The capacity to perform an act, either innate or as the result of learning and practice.

ability grouping

Arrangement whereby students are assigned to groups on the basis of aptitude testing.

accelerated learning

Combining adult learning theory and whole brain learning theory in the learning environment to achieve a faster learning rate.

accuracy

The degree of freedom from error or the degree of conformity to a standard.

achievement

A measurement of what a person knows or can do after training.

action learning

This is a continuous process of learning and reflection with the intention of getting something done. Learning is centered around the need to find a solution to a real problem. Most action learning programs take from four to nine months to complete. Learning is voluntary and learner driven, while individual development is as important as finding the solution to the problem. Reg Ravens, the originator of "action learning" basis this learning method on a theory called "System Beta." The whole idea is that the learning process should closely approximate the "scientific method." The real model is cyclical (you proceed through the steps and when you reach the last step (6) you relate the analysis to the original hypothesis and if need be, start the process again. The six steps are:

1. Formulate Hypothesis (an idea or concept)
2. Design Experiment (consider ways of testing truth or validity of idea or concept)
3. Apply in Practice (put into effect, test of validity or truth)
4. Observe Results (collect and process data on outcomes of test)
5. Analyze Results (make sense of data)
6. Compare Analysis (relate analysis to original hypothesis)

action verb

A word that conveys action/behaviors and reflects the type of performance that is to occur (i.e., place, cut, drive, open, hold). Action verbs reflect behaviors that are measurable, observable, verifiable, and reliable.

active learning

A process of learning new ideas, skills and attitudes through what we do at work or in other behavioral situations. It is about learning from doing, performing, and taking action. The action can be either mental (e.g. reflection) or physical (e.g. case study). It uses such devices as games, simulations, introspection, role playing, etc.

action maze

A case study which has been programmed. Learners receive enough information to take them to their first decision point. The decision then takes them to the next frame, which explains the consequence of their decision. This process is continued until the maze has been completed.

activity step

The step of learner activity based on the enabling objective. In achieving the activity the learner is carried through the teaching points and the teaching steps.

actuals

Information about the current skills, knowledge, perspectives and environment of individuals in an organization. Specifics about what people now do.

adaptive branching (adjustive device)

Any of several techniques used in scheduling to accommodate individual differences. It may permit the student to bypass material they already know or may provide them with additional instruction as needed.

adjunct program

A type of instructional device that applies programming principles to existing course materials, texts, manuals, etc. Learners are directed to specific areas within these materials that support course objectives; then directed to respond and given confirmation until they have progressed through the material and have accomplished predetermined objectives.

affective domain

A classification of objectives that focus on the development of attitudes, beliefs, and values. Affective learning is about gaining new perceptions (e.g., self-confidence, responsibility, respect, dependability, and personal relations).

• Receiving: Aware of, passively attending to certain stimuli.
• Responding: Complies to given expectations by reacting to stimuli.
• Valuing: Displays behavior consistent with single belief or attitude in situations where not forced to obey.
• Organizing: Committed to a set of values as displayed by behavior.
• Characterizing: Total behavior consistent with internalized values.

A cognitive process in which an example or schema is used to map a new solution for a similar problem.

analysis phase

First of the Instructional System Design phases (ADDIE). The purpose of this phase is to determine what the job holder must know or do on the job and to determine training needs. Also see front-end analysis

andragogy

From the Greek words "anere", for adult and "agogus", the art and science of helping students learn. Widely used by adult educators to describe the theory of adult learning. The term offers an alternative to pedagogy. The andragogic model asks that five issues be considered and addressed in formal learning:

• Letting learners know why something is important to learn - The need to know.
• Showing learners how to direct themselves through information - The need to be self directing.
• Relating the topic to the learner's experiences - Greater volume and quality of experience.
• People will not learn until ready and motivated to learn - Readiness to learn.
• A need to have a life centered, task centered, or problem centered orientation - Often this requires helping them overcome inhibitions, behaviors, and beliefs about learning.

The ability of an individual to acquire a new skill or show the potential for acquiring a skill when given the opportunity and proper training.

asynchronous learning

Any learning event that is delivered after the original live event. Also used to indicate a learning event where the interaction is delayed over time, such as a correspondence course.

assessment

Essentially a measurement process of the learning that has either taken place or can take place. Usually measured against stated learning outcomes:

• Predictive assessment attempts to measure what the learner might achieve given suitable training.<
• Attainment assessment attempts to measure what the learner knows or can do, and is usually related to the syllabus of a course the learner has followed.

A persisting feeling or emotion of a person that influences choice of action and response to stimulus. Defined as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, situation). They encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions and beliefs and are based upon our experiences. Training that produces tangible results starts by changing behavior...which ultimately changes attitudes. Training often uses the term attitude to identify the psychological term "affective domain."

authoring

A structured approach to developing all elements of a unit of instruction.

authoring tool

Software application used to produce media-based learning content

bandwidth

Information carrying capacity of a communication channel.

baseline

1) Valid and reliable information about the intended learner population used to ascertain differences between learners' performances before and after instruction. 2) A set of measurements (metrics) that seek to establish the current starting level of a performance. These measurements are usually established before implementing improvement activities.

behavior

Any activity (either covert or overt) the learner will be expected to exhibit after training. The activity should be observable and measurable. It is the primary component of an objective.

behaviorism

Belief that learning results in a change in the learner's behavior. The focus of behaviorists is on the outputs of the learning process. The study of learning only through the examination and analysis of objectively observable and quantifiable behavioral events, in contrast with subjective mental states.

block of instruction

A group of related instructional units or modules covering a major subject area.

brain dominance

An individual's preference for using one's cognitive abilities. There are two styles of thinking - right brain (intuitive, spontaneous, qualitative) and left brain (factual, analytical and quantitative).

branching

An instructional technique, usually in the form of programmed text, in which the learner's next step of instruction is determined by her response to a previous step. Two or more directions in a program path can go from a decision point.

Bricks and mortar schools

A traditional school or class building. A Brick and Click school would be a combination of a traditional and online school (as in clicking a mouse).

broadcast

Method of transferring learning content to many learners simultaneously.

bypassing

In programmed instruction, a technique that permits a student to skip certain portions of the material because of prior knowledge.

case study

A printed description of a problem situation that contains enough detail to enable the learners to recommend a solution. The learners encounter a real-life situation under the guidance of an instructor or computer in order to achieve an instructional objective. Control of the discussion comes through by the amount of the detail provided.

causes

What gets in the way of individual and organizational performance. There are normally four kinds of causes: absence of skills and knowledge or information, weak motivation, improper environment, and flawed incentives.

certification

Program and process where a learner completes prescribed training and passes an assessment with a minimum acceptable score. To increase validity and assure authentication, the certification process should be proctored by an independent agent.

chaining

An instructional technique that transforms a learned response into a stimulus for the next desired response.

c-learning

Classroom learning or conventional learning as compared to e-learning (electronic).

clustering

A process of organizing many tasks into groups for the purpose of deciding upon the optimal instructional setting mix for that group of tasks. Also pertains to sequencing groups of objectives within a course of instruction.

coach

A person who instructs, demonstrates, directs, and prompts learners. Generally concerned with methods rather than concepts. There are four coaching roles/styles:

• hands-on - acting as an instructor for inexperienced learners
• hands-off - developing high performance in experienced learners
• supporter - helping learners use a flexible learning package
• qualifier - helping a learner develop a specific requirement for a competence-based or professional qualification

From the Latin cogito; "I think". The mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning. Cognitive also refers to attempts to identify a perspective or theory in contrast to emphasizing observable behavior.

cognitive domain

Involves mental processes. The Taxonomy of categories arranged in ascending order of difficulty are:

• Knowledge: Recognition and recall of information.
• Comprehension: Interprets, translates or summarizes given information.
• Application: Uses information in a situation different from original learning context.
• Analysis: Separates wholes into parts until relationships are clear.
• Synthesis: Combines elements to form new entity from the original one.
• Evaluation: Involves acts of decision making based on criteria or rationale.

The intentional and purposeful processing of lesson content. Engagement, in effect, requires strategies that promote manipulation rather than memorization, as the means through which learners acquire both lesson knowledge and deeper conceptual insight. Engagement can be elevated through a variety of activities such as inducing cognitive dissonance, posing argumentative questions requiring the development of a supportable position, and causing learners to generate a prediction and rationale during a lesson.

cognitivists

Believe that learning occurs when learners are able to add new concepts and ideas to their cognitive structure by recognizing a relationship between something they already know and what they are learning. The focus of cognitivists is on the inputs of the learning process. Cognitive theorists emphasize internal processes and knowledge representations which are impossible to observe directly, but which are inferred.

collaborative learning

A more radical departure from "cooperative learning". It involves learners working together in small groups to develop their own answer through interaction and reaching consensus, not necessarily a known answer. Monitoring the groups or correcting "wrong" impressions is not the role of the trainer since there is no authority on what the answer should be. 

collective task

A task that requires more than one individual to complete with each individual performing a discreet part of the collective task.

common learning objective

A learning objective written for a task element (supporting skill or knowledge) that is common to two or more tasks.

competency

(1) Areas of personal capability that enable people to perform successfully in their jobs by completing task effectively. A competency can be knowledge, attitudes, skills, values, or personal values. Competency can be acquired through talent, experience, or training. (2) Competency comprises the specification of knowledge and skill and the application of that knowledge and skill to the standard of performance required in employment.

competency-based instruction

Instruction that is organized around a set of learning objectives based upon the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a set of skills called competencies. Evaluation of student success is based on competent performance of the skills. Normative measurement is specifically excluded from competency-based instruction.

compilation

A learning process in which learners embed declarative knowledge in highly domain specific rules or productions.

computer-assisted instruction (CAI)

The use of computers to aid in the delivery of instruction in which the system allows for remediation based on answers but not for a change in the underlying program structure.

computer-based training (CBT)

Interactive instructional experience between a computer and a learner in which the computer provides the majority of the stimulus and the learner responds, resulting in progress toward increased skills or knowledge. Has a more complicated branching program of mediation and answering than CAI. Now an all-encompassing term used to describe any computer-delivered training including CD-ROM and the World Wide Web. Some people still use the term CBT to refer only to old-time text-only training.

concept

A mental picture of a group of things that have common characteristics. A generalization is a person's idea of the relationships between two or more concepts. Concepts represent a group of solid objects, such as an airplane or book; or abstract ideas, such as leadership and honesty. A concept is an idea about a group of things. A concept involves thinking about what it is that makes those things belong to that one group.

concept map (learning map)

The arrangement of major concepts from a text or lecture into a visual arrangement. Lines are drawn between associated concepts, and relationships between the connected concepts are named. These concept maps reveal the structural pattern in the material and provide the big picture.

condition

The component of an objective that describes the situation, environment, or limitations in which the learner must exhibit the specified behavior.

conditional branching

Branching which occurs when a specified condition or set of conditions is satisfied.

conditioned response

A response that has been learned through employing a specific stimulus.

confirmation

Giving each learner knowledge of the results of each exercise throughout the instructional process. This reinforces or rewards the learner during the entire learning situation.

constraint

Any element or factor that prevents a person from reaching a higher lever of performance with respect to her goal.

constructed response

An answer requiring recall or completion as opposed to recognition (e.g., drawing a diagram, filling in a form, and labeling the parts of a piece of equipment).

constructivism

School of human learning that believes knowledge is a mental construct that is built on and added to. Learners create an image of what the world is like and how it works and they adapt and transform their understanding of new experiences. This theory of learning has consequences for teaching and learning strategies. By starting where the learners are at, that is, engaging prior knowledge with present learning, the trainer then assists the learners to build on their understanding of the world and its workings.

contextual interference

Various factors inhibit a quick and smooth mastery of a skill.

controlled pacing

A programming principle that implies self-pacing within an instructional system. The information and learner activity are developed so that the learners can progress toward the criterion objectives according to their own learning ability.

cooperative learning

Involves the more conventional notion of cooperation, in that learners work in small groups on an assigned project or problem under the guidance of the trainer. Also see collaborative learning.

correlation

The relationship between two sets of data, that when one changes, the other is likely to make a corresponding change. If the changes are in the same direction, then there is a positive correlation. If it is in the opposite direction, then it is a negative correlation.

counseling

A means of assisting and developing students and subordinates. A leader/instructor counsels subordinates: to praise and reward good performance, to develop teamwork, to inform students on how well or how poorly they are performing, to assist students to reach required standards, to cause students to set personal and professional goals, and to help students resolve personal problems.

course

A complete integrated series of lessons which are identified by a common title and/or number.

course management plan

A document that includes the course description and the administrative directions for managing a course. Sometimes called a training management plan.

course map

A chart that depicts the designed sequence for events of a course.

course trials

A full length course conducted in a target environment (facilities, instructors and students) using the curriculum and supporting training material prepared for that course. It has as its purpose the "shaking down" or "validating" of the curriculum and materials in a classroom situation to determine their effectiveness in attaining the approved learning objectives or training goals. Also called "pilot course".

courseware

The media, either text, computer program, or CD-ROM, that contains the instructional content of the course.

covert behavior

Mental activity usually referred to as thinking. Behavior that is not directly observable but may be inferred from overt behavior that is observable.

criterion

The standard by which something is measured. In training, the task or learning objective standard is the measure of student performance. In test validation, it is the standard against which test instruments are correlated to indicate the accuracy with which they predict human performance in some specific area. In evaluation it is the measure used to determine the adequacy of a product, process, or behavior.

criterion referenced instruction

Testing of the objectives as a learner progresses through the course of instruction. Learners pass or fail depending upon their attainment of the objectives and NOT in accordance with their rank or standing among peers.

critical incident technique

A methodology of task analysis which determines the tasks to be included in instruction. Experts identify the critical job incidents and their products. Incidents are edited for redundancy, grouped into similar tasks, and then classified as positive or negative incidents. The incidents are summarized and then validated by the experts for completeness. This is a useful means for obtaining a list of relevant, real-world tasks to be included in instruction.

cross-training

Providing training in several different areas or functions. This provides backup workers when the primary worker is unavailable.

cue

A prompt that signals performance is needed. An initiating cue is a signal to begin performing a task or task performance step. An internal cue is a signal to go from one element of a task to another. A terminating cue indicates task completion.

curriculum

The aggregate of courses of study given in a learning environment. The courses are arranged in a sequence to make learning a subject easier. In schools, a curriculum spans several grades, for example, the math curriculum. In business, it can run for days, weeks, months, or years. Learners enter it at various points depending on their job experience and the needs of the business.