Glossary

A

Asynchronous learning is learning in which interaction between instructors and students occurs intermittently with a time delay. Examples are self-paced courses taken via the Internet or CD-ROM, Q&A mentoring, online discussion groups, and e-mail.

B

Blog is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog features diary-type commentary and links to articles on other Web sites, usually presented as a list of entries in reverse chronological order. Blogs range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects.

C

Cookie is a message given by a web server to a web browser, which stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them. Cookies can be disabled in the browser.

D

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a broadband technology that transmits data over existing telephone lines.   

E

E-learning (electronic learning) is a term that covers a wide set of applications and processes, such as web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. It includes the delivery of content via Internet, intranet/extranet (LAN/WAN), audio- and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, CD-ROM, and more.

F

Facebook started as a closed social networking for high school students in the US, with the purpose of helping them keep contact with their classmates and other high school friends. It meant to be an online yearbook, which always has all the student's faces in it, hence the name "Facebook", but make it come to life and be dynamic. Only later it was decided to make it into an open global social network, which is what it is today.

G   

GUI (Graphical User Interface)  is a computer interface using icons or pictures. For example, Windows.

H   

Home page is the main page of a web site. Typically, the home page serves as an index or table of contents to other documents stored at the site.

I      

Interactive media allows for a two-way interaction or exchange of information.

J

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) refers to an image file format popular for delivery over the Web because of its relatively high quality and low file size. Before uploading JPEGs to the Web, users can determine the amount of compression assigned to them-usually on a scale from 1 to 10. Recommended file type for photographic images.

K   

Kilobyte (K) means one thousand bytes of data.

L    

Learning platforms are internal or external sites, that are often organized around tightly focused topics, which contain technologies (ranging from chat rooms to groupware) that enable users to submit and retrieve information.

M 

MP3 is a format for music file compression that enables users to download music over the Internet.

N   

Netiquette are online manners; the rules of conduct for online or internet users.

O

Open source softwares are softwares in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge. The Linux operating system is an example of open source software.

P    

PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems to enable users of any hardware or software platform to view documents exactly as they were created — with fonts, images, links, and layouts as they were originally designed.

Q

QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity.         

R

RSS , also know as Rich Site Summary, is an XML format for distributing news headlines on the Web, also known as syndication. Many people describe it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to.        

S

Synchronous learning is a real-time, instructor-led online learning event in which all participants are logged on at the same time and communicate directly with each other. In this virtual classroom setting, the instructor maintains control of the class, with the ability to "call on" participants. In most platforms, students and teachers can use a whiteboard to see work in progress and share knowledge. Interaction may also occur via audio- or videoconferencing, internet telephony, or two-way live broadcasts. 

T    

Twitter is a social network site where users ‘tweet’ an answer to the question, “What’s Happening?” in under 140 characters – similar to a status update on Facebook. Twitter has become an amazing tool for companies who previously couldn’t afford exposure to thousands of people.  Twitter is not just used by businesses for promotion and broadcasting, more importantly it is a great listening tool.  By listening to other people and interacting with them — rather than simply broadcasting tweets — is what makes Twitter a valuable tool to spread your businesses message and connect with a wider audience.

U   

URL (uniform resource locator) is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.

V   

Virtual classroom refers to the online learning space where students and instructors interact.

W 

Wiki is Hawaiian for "Hurry" or "Quick". Wiki can also stand for: What  I  Know Is.
Thus a wiki is a web site that can be quickly edited by its visitors with simple formatting rules which means that the content can be edited by anyone who has access to it and the content is therefore the result of a collaborative, community effort.

X   

XML is a language for use on the World Wide Web. XML provides more versatility and power than HTML, and the number of applications that support the use of XML is growing. Instead of using tags to describe how a document should look, it uses tags to describe the content of the document.

Y   

Yahoo! is short for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". This odd and rather long name was coined in 1994 by two electrical engineering PhD candidates at Stanford University: David Filo and Jerry Yang. n the end, the word Yahoo! did roughly describe it as a web search directory. The term "hierarchical" described how the Yahoo! database was arranged in directory layers. The term "oracle" was intended to mean "source of truth and wisdom". And "officious" described the many office workers who would use the Yahoo! database while surfing from work.

Z

Zip is a popular data compression format. Files that have been compressed with the Zip format are called Zip files and usually end with a.ZIP extension..