What a person does at work to satisfy an employer's needs and expectations in exchange for pay. A job consists of responsibilities, duties, and tasks that are defined and can be accomplished, measured, and rated. It is used as an employment tool for classifying work and for selecting employees.

job aid (performance aid)

A device designed for use on the job and providing guidance on the performance of a specific task or skill. May be printed or on-line. Used in situations where it is not feasible or worthwhile to commit the procedure to memory before on-the-job activity. Often these are paper-based and posted on the wall in plain sight or in a small reference notebook. They can also be, decals, manuals, cards, etc.

job analysis

Breaking down the complexity of a person's job into logical parts such as duties and tasks. It identifies and organizes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform the job correctly. This is accomplished by gathering task activities and requirements by observation, interviews, or other recording systems.

job description

A formal statement of duties, qualifications, and responsibilities associated with a job.

job enlargement

An increase in the number of tasks that an employee performs. It is associated with the design of jobs to reduce employee dissatisfaction.

job enrichment

An increase in the number of tasks that an employee performs and an increase in the control over those tasks. It is associated with the design of jobs and is an extension of job enlargement.

just-in-time training (JITT) or just-in-time learning:

A method of providing training when it is needed. Its advantages are:

• Eliminates the need for refresher training due to subject knowledge loss experienced if training precedes, over an extended period of time (prevents decay if the learner cannot use the material upon returning to the job).
• Prevents training being wasted on people who leave the job before the trai
• Allows the learners to receive training when they need it...not weeks or months later.

A four step training evaluation methodology developed by Donald Kirkpatrick in 1975.

knowledge

1. The sum of what is known; a body of truths, principles, and information. 2. Specific information required for the student to develop the skills and attitudes for effective accomplishment of the jobs, duties, and tasks.

knowledge level summary

A reiteration of key points of content in a knowledge-level lesson designed to enhance a learner's ability to remember facts.

knowledge management

Capturing, organizing, and storing knowledge and experiences of individual workers and groups within an organization and making it available to others in the organization.

knowledge mapping (mind maps)

A learning method similar to outlining that consists of drawing out circles and connecting them with lines while writing words in the circles and on the lines.

knowledge structures

There are three knowledge structures: declarative, procedural and strategic.

• Declarative knowledge tells us why things work the way they do, or that the object or thing has a particular name or location. It includes information about the concepts and elements in the domain and the relationships between them.
• Procedural knowledge tells us how to perform a given task. It contains the discrete steps or actions to be taken and the available alternatives to perform a given task. With practice, procedural knowledge can become an automatic process, thus allowing the human to perform a task without conscious awareness.
• Strategic knowledge is comprised of information that is the basis of problem solving, such as action plans to meet specific goals; knowledge of the context in which procedures should be implemented; actions to be taken if a proposed solution fails; and how to respond if necessary information is absent.

A question initiated by the presenter that is usually directed to a group of students at the beginning of a lesson or main point and designed to generate discussion.

learner centered instruction

An instructional process in which the content is determined by the studentís needs, the instructional materials are geared to the studentís abilities, and the instructional design makes the students active participants.

learning

a relatively permanent change in behavioral potentiality, that can be measured, that occurs as a result of reinforced practice; gaining knowledge, skills, or developing a behavior through study, instruction, or experience.

learning activities

Events intended to promote trainee learning.

learning analysis

The analysis of each task or subject area to determine what the learner must do upon completion of training, how well the learner must be able to do it, and what skills and knowledge must be taught in order to meet the end-of-training requirement.

learning curve

A curve reflecting the rate of improvement in performing a new task as a learner practices and uses her newly acquired skills.

Learning Content Management System (LCMS)

An infrastructure platform that focuses on learning content. The purpose behind it is to give instructional designers and subject matter experts (SME) the means to create learning content more efficiently or JIT in order to meet learner's and business units' needs. It does this by creating reusable content chunks and then making them available to designers and SMEs throughout the organization. This eliminates duplicate developmentNote that it differs some what from an LMS.

learning decay

A decrease of learned skills over a period of time. Decay can be retarded by the conduct of sustainment training.

learning hierarchy

A graphic display of the relationships among learning objectives in which some learning objectives must be mastered before others can be learned.

Learning Management System (LMS)

An infrastructure platform through which learning content is planned, delivered, and managed. A combination of software tools perform a variety of functions related to online and offline training administration and performance management. Ity is meant to replace fragmented learning programs with a systematic means in order to assess and increase performance levels throughout the organization. Note that it differs some what from an LCMS.

learning package (courseware)

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

learning object

A reusable chunk of information that is media independent. Includes Reusable Information Objects (RIOs), educational objects, content objects, training components, nuggets, and chunks.

learning objective

A statement of what the learners will be expected to do when they have completed a specified course of instruction. It prescribes the conditions, behavior (action), and standard of task performance for the training setting. An Enabling Learning Objective measures an element of the Terminal Learning Objective. Sometimes referred to as performance, instructional, or behavioral objectives.

learning organization

An organization that continuously learns new KSA's (knowledge, skills, abilities or attitudes) and applying them to improve product or service quality.

learning portal

Any Website that offers learners or organizations consolidated access to learning and training resources from multiple sources.

learning step

A sub-unit of a learning objective derived when the learning objective is analyzed into its component parts.

learning strategies

The methods that students use to learn. This ranges from techniques for improved memory to better studying or test taking strategies.

learning style

A composite of the cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment. Included in this definition are perceptual modalities, information processing styles, and personality patterns.

learning style inventory

Kolb & Fry's Learning Style Inventory which theorizes that people develop preferences for different learning styles in the same way that they develop any other sort of style, i.e. - management, leadership, negotiating etc. The four predominant styles are:

• Active experimentation (simulations, case study, homework). If this if the preferred style of the learner then she is an Activist - what's new? I'm game for anything.
• Reflective observation (logs, journals, brainstorming). If this if the preferred style of the learner then he is a Reflector - I'd like time to think about this.
• Abstract conceptualization (lecture, papers, analogies). If this if the preferred style of the learner then she is a Theorist - How does this relate to that?
• Concrete experience (laboratories, field work, observations). If this if the preferred style of the learner then he is a Pragmatist - How can I apply this in practice?

A taxonomic classification of cognitive, affective and psychomotor behaviors for the purposes of test design invented by Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues.

lesson

A segment of instruction that contains a learning objective and information to be imparted to the student.

lesson plan

A written guide for trainers plans in order to achieve the intended learning outcomes. It provides specific definition and direction on learning objectives, equipment, instructional media material requirements, and conduct of the training.

Lickert Scale

A way of generating a quantitative value (numerical) to a qualitative questionnaire (e.g. poor, fair, good, very good, excellent). Sometimes used on end of course evaluation. (smile sheets) For an ascending five point scale incremental values are assigned to each category and a mean figure for all the responses is calculated. (via the sum of the products of the categories' assigned value times the number of respondents for that category, divided by the total number of respondents) Example: Total number of respondents=25, assigned values are; poor=1, fair=2, good=3, very good=4, excellent=5; respondents selecting following categories are; good=9, very good=10, excellent=6. The quantitative mean = ((9*3)+(10*4)+(6*5))/25=3.9

lifelong learning

The concept of 'continuous personal development' through student centered (self-actualized) learning.

linear

A programming method characterized by short steps of instruction, constructed response, and a maximum amount of overt activity. The least desirable programming technique. (see branching)