Adapted from the Technology
Glossary
Bob Jenkins, Trinity University
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| Asynchronous Learning | Any learning event where interaction is delayed over time. This allows learners to participate according to their schedule, and be geographically separate from the instructor. Could be in the form of a correspondence course or e-learning . Interaction can take use various technologies like threaded discussion. |
| Access time | Time from the start of one storage device access to the time when the next access can be started. Access time consists of latency (the overhead of getting to the right place on the device and preparing to access it) and transfer time. |
| Animated GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) | Graphic image on a Web page that moves - for example, a twirling icon or a banner with a hand that waves or letters that magically get larger. In particular, an animated GIF is a file in the Graphics Interchange Format specified as GIF89a that contains within the single file a set of images that are presented in a specified order. An animated GIF can loop endlessly (and it appears as though your document never finishes arriving) or it can present one or a few sequences and then stop the animation. Animated GIFs are frequently used in Web ad banners. |
| Asynchronous Learning Networks | Education and training modules or courses where students learn in self-paced online pedagogy in contrast to synchronized presentations in traditional classrooms or electronic classrooms. |
| Avatar | Interactive representation of a human in a virtual reality environment |
| Bandwidth | apacity (range) of transmission frequencies on a network as expressed in cycles per second (hertz) or bits per second that determines the amount of data, audio, and video that can flow over the network. The higher the frequency, the higher the bandwidth. |
| Baud | Unit of speed in data transmission, or the maximum speed at which data can be sent down a channel. Baud is often equivalent to bits per second |
| BBS | Bulletin Board Systems on the Internet that provide electronic bulletin board and conferencing services. |
| Bit | Contraction of binary digit, a bit is the smallest unit of information that a computer can hold. Eight bits is equivalent to a byte. The speed at which bits are transmitted or bit rate is usually expressed as bits per second or bps. |
| BMP | Bitmap graphics files that are accessible through Windows Paintbrush and most other PC graphics software. |
| bps | Bits per second. This is a measure of transfer speed that is commonly used in modems. |
| Broadband | Network transmission capacity that greatly exceeds capacity required for voice transmission over traditional telephone cables. Broadband networks may have dedicated portions for audio, video, and data or they may allow for capacity switching. |
| Browser | Type of software that allows you to navigate information databases examples are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer. |
| Byte | Number of bits used to represent a character. |
| Computer Based Training (CBT) | Training or instruction where a computer program provides motivation and feedback in place on a live instructor. CBT can be delivered via CD-ROM, LAN or Internet. Creation is done by teams of people including instructional designers, and often has high development costs. |
| Correspondence Course | A course completed from a distance using written correspondence for interaction and to submit assignments. Correspondence classes became popular in the 1890's. |
| Cache | Storage area in both RAM (cache memory) and disc drives (cache controllers) that keeps frequently accessed instructions more readily accessible. |
| CBT | Computer-Based Training in which the computer becomes a tutor for asynchronous learning that adjusts to each student's learning pace. |
| CD | Compact disc, an injection-molded optical disc containing digitized information that has been recorded with a laser device and must be read on a laser device. |
| CD-DVD | Digital Video (or Versatile) Disc combines the best features of CD-ROM size and data storage with capacity for video storage beyond that of videodiscs. DVD is so revolutionary that in the next decade it will probably replace VHS videotapes and CD-ROMs and videodiscs. |
| CD-R or CD-RW | depicts the recording (burning or transfer of files) to a CD, whereas CD "decoding depicts the reading of those files. |
| Chat Lines or Chat Rooms | Real time internet conversations (written or oral) that transpire in real (synchronous) time as opposed to conferencing (e.g., message board posting and topic classification. |
| Clipboard | A holding area that contains the most recently copied or cut text or image such that contents of the clipboard can be pasted one or more times into other parts of the document at hand or other documents. |
| Cookies | Applets that enable a web site to collect information about each user for later reference (as in finding cookies in the cookie jar). Web Browsers like Netscape Navigator set aside a small amount of space on the user's hard drive to record detected preferences. Cookies perform storage on the client side that might otherwise have to be stored in a generic-state or database server on the server side. Cookies can be used to collect information for consumer profile databases. Browsers can be set to refuse cookies. |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit that encompasses a computer's RAM, processing, and control circuitry, including the arithmetic-logic (ALU) unit. |
| Database | Computer file or system of data organized in records and fields for fast retrieval and ease of updating. |
| Device driver | Software that controls the communications between a computer program and various hardware devices such as the sound card, the video card, the CD-ROM player, the MIDI, disk drives, etc. |
| DOS | MS DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System introduced by Microsoft Corporation in 1981. |
| Driver | A memory resident program usually used to control a hardware device. |
| DSL | Digital Subscriber Line technology for transmitting data up to 50 times faster than present analog modem and ISDN alternatives. |
| Distance Education | The formal process of distance learning . This term has traditionally implied the higher education level. |
| Distance Learning | Learning where the instructor and the students are in physically separate locations. Can be either synchronous or asynchronous . Can include correspondence , video or satellite broadcasts, or e-Learning . Usually implies the higher education level. |
| Distance Training | A reference to distance learning for the corporate or professional levels. More commonly referred to as distributed learning , WBT or e-Learning . |
| Distributed Learning | Distance learning that makes use of information technology. Includes most types of distance learning but not plain correspondence (very similar to e-Learning ) |
| EDUCOM | Group of cooperating colleges and universities dedicated to advancing computer and network communications technology in education. EDUCOM coordinates newsletters and other publishing efforts along with conferences and related activities. |
| E-mail or email | Electronic mail transmitted between millions of users connected on networks worldwide. Messages are exchanged instantaneously, usually at zero marginal cost to users, thereby saving greatly on national or international telephone and express mail fees. Messages may be stored in computer files and processed at a user's convenience. |
| ERIC | Educational Resources Information Center documents database that contains a variety of resources to educators, especially teachers in K-12 schools. |
| Ethernet | A widely used interface data processing scheme for managing data transfers on network. An ethernet board (card) must be put into the computer for network connections. |
| e-Learning | Any learning that utilizes a network (LAN, WAN or Internet) for delivery, interaction, or facilitation. This would include distributed learning , distance learning (other than pure correspondence ), CBT delivered over a network, and WBT . Can be synchronous , asynchronous , instructor-led or computer-based or a combination. |
| e-Learner | Any learner taking part in an e-Learning course or program. |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions. A common feature on the Internet, FAQs are files of answers to commonly asked questions. |
| File attributes | Access rights attached to each file. |
| File server | A computer running a network operating system that enables other computers to access its files. |
| File transfer | The ability to transfer text, graphics, software, spreadsheets, audio files, and video files over vast distances on computer networks such as the Internet. |
| Firewall | Security measures designed to protect a networked system from unauthorized or unwelcome access. |
| Flash | The name of a software product from Macromedia that is intended for more efficient Internet delivery of graphics and other media. |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol used for downloading files on the Internet. |
| GIF | Graphic Interchange Format, a commonly used file compression format developed by CompuServe for transferring graphics files to and from online services. |
| Graphics | Computer images that contain pictures, drawings, and other forms of imagery other than text. Popular file extensions for graphics files are bmp, pcx, tif, and cgm. |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface, a software front-end meant to provide an attractive and easy to use interface between a computer user and application, |
| Hard drive | Hard disc file storage disc (usually a magnetic disc) on a computer that has higher storage capacity and faster access time (e.g., under 20 ms) than slower devices such as floppy disc drives and optical disc (e.g., CD-ROM) drives. |
| HTML | HyperText Markup Language, the language used to tag various parts of a Web document so browsing software will know how to display that document's links, text, graphics and attached media. The simple document-formatting language of the World Wide Web. Netscape and other vendors have begun using HTML as their standard for rich-text formatting across all Internet applications, such as e-mail and newsgroup messages. |
| HTTP | HyperText Transfer Protocol, HTTP is used to link and transfer hypertext documents. |
| Hyperlink | Interactive navigation to other parts of a document, other documents, and other WWW sites. |
| Hypertext | Pages of computer text that are authored in software allowing for non linear navigation based upon button controls, hotwords, or other controls that make sequencing of pages virtually irrelevant. Hypertext authoring packages typically differ from word processing packages that are intended primarily for preparing text for hard copy printing. Hypertext software may have options to print particular pages, but the intent is for computer use rather than printing. |
| Icon | Graphical representation of an object (file, directory, picture, text field, etc.) as a tiny symbol that can be arranged with other icons and clicked on using a mouse pointer. |
| Information highway | A world wide combination of fiber optic cable and satellite receivers in a future time when homes and offices around the world will be linked by highways of electronic information that can be traversed interactively both to and from a connected user. |
| Internet | An international grouping of computer networks. The Internet started as a relatively tiny United States Department of Defense (DOD) Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) project in 1969. It commenced with the networking of four computers. The Internet was not widely known between 1969 and 1991. Its popularity exploded when HTML, HTTP, and the World Wide Web made it much easier to use the Internet. |
| Internet 2 | The Internet 2 Consortium of more than 100 universities and other organizations collaborating to develop the next-generation Internet technology. In addition to bandwidth issues, the Consortium is dealing with such issues as audio and video integration, interactive distance learning, telemedicine, online research collaboration, and real-time simulation/modelling. The main web site is at http://www.internet2.edu/. |
| Instructor-led Training (ILT) | A learning event which is led by an instructor , and either held in a physical location or delivered via a network ( WBT , e-Learning ). Usually implies the professional or corporate level and synchronous learning. |
| Java | from Sun Microsystems that is designed for browser plug-in running of applications called "applets. |
| JavaScript | Web document scripting language introduced by Netscape. These are codes that allow users to go beyond what is possible in HTML coding of web documents. |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Expert Group standards for image compression that is an increasingly popular compressed graphics image file, the extension for which is usually jpg. |
| Kiosk | Multimedia display system such as those used in marketing displays at conferences and in stores. Kiosks are typically used for demonstrations and may be self-contained hardware units having computer, video, and audio capabilities. |
| KISS | Keep It Simple Stupid refers mainly to the authoring of electronic books and/or development of software in which success often depends upon keeping the learning and usage mindlessly simple. |
| LAN | Local Area Network that depicts any computer network technology that operates at high speed over short distances (up to a few thousand feet). |
| Links | Hypertext connections between Web pages. This is a synonym for hotlinks or hyperlinks. |
| Listserv | to join in on group messages. A message sent to the listserv is sent to every subscriber's mail box. A listserv is similar to an email "bulletin board. However, users of bulletin boards do not receive the messages in their mail boxes without first going to the bulletin board to view a listing of messages. |
| MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface audio standardized hardware parameters set under MPC standards for MIDI interfaces that connect electronic keyboards, synthesizers, and related devices to computers. |
| Modem | Device that converts digitized data into analog form for transmission over telephone wire. |
| Motherboard | ircuit board or "logic board inside the computer that contains the central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor support chips, RAM, and slots for adding expansion boards such as audio, scanner, SCSI, and video boards. |
| MUDs, MOOs, MUSes and MUSHes | Multi-User Dimensions or Multiple User Dungeon, or Multiple User Dialogue that use imagery to create artificial environments. There are serious social and education MUDs, and extensions such as Multi-user, Object-Oriented MOO applications that, along with MUDs, have become serious educational experiments and applications. |
| Multimedia | Ability to combine audio, visual, and possibly other types of hardware into a presentation. |
| Multitasking | Execution of programs simultaneously on a single computer. |
| Napster/Gnutella | Software for sharing files over the Internet. |
| Navigation | Navigation of a reader or user through learning and entertainment materials such as electronic books, courseware, and networks. |
| Networks | Linkages between computers allowing data and other digitized information to be transmitted between computers. Networks may be local, regional, national, or international. |
| OCR | Optical Character Recognition software and hardware used to interpret scanned symbols into characters of text or numbers recognized as something other than mere graphics images. |
| Operating system | The master control software system that serves as a foundation for applications software. Examples of past, present, and forthcoming operating systems include MS-DOS, Amiga DOS, Windows, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Chicago, Windows Cairo, OS/2, Workplace OS, Apple/Mac Systems 7 and 8, Taligent (Pink), PowerOpen, NEXTStep, Rhapsody, Unix, SCO, AIX, HP/UX, HP/MPE, SCO Open Desktop, Solaris, and UnixWARE (Novell). |
| Online Learning | e-Learning over the Internet (as opposed to a local or wide area network). |
| Online Training | Same as online learning , only it implies the professional or corporate level. |
| Password | Secret word used to identify a user. |
| PDA | Personal Digital Assistant pocket-sized devices for recording of typed or handwritten messages that can later be ported to computers. |
| PDF and PDA | Portable Document Assistant PostScript formatting technology that attempts to provide a viable way of exchanging documents across operating systems and different types of software. |
| Pentium | High speed processor that followed the 486 processors of Intel. |
| Pixel | he rectangular "dots that comprise the smallest units of screen color variations. |
| Portal | gather a variety of useful information resources into a single, Web page, |
| Protocol | Any formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to exchange those messages. |
| Rich-text format | A text formatting standard established by Microsoft Corporation to enable text to be transferred between a word processor and other software without losing all of its formatting properties. |
| ROM | Read-Only Memory whose files can be accessed, executed, and possibly copied. However, ROM files cannot be deleted or otherwise altered on the ROM device for example, a CD-ROM compact disc can be read only but not written upon by the user. |
| Scanner | Both hand-held and flatbed hardware and software for copying graphics images and text into computer files. |
| Shareware | Software that is available on public networks and BBSs. Users are asked to remit a small amount to the software developer, but it's on the honor system. |
| Simulation | Computer generated or enhanced emulation of real world happenings. |
| Synchronous Learning | Any learning event where interaction happens simultaneously in real-time. This requires that learners attend class at its scheduled time. Could be held in a traditional classroom, or delivered via distributed or e-Learning technologies. |
| Teleconference | A telephone communication in which more than two people are simultaneously connected so they can exchange verbal comments as if they were in the same room having a face-to-face conference. |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator, the addressing system used in the World Wide Web and other Internet resources. The URL contains information about the method of access, the server to be accessed and the path of any file to be accessed. |
| Video capture | Process of transforming a video (e.g., NTSC) image into a computer (digitized) image. |
| Videoconferencing | Remote communication in which two-way video images are transmitted with audio. |
| Virus | Hardware/software infection designed intentionally to corrupt a computer, computer files, and/or networks. |
| WAN | Wide Area Network of computers spanning hundreds or thousands of miles. |
| Web browsers | Interfaces to the World Wide Web that simplify locating web pages, downloading files, playing of audio, playing of video, etc. |
| Webcasting | Use of World Wide Web to broadcast information. |
| Web page | An HTML document that is accessible on the Web. |
| Webmaster | Person in charge of administrating a World Wide Web site |
| Wide area network | A network that encompasses a large geographical area. |
| World Wide Web | Hyperlinking system, also known as WWW or W3, that creates a point-and-click way of linking within documents, linking to other documents, and extremely popular searching of the Internet. |
| WYSIWYG | What You See Is What You Get. The term is used mainly for newer types of software that display on the screen exactly what will appear after being printed. |
| Web Based Training (WBT) | Training which is delivered over a network (LAN, WAN or Internet). Can be either Instructor-led or Computer Based . Very similar to e-Learning , but it implies that the learning is in the professional or corporate level. |
Page last updated May 8, 2006
Site authored by Jeff Getchell
