top 12 e learning phrases to get started!

Top 12 Elearning Phrases to Get Started!Nine Lanterns appreciates that there is a lot of strange

lingo associated with eLearning.

Our ‘Top 12 eLearning Terms to Get Started’ aims to take

the mystery out of all the technical jargon and pesky

acronyms!

1. Authoring Tool An Authoring Tool is basically a tool that would enable anyone to develop eLearning

(probably after a small amount of training with the tool, although most are quite intuitive).

There are copious amounts of eLearning Authoring Tools on the market, the majority are

available for a license fee - you may have heard of popular ones such as Articulate,

Captivate or Lectora. Most companies are steering away from the use of Flash in favour of

using a HTML5 tool to enable courses to be used on a variety of devices.

Top 12 Elearning Phrases to Get Started

2. Bespoke eLearningBespoke eLearning is a course or series of modules, tools and/or assessments that have

been designed and written specifically for your organisation by an Instructional Designer,

more often than not with input from a Subject Matter Expert (this could be someone from

within, or outwith, your organisation).

Bespoke eLearning often has great results because the content and any assessments are

tailored for each organisation and is specifically relevant for the individual undertaking the

online training.


3. Blended Learning Blended Learning is a term used when learning comprises of several methods possibly

including eLearning, Face-to-Face training, podcasts, webinars, social learning etc. Quite

often one or more other forms of training will supplement an eLearning course to either

pre-empt an eLearning course, check the users understanding of the eLearning or simply

just as ongoing learning.

A popular framework of blended learning is the 70:20:10 Framework. Charles Jennings

founded the 70:20:10 Forum to extend the reach and use of the framework.


https://www.702010forum.com/about-702010-framework

4. Compliance Training ELearning can be written about pretty much any subject, however, many organisations use

it initially for their compliance training, the reason being that they can track it in their LMS

and maintain their audit trail i.e. they are able to show which employees did what training

and when, even the results of any assessments the employee undertook.

Compliance training generally covers topics such as Workplace Health and Safety, Bullying

and Harassment, Consumer Law, and Privacy, although there is a wide range on the market.

It is possible to purchase compliance training ‘off-the-shelf’ or have bespoke modules

made for your organisation.

If you do purchase courses off-the-shelf, it means the vendor will be responsible for

updating the course in line with any changes to legislation, meaning that your compliance

training will always be up-to-date.


5. ELearning The Oxford dictionary defines eLearning as: ‘Learning conducted via electronic media,

typically on the Internet’.

Elearning can therefore consist of the traditional online learning course/module, or can

take into account videos, webinars, podcasts, online document repositories, forums, polls,

surveys. These can be accessed and tracked via an LMS.


6. Gamification In short, ‘gamification is the use of gameplay mechanics for non-game applications’, i.e.

‘game mechanics are the construct of rules that encourage users to explore and learn the

properties of their possibility space through the use of feedback mechanisms’ [i].

Gamification and 3D graphics are generally the high end of eLearning and of course the

most costly due to the intense graphics work involved. However, for some organisations

they work very well.


7. Instructional Designer (I.D.)An Instructional Designer is probably the most integral part of eLearning development.

They are highly skilled writers, able to write an eLearning module around a set a learning

objectives, using information from a variety of sources, (including an SME), whilst

integrating appropriate interactivity to engage learners.

Whilst any Joe Blogs can write content, it is the Instructional Designer’s job to ensure that

the most relevant points are absorbed by the learner, in order to achieve a change in

behaviours.


8. Learning Management System (LMS)

‘A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration,

documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of e-learning education courses or training

programs’. Source: Wikipedia.

LMS systems can be fully-hosted (often in ‘the cloud’) or self-hosted and the theming can

usually be customised for your organisation should you so wish. Many LMS systems are

customisable for your business processes and can often be integrated with other HR

systems such as the payroll system. This means that

many of your manual activities, such as setting up learners with online training, can be

automated, relieving the administration burden.

Whilst not strictly necessary to be able to host eLearning, the majority of organisations do

use an LMS due to the tracking and reporting abilities of LMS systems.


9. Off-the-ShelfMany eLearning companies will offer a variety of courses that have been pre-built and

ready to be loaded onto your LMS. Alternatively, they may be able to host the courses for

you on an LMS they can provide.

Vendors will often charge a per-seat license fee which generally covers the cost of updating

the course – particularly with regards to compliance courses which need to stay up-to-date

with legislation.

With some off-the-shelf courses you will have the choice as to whether or not you take the

course ‘as is’ or customise it with your branding – you may even be able to change the

content so it is more in line with your organisations culture/policies and employees can

relate to it more.


10. SCORMSharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of standards and

specifications for web-based eLearning. It defines communications between client side

content and a host system (called "the run-time environment"), which is commonly

supported by a learning management system. SCORM also defines how content may be

packaged into a transferable ZIP file called "Package Interchange Format.“*

SCORM is the most widely used eLearning standard and any SCORM standard module can

be played in an LMS that is SCORM conformant (most are).

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharable_Content_Object_Reference_Model


11. Subject Matter Expert (SME)A Subject Matter Expert is a person either within, or outwith, your organisation who are

able to communicate to the Instructional Designers the raw information – i.e. the

information needed to be able to build an eLearning module. The Subject Matter Expert

should be on hand to review the course at various points throughout the course build.


12. Tin Can API Whilst SCORM has been ‘the’ eLearning standard for the past decade, we are now seeing

the introduction of Tin Can API compatible systems.

Tin Can API basically has the ability to record any learning experience, no matter when or

how it happens. See the table here to see the differences between SCORM and Tin Can. It’s

worth noting that SCORM content will still play in Tin Can API systems.


http://tincanapi.com/scorm-vs-the-tin-can-api/

THANK YOUTop 12 Elearning Phrases to Get Started

More information on Nine Lanterns:

http://www.ninelanterns.com.au/

@ninelanterns

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nine-lanterns

top 12 e learning phrases to get started!

Education

subject matter expert

learning management system

compliance training

instructional designer

elearning standard

authoring tool

lms systems

training