Glossary

Accessibility: Content that is relatively easy to access, use, or understand.

Accommodations: Changes made to learning content or systems to increase accessibility for diverse populations.

ADDIE: A framework for effective instructional design consisting of five stages: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.

Alt-grading: Alternative grading structures that diverge from traditional grading schemes.

ALT-text: Alternative text outlines information about visuals that provide non-visual insight into the subject. Often, it is helpful for screen reader software, search engines, and if the image fails to load.

Assessment-centred: A learning approach focusing on evaluating student performance and progress.

Asynchronous learning: A form of online learning where students can engage with learning content at personally directed times.

Attrition: A measure associated with students who leave or withdraw from a course or program before completion.

Authentic learning: Learning that embeds real-life situations into learning activities.

Autonomy: The capacity and freedom to act or learn independently.

Blended learning: A combination of live or in-person and online education aimed at providing a complimentary and cohesive educational experience.

Brave space pedagogy: A model that encourages participants to actively engage in potentially challenging communication in a respectful, safe, and productive manner.

Breakout rooms: A smaller meeting space within a larger digital one that affords smaller private discussions.

Calling in: A response to offensive or discriminatory content involving private engagement with the offending party to inform them of the impact of their words. The intent is to afford growth through awareness.

Calling out: A response to offensive or discriminatory remarks involving public criticism.

Civil discourse: A polite and respectful exchange of ideas or opinions between people with divergent perspectives.

Cognitive engagement: The level of psychological effort and involvement a learner can or should exert to complete a learning task.

Cognitive puzzlement: The psychological challenge or difficulty students can experience during problem-solving.

Collaborative learning: A learning approach involving groups or teams.

Community of Inquiry (CoI): A model that outlines co-constructed educational experiences in the context of social, cognitive, and teaching presence.

Consolidation exercises: Learning activities that help to reinforce essential concepts.

Constructive feedback: Insight that focuses on improving student learning and performance progressively.

Creative Commons (CC): An organization that provides a form of open copyright licensing for the involved parties (e.g., writers and publishers) that afford different permissions for content use, reuse, and distribution.

Critical inquiry: A process of questioning and analyzing commonly espoused insight to gain a deeper understanding of a topic.

Critical reflection: An iterative process involving active, careful, and persistent consideration of our existing assumptions, thoughts, and methodologies.

Crucial conversations: A model that provides guidelines for safe, respectful, and productive processes during high-stakes conversations where opinions differ and heightened emotion.

Decolonization: The process of recognizing and removing colonization’s cultural and social effects from an institution or domain.

Deep learning: An active process of acquiring and applying knowledge that results in a comprehensive understanding of a topic that allows for adaptive responses to various problem complexities.

Design thinking: A problem-solving methodology that emphasizes a dynamic process of collaboration, brainstorming, and prototyping insights and solutions to complex problems.

Digital literacy: The ability to use digital technologies to locate, review, communicate, and sometimes create information through various digital platforms.

Digital tools: Applications, platforms, programs, and software that enhance the quality of learning and make tasks more accessible or more efficient to complete.

Distance learning: Educational interactions that are uninhibited by geography and often conducted online or through mail correspondence.

Educator: An individual responsible for planning, developing, implementing, and facilitating or supporting learning experiences.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI): A conceptual framework that endeavours to support learning experiences that aren’t inhibited by sociocultural barriers.

Extrinsic motivation: The influence of external factors—such as rewards or recognition—on the desire to complete or engage in a task.

Feedforward: The process of providing positive future-focused insight following a learning activity.

Flipped classroom: A classroom approach where students learn new material outside of class through videos or other materials and then engage in activities and discussions in the class.

Formative feedback: Insight that supports students while learning, leading to modifications and improvements before a learning activity concludes.

Fully Online Learning Community Model (FOLC): A collaborative learning framework focusing on cognitive and social presence in a digital environment.

Hybrid learning: A combination of in-person and online education.

Hyperflex: A classroom approach that pairs hybrid and flexible. Students can choose whether to attend classes in person or online.

Ill-structured problems: Real-life scenarios that do not follow a clear set of rules and often have multiple solutions.

Intrinsic motivation: The influence of internal factors—such as personal interest or satisfaction—on the desire to complete or engage in a task.

K-12: Kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Knowledge-centred: A learning approach emphasizing knowledge acquisition through critical thinking rather than the rehearsal of provided information.

Learner-centred: A learning approach focusing on the individual learner’s interests, needs, and strengths. Students are also responsible for determining the learning pace.

Learning environments: Spaces or contexts where learning takes place.

Learning management system (LMS): A software application serving as a hub for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of educational courses and development programs.

Learning objectives: Concise statements from an instructor, program, or governing body regarding the intended knowledge or skills that a student can acquire throughout a course.

Learning outcomes: The observable knowledge or skills students acquire following learning activities such as a program, course, unit, project, or assessment.

Ludic pedagogy: A pedagogical model embedding fun, play, playfulness, and positivity in the learning process.

Maker approach: A pedagogical approach combining DIY culture and technology as a form of active learning.

Multimodal learning: An educational strategy that scaffolds multiple materials streams such as audio, interactive media, text, and video.

Open Educational Resources (OER): Resources for teaching and learning shared openly in the public domain with licencing permissions, including retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute.

Pedagogical panic: A sense of anxiety teachers experience when experiencing disruption to planned learning flow.

Peer feedback: Formative insight provided by peers during the course of learning.

Privacy considerations: Measures that ensure the appropriate disclosure and sharing of personal data and information.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL): A pedagogical focusing on learning through real-life scenarios.

Punitive education: A form of teaching and learning focusing on negative consequences in response to undesired actions or behaviours.

Rubric: A set of criteria or guidelines to direct and assess student performance.

Scope creep: A phenomenon where a project constantly grows as new items or features are added after the start. Often the creep is attributed to improper planning.

Screen reader: A digital technology that reads text aloud.

Self-efficacy: A personal belief in one’s ability to accomplish tasks and achieve goals.

Storyboard: A planning tool presenting insights sequentially, often including text and visual imagery.

Summative evaluation: A review of learning at the end of a specific period.

Surface learning: Superficial insight into a given subject or topic.

Synchronous learning: A form of online learning where online learning participants are online at the same time.

Tacit knowledge: Implicit—or underlying—insight based on experience and intuition, making it challenging to express or codify.

Tag: An label applied to an element for easier identification and referencing.

Twenty-First-Century Skills: Competencies or skills critical for success in the modern world. Commonly, the skills include creativity, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

Underrepresented learners: Students traditionally underserved by the educational system, typically referring to those with lower income, diverse ethnic backgrounds, and disabilities.

Virtual space: An online or digital space where people can interact and communicate.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): A set of guidelines outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to support web content accessibility for diverse populations.