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Maryland Faculty Online Glossary

This online glossary contains words and phrases that you are likely to encounter while using this site. Use the alphabet menu above to jump directly to that section.

 

A
asynchronous -- Occurring at different times; for example, discussion or electronic bulletin boards are said to be asynchronous forms of communication because users read and post messages at different times.

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B
bulletin board -- A system that enables users to send or read messages that are of general interest and addressed to no particular person.

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C
chat -- To participate in a synchronous exchange of remarks with one or more people over a computer network.

course platform -- Software specifically designed for online course delivery; most common online course platforms are Blackboard and WebCT.

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D
digital drop box -- A feature of an online delivery platform, such as Blackboard, which allows students to submit their assignments to the instructor in a digital form.

discussion board -- Also known as discussion forums, or bulletin boards, the discussion board is a feature that allows the instructor to post a discussion topic to which students can post their comments asynchronously.

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E
e-mail -- 1) A system for sending and receiving messages electronically over a computer network, as between personal computers. 2) A message or messages sent or received by such a system.

e-mail lists -- E-mail distribution method that allows one or more individuals to receive e-mail without having the message personally delivered to them. Listserv is a popular list distribution software that provides such as service.

emoticons -- A sideways face created by using special characters on the keyboard. Used to express emotions without words in online discussions. For example, this winking face ;-) indicates "I'm joking", this sad face :-( expressed sadness or "I'm sulking".

evaluation -- The systematic collection of evidence to determine whether in fact certain changes are taking place in the learners as well as to determine the amount or degree of change in individual students.

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F

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G
goal -- General broad statements of expectations of the instruction. Often these are "objectives" which do not have specific elements describing how to measure them. For example: The student will be able to diagram a sentence. This provides a vision or direction, but it does not include any element of evaluation (Bloom, Hastings, and Madaus).

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H

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I

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J

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K

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L

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M

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N
netiquette -- The rules of good manners in online communication.

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O
objective -- A statement that tells what learners should be able to do when they have completed a segment of instruction (Smith and Ragan). To be most useful the statement should reflect who the objective applies to (audience), the expected behavior (cognitive, affective or psychomotor), the context that this behavior will be exhibited within (condition), and the degree of accuracy that is expected or acceptable to meet this objective.

online whiteboard -- Whiteboard allows you to share a drawing palette during an online discussion; insert text and graphics; upload an image file from your computer; save an image file for future use.

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P
performance agreement -- Process where course content is compared to the course objectives to determine validity with the intent of retooling instruction where necessary.

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Q

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R

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S
select/single e-mail -- A feature of an online delivery platform, such as Blackboard, which allows the instructor to send email by selecting one or more of the names from the course roster listed under "communication."

student page -- A feature of an online delivery platform, such as Blackboard, which allows each student enrolled in the course to post personal information, a picture, and favorite external links.

synchronous -- Occurring or existing at the same time. An example of synchronous communication is the telephone, or virtual chat. Most common synchronous communication tools are Instant Messenger and ICQ.

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T
teleconference -- A conference held among people in different locations by means of telecommunications equipment, such as closed-circuit television.

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U
usenet groups -- A collection of discussion groups that exchange messages.

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V
videoconference -- A teleconference conducted via closed-circuit television.

virtual classroom -- A feature of an online delivery platform, such as Blackboard, which allows participants to chat, or communicate, synchronously.

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W

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X

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Y

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Z

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