The amount of time it takes learners to forget what they have learned in training. The decay rate can be stopped or slowed by having them use their new skills upon their return to the job.

declarative knowledge

Knowledge referring to outside representations of the outside world.

deductive design

An instructional design where rules are presented followed by examples. The emphasis is on forming conclusions.

deficiency

Failure to meet a set performance standard.

delivery

Any method of transferring offerings to learners. Variants are instructor-led training, web-based distance learning, online laboratory, CD-ROM, and books.

demonstration-performance method

A learning experience in which students observe and then participate in a sequence of events designed to teach a procedure, a technique, or an operation, frequently combining oral explanation with the operation or handling of systems, equipment, or materials.

dependent learning objective

Skills and knowledge in one learning objective that are related to those in another learning objective. In order to master one of the learning objectives, it is first necessary to learn the other.

design phase

The second of the Instructional System Design phases. The learning objectives, tests, and the required skills and knowledge for a task are constructed and sequenced.

design review

A technique for evaluating a proposed design to ensure that:

• adequate resources are available to meet time deadlines
• it will work successfully
• it can be built within a reasonable cost
• it meets the organization's needs

Training people to acquire new horizons, technologies, or viewpoints. It enables leaders to guide their organizations onto new expectations by being proactive rather than reactive. It enables workers to create better products, faster services, and more competitive organizations. It is learning for growth of the individual, but not related to a specific present or future job.

development phase

The third of the Instructional System Design phases. The purpose of this phase is to develop and validate the instructional material (courseware).

didactic design

Instructional design in which the student is presented information and asked to respond to questions.

differential feedback

Test response feedback specific to the multiple choice answer selected by the student.

difficulty-importance-frequency model

One of several models available for use in selecting tasks for training. Using this model, tasks are identifies as critical based on the difficulty, importance, and frequency of job task performance.

discovery learning

Learning without a teacher; usually in a controlled (i.e. pre-designed) set-up, and under supervision.

discrimination

The ability to choose between two closely related responses to a specific stimulus.

distance learning

(1) The use of any media for self-study. (2) A telecommunications-based instructional system evolved from the open learning movement used to overcome geographical "place-based" learning. (3) In its most common historical form, this refers to a broadcast of a lecture to distant locations, usually through video presentations.

distributed learning

Students take courses from a variety of sources (and delivery modes) to customize a program of study. Often is used synonymously with online learning.

distracter

In testing, incorrect answers provided as choices in multiple choice or matching type test items.

drill

A standardized technique or procedure that prepares students to execute critical collective tasks in an instinctive and spontaneous manner. The drill includes the methods by which it is trained.

drill and practice

Ungraded verifications of comprehension of enabling objectives (e.g., questions, exercises, and problems). A method of instruction characterized by systematic repetition of concepts, examples, and practice problems. An ungraded practice quiz.

duty

A combination of related tasks equal a duty, and duties combine to form a job.

e-book

Offerings that organize text and graphics into on-line lessons or chapters like traditional print books.

education

Training people to do a different job. It is often given to people who have been identified as being promotable, being considered for a new job either lateral or upwards, or to increase their potential.

educational technology

A complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization, for analyzing problems, and devising, implementing, evaluating and managing solutions to those problems, involved in all aspects of human learning.

efficiency

A measure (as a percentage) of the actual output to the standard output expected. Efficiency measures how well someone is performing relative to expectations.

e-learning

The use of innovative technologies and learning models to transform the way individuals and organizations acquire new skills and access knowledge.

electronic performance support system (EPSS)

Applications designed to run simultaneously with other applications or embedded within other applications that provide support for the user in accomplishing specific tasks. An EPSS may provide needed information, present job aids, and deliver just-in-time, context-sensitive training on demand. A Web-based performance support system (WBPSS) is an EPSS which uses Web technology to deliver support in an enterprise environment.

elements

Components of a task or the smallest meaningful activity that describes what employees in an industry are expected to be able to do. Elements combine to form a task, tasks combine to form a duty, and duties combine to from a job. Elements depend on other elements and are always components of a procedure. Also, the sub-division of a unit of competence. The element encapsulates:

• Skills - the performance of relevant tasks.
• Management - the skills required to manage a group of tasks to achieve the overall job function.
• Contingency management skills - i.e. responding to breakdowns in routines and procedures.
• Job/role environment - i.e. responding to general aspects of the work role and environment, such as natural constraints and working relationships

A statement in behavioral terms of what is expected of the student in demonstrating mastery at the knowledge and skill level necessary for achievement of a Terminal Learning Objective (TLO) or another ELO.

epistemology

A branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge. The study of how we know what we know.

ergonomics

An approach to job design that focuses on the interactions between the person and the environmental elements such as the work station, light, sound, tools, etc.

evaluation

The process of gathering information in order to make good decisions. It is broader than testing, and includes both subjective (opinion) input and objective (fact) input. Evaluation can take many forms including memorization tests, portfolio assessment, and self-reflection. There are at least six major reasons for evaluating training, each requiring a different type of evaluation:

• Improve the instruction (formative evaluation)
• Promote individual growth and self-evaluation (evaluation by both trainer and learner)
• Assess the degree of demonstrated achievement (summative evaluation)
• Diagnose future learning needs (of both trainer and learner)
• Enhance one's sense of merit or worth (learner)
• Identify or clarify desired behaviors (trainer)

Donald Kirkpatrick identified the evaluation model most widely recognized today in corporate training organizations. The Kirkpatrick Model addresses the four fundamental behavior changes that occur as a result of training.

• Level one is how participants feel about training (reaction). This level is often measured with attitude questionnaires.
• Level two determines if people memorized the material (learning). This is often accomplished with pre-testing and post-testing.
• Level three answers the question, "Do people use the information on the job?" This level addresses transference of new skills to the jobs (behavior change). This is often accomplished by observation.

A test or other measuring device used to determine achievement (go and no-go) or the relative standing of an individual or group or a test objective (i.e., attitude, behavior, performance objective, and other attributes). Evaluation instruments include tests, rating forms, inventories, and standard interviews.

evaluation phase

The fifth of Instructional System Design phases. The purpose of this phase is determine the value or worth of the instructional program. This phase is actually conducted during and between all the other phases.

evolutionary approach

A method for developing training programs. It includes both deterministic and incremental systems, in contrast to the systems approach, which is entirely deterministic. This means that in an evolutionary approach, tentative or short term goals may be specified. This approach is particularly appropriate for situations where there is limited past experience from which to draw guidance.

experiential learning

A learning activity having a behavioral based hierarchy that allows the student to experience and practice job related tasks and functions during a training session.

extrapolation

A sub-level of the comprehension level of learning in which students develop sufficient understanding to estimate trends or predict outcomes based upon the subject matter under study.

face-to-face (F2F)

Students and teachers are in the same location at the same time.

facilitator

A person who makes it easier for learners to learn by attempting to discover what a learner is interested in knowing, and then determines the best way to make that information available to the learner by providing the knowledge, systems, or materials which enable the learner to perform a task more effectively. This is done by listening, asking questions, providing ideas, suggesting alternatives, and identifying possible resources.

fading

The technique of gradually removing the teaching information in programmed sequence to the point that the learner is required to perform the desired behavior without assistance.

feedback

Providing learners with information about the nature of an action and its result in relation to some criterion of acceptability. It provides the flow of information back to the learner so that actual performance can be compared with planned performance. Feedback can be positive, negative, or neutral. Feedback is almost always considered external while reinforcement can be external or intrinsic (i.e., generated by the individual).

formative assessment

The focus of discussion between trainer and learner, as a result of which both parties review their objectives or approach.

frame

Learning objects given to learners in order to achieve an answer. Their answer will determine the next frame to proceed to. Learners proceed through these "bits of data" until they have completed the required instruction.

front-end analysis

The "front end" phase of the ISD or SAT process in which the job is analyzed, tasks are selected for training, task performance measures are constructed, existing courses are reviewed, and the instructional setting tentatively determined.

functional grouping

Organizing instruction such that tasks that relate to the same procedures or equipment are presented together.