e-Learning Glossary of Terms

A glossary of terms related to e-learning and distance education.

Accessibility: The practice of making Web sites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. See Wikipedia’s definition of Web accessibility. Visit Penn State’s AccessAbility web site. 

Asynchronous: That which does not necessarily occur during the same time period. In e-learning, an asynchronous activity allows students to work during times of their own choosing, within limits. Thus, a discussion might occur during an entire week, with students participating in the discussion at different times. Working through online learning activities at one’s own pace, participating in a threaded discussion forum, and sending and receiving email are examples of asynchronous activities. 

Blended Program: Blended programs are programs that consist of online courses, resident, and/or hybrid courses (i.e., a combination of two or more of these formats).  Courses in blended programs are generally not themselves a mixture of online and resident instruction, but are individually either resident, online, or hybrid. At Penn State, such programs are called Blended Programs. (See also “Hybrid Courses.”) 

Copyright: A set of exclusive rights that regulate the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. See Wikipedia’s definition of Copyright. 

Course Liaisons (formerly e-Learning Advocates): Penn State Online has been established as an internal collaborative to coordinate the growth of online learning within the University and to ensure quality and effectiveness in the use of e-learning within academic units, across locations through the Digital Learning Cooperative, and at a distance through the World Campus. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the former network of e-Learning advocates at each campus has been updated to a network of Course Liaisons – individuals designated by each academic unit to provide learning design support and resources.

Digital Learning Cooperative: The Digital Learning Cooperative facilitates the sharing of courses among the campuses and campus colleges of the University.

e-Learning: A general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. See Wikipedia’s definition of E-learning. 

e-Learning Cooperative: See “Digital Learning Cooperative”

HyFlex or FlexLearning: In Hyflex, also known as FlexLearning, students have the choice of taking a class completely online, completely in the classroom, or a combination of both. Regardless of which participation mode students choose, an effective Hyflex course should be one where students are assured of having equivalent learning activities regardless of delivery mode. For more information, see 7 Things You Should Know About the Hyflex Course Model.

Hybrid Course: Courses that combine Web and traditional face-to-face classroom instruction. Hybrid courses are organized to reduce or replace the number of required face-to-face class sessions in order to improve effectiveness and flexibility for instructors and students and/or to achieve other efficiencies. Hybrid courses reduce by at least 25% the number of required classroom sessions, although some classroom sessions are required. The Registrar’s Office provides more detail at Hybrid Course Classification @ Penn State. (See also “Blended Programs.”)  

Modes of Instruction: A complete list of Penn State’s official modes of instruction can be found on the Registrar’s website for Instruction Modes.

MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses are the latest addition to online courses at Penn State. To learn more, please visit the Online Options site and scroll down to the information on MOOCS.

Navigation: Web site navigation is the science and skill applied to a Web site that enables visitors to change location or orientation relative to that site. See “What is web site navigation?

OER: Open Educational Resources – see Open and Affordable Educational Resources (OAER) Definitions

Synchronous: That which occurs during the same time period. A synchronous activity is one in which the students and instructor are all engaged at the same time. In the online world, chats and live Zoom sessions are examples of synchronous activities.  

Video Conferencing (synchronous distributed): Courses in which instructors make use of synchronous video technologies to interact with students at remote sites in real time. Technologies used include room based video conferencing systems (e.g. Polycom), as well as desktop/mobile conferencing solutions (e.g. Zoom, BigBlueButton, CloudAXIS, Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, WebEx, GoToMeeting).

Web / Online (Undergraduate Advising Handbook – http://handbook.psu.edu/content/web-online-course-work): Web courses are offered through both the resident instruction and the World Campus delivery systems. Web courses do not meet in traditional classrooms, with the possible exception of scheduled examinations. A Web course may be offered by both resident instruction and the World Campus with identical course content. However, a student enrolled in a resident-instruction Web course may be expected to be on campus for a classroom experience (e.g., to take an exam) while a student enrolled in a World Campus course will not be required to be on campus for any part of the course.

Page Contact: Ann Taylor