LO)

Learning objects (LO), also called Reusable Learning Objects, are not really a set technology, but rather a philosophy for how content can be created and deployed. Learning Objects refer to self-contained chunks of training content that can be assembled with other Learning Objects to create courses and curricula, much the same way a child's Lego blocks are assembled to create all types of structures. Learning Objects are designed to be used in multiple training contexts, aim to increase the flexibility of training, and make updating courses much easier to manage. Update a part of a learning object and the change should appear in any course using that Learning Object. The size of a Learning Object differs based on the instructional designer, from as small as a single page of content to as large as is required to contain an objective, presentation material, a practice section, and an assessment.

Media

Text, graphics, audio, video, or human element used to teach.

Modality

Delivery medium determined for the delivery of instruction. Ranges from ILT, CBT, WBT, and Distance Learning to paper-based, read-ahead packages, journals and peer modeling.

Module

An integrated theme of content; typically one component of a course or a curriculum.

Needs assessment

Formal process of identifying discrepancies between a learner's current performance vs. an organization's desired performance for that employee. Identify whether training is the solution. Pre-test and Post-test tests are given to learners prior to learning or post learning experience. Pre-test judges whether learners need to take training, or can “prescribe” what pieces of a course a learner must take. Post-test will provide remediation for reinforcement and sometimes reports back to management with scores.

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is an application program interface to access information from numerous different types of databases including Access, DB2, etc. Although Microsoft Windows was the first to provide an ODBC product, versions now exist for UNIX, Macintosh and other platforms, as well.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality Assurance (QA) is a widely used term to describe the techniques, processes, and workflows used to ensure that a company's products and services meet standards for excellence.

Remediation

Provides direction to students to review specific content in training program based on some performance criteria.

Request for Proposal (RFP)

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a document produced by a company seeking goods and/or services and distributed to prospective vendors. Vendors then provide proposals based on the criteria specified within the RFP. A request for proposal forces the company seeking goods or services to identify its business and technical requirements. It also forces the vendor to state in writing to what extent they can meet the company's requirements.

Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM)

The Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a set of specifications that, when applied to course content, produces small, reusable learning objects. A result of the Department of Defense's Advanced 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.

Skill Gap Analysis

A Skill Gap Analysis compares a person's skills to the skills required for the job to which they have been, or will be, assigned. The purpose is to identify clearly the skills employees need in order to succeed in their current or planned positions and to compare employee skills against those requirements. The result is an improved understanding of exactly which skills employees need to develop further. A simple Skill Gap Analysis consists of the list of skills required for a specific job along with a rating of the employee's level for each skill. Ratings below a certain predetermined level identify a skill gap.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Subject Matter Expert who is an expert in the domain of the course. Critical component in the success of task analysis and content gathering.

Summative evaluation

Used after an instructional program to determine worth of program and usefulness to learner.

Synchronous

Synchronous, or live e-learning, means that communication occurs at the same time between individuals and information is accessed instantly. Examples of synchronous e-learning include real-time chat, and video/audio conferencing.

Synchronous e-learning can provide instant feedback on a student's performance and allows the training to be adjusted immediately if needed. The disadvantages of synchronous e-learning are that the training is not self-paced and the logistics of scheduling, time zones, and student availability need to be managed.

System Requirements

System requirements focus on the technological conditions including the operating system, programming language, database, hardware configuration, bandwidth, processing power, etc., required to run a software application correctly. Business requirements focus on the needs of people; system requirements focus on the needs of machines.

Task analysis

The process by which an instructional designer (through observation, questionnaires, focus group sessions, or one-on-one Q&A with an SME) extrapolates the steps necessary to p