Largely influenced by the tech industry, education has changed quite a bit over the years to keep up. Just like any other tech industry, there’s a flurry of buzzwords to keep up with, too. 

Maybe you’re putting together a presentation on data culture, or maybe you’re a parent trying to navigate this space without bombarding your kids with a million questions. Either way, we’ve got you covered.

You’ll find our ever-growing list of terms below. 

1:1 Technology: Here’s the 101 on 1:1 technology. In education, this term signals there’s a device for each student.  

Adaptive Learning: Adaptive learning software adjusts to a learner’s interactions and performance level, creating a personalized learning environment on a student-by-student basis. 

Asynchronous Learning: This student-centered learning method uses online resources to facilitate learning while giving students autonomy and schedule flexibility.

Blended Learning: This is a hybrid method of in-school learning and online content delivery.   

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): You guessed it – no electronic devices are provided in a scenario like this. 

Community of Practice (CoP): This is a space where enthusiasts in a subject gather face-to-face or online to learn from one another. 

Content Filtering: Looking for ways to limit access to specific websites? Content filtering software or hardware is used to keep students from digitally wandering off where they shouldn’t be.

Course Management System (CMS): Need software that allows you to house, deliver and track your materials? Look no further than CMS.

Data Culture: When someone says they’re aiming to create a rich data culture in classrooms, they’re referring to the strategic use of technology in conjunction with their teaching methods based on data and evidence-based research.

Differentiated Instruction: Content, process, products, and learning environments are taken into consideration on an individual basis to help increase the amount of information retained. Can sometimes be referred to as differentiated or personalized learning.

Digital Badge: Gamers are no strangers to earning badges for their accomplishments, and the same idea is being applied in online educational spaces. 

Digital Citizenship: The idea of digital citizenship in EdTech is to teach students from a young age how to use technology effectively, responsibly, and safely. In order to maintain digital citizenship, students must practice appropriate and responsible behavior online. Specific software can be installed on shared devices to monitor user behavior for disrespectful engagement or, you know, illegal activity.

Digital Collaborative Workspace: Just as it sounds, a digital collaborative workspace is a virtual space that facilitates – you guessed it – collaboration. Think Zoom, Slack, and so on. 

Digital Divide: The lack of access to digital resources, technology, or tech literacy all fall under the digital divide umbrella. This can be due to low income or geographical restrictions. 

Digital Learning: Basically any instructional practice that utilizes technology to strengthen a student’s learning experience falls into this category of learning. 

Digital Literacy: You can gauge someone’s digital literacy by their ability to use technology, navigate digital platforms, and how well they can understand and use information presented digitally.

Digital Storytelling: Think of all the times you’ve had to gather information for a presentation and then assemble a PowerPoint as a way to share that information – that’s digital storytelling.

Digital-use Divide: While the digital divide refers to barriers to digital access, the digital-use divide takes a harder look at the impact of digital literacy. Basically, it’s the divide of students who change the way they learn when implementing digital learning, and those who simply use it as a means to complete activities.

Distance Education: This method of learning relies heavily on technology to complete assignments and communicate with their teachers from a distance. 

Document Management: These tools make it easy to digitally store, share, and organize various documents. 

Early Warning Systems: By identifying students with a higher potential of dropping out through data analysis (academic performance, behavior, etc.), these systems help educators make decisions for timely intervention.

E-Books: Some of you may be old enough to remember the days teachers would slap their books down on the projector. Nowadays, kids access completely digital reading materials on just about any device.

eLearning: This style of learning is often used in conjunction with classroom learning. Think of online assignment submissions or quizzes. 

Electronic Classroom: Not to be confused with distance learning, these are simply classrooms that are well-equipped with multimedia devices. 

Flexible Instructional Time: Remember having “free” periods on your class schedule? Instructors can host something similar in digital collaborative workspaces. The idea here is to give students dedicated time to chat with their instructors for assistance, use the time to conduct research, or work on their assignments freely.

Flipped Classroom: Okay, imagine this, your class time is actually used to work on assignments with the teacher while time at home is spent reviewing instructional materials. This way, you’re putting the home in homework.

Game-based Learning: This method takes a game framework and applies it to educational activities; These can be anything from memory games and crossword puzzles to interactive simulations. The idea here is to trigger motivation in a fun, dynamic way. 

Gamification: In EdTech, gamification can be as simple as awarding digital badges for participation in the discussion forum or creating a digital leaderboard and point systems to increase participation and motivation. See also: Digital Badge.

Instructional Technology: Instructional tech is the theory and practice of using technology in education. Anything from interactive whiteboards (see below) to virtual reality classrooms falls into this category.

Interactive Whiteboard: Long gone are the days of touching icky chalk dust or playing a game of duck-duck-goose with dried-up markers. Interactive whiteboards are here. These bad boys make it easy to save, share and collaborate on educational content in the classroom.

Learning Management System (LMS): Much like CMS (see above), LMS software is used to manage and store content. But unlike CMS, LMS was designed to host, manage and deliver e-learning materials specifically.

Learning Platform: There isn’t much mystery to this one – these are platforms that house a ton of educational content. Think Skillshare, Udemy, and so on. 

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Anyone and everyone with an internet connection and the technology to access MOOCs can take them. These courses are totally free and cover a variety of topics, and are not intended to be changed or redistributed.

Open Educational Resources (OER): Similar to MOOCs, OERs are freely accessible pieces of educational content. The difference? OERs are just bits of free material, not organized courses, and you’ve got free rein to remix and redistribute those bad boys.

Online Lab: These virtual labs offer the perfect space to participate in lab-based learning exercises without nearly as many overhead costs or the limitations of a physical lab. 

Personally Identifiable Information (PII): Yet another term without much mystery – PII includes both directly and indirectly linked details that could be used to identify someone. Anything from a home address to a birthdate should be kept secure for student safety.

Remote Learning: Similar to distance education, students rely on technology to stay connected with their teachers and continue their education outside of a traditional classroom. 

Small Private Online Course (SPOC): Think MOOCs, but small and, well, private. Enrollment is limited and is often offered by universities, employers, or individual learners. SPOCs also offer a mix of live or pre-recorded lectures, interactive peer-to-peer exercises, and other engaging digital elements.

Social-Emotional Learning: As education continues to evolve into an increasingly more digital-dependent environment, finding ways to implement courses that develop self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills is incredibly beneficial.

Synchronous Online Learning: With synchronous online learning, students are receiving the same instruction at the same time online using the same synchronous tool (see below).

Synchronous Tools: Webinars, video conferencing – basically, any digital tool that allows users to share information and communicate simultaneously is a synchronous tool.

Universal Design of Learning (UDL): The UDL framework is all very scientific. Taking insights on how people learn, educators can reduce barriers in instruction, provide appropriate support, adjust the level of challenges, and maintain appropriate achievement expectations for all students.

Usable Design: Usability engineers gauge usable design by three factors: learnability, consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness. In short, they’re looking to see if users can complete a set of tasks in a specific environment and can remember how to do so when they return to the program.

Virtual Classroom: Similar to synchronous online learning, a virtual classroom relies on synchronous tools to connect students and instructors in real-time, much like they would in an in-person classroom. 

Virtual Learning Environment: These systems mimic in-person education. Digitally-based solutions are built into the system to help instructors manage the admin side of their job, while also offering students an interactive platform for exams, assignments, etc.

Visualization Tools: Systems that support the visual representation of an idea – charts, graphs, etc. – are visualization tools.

You did it.

This concludes today’s lesson.

Takeaways:

* Video games aren’t the worst way to spend your time.

* Education doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all approach.

* We’re all lifelong learners when it comes to technology.

Oh, what’s that? We missed one? We’d love for you to shoot us a note. We’ll get it added.