Glossary

From Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education

Our Glossary

This is to be a Glossary of all terms used in Re.ViCa.

1. benchmarking
2. blended learning
3. Bologna Process
4. Ceased E-Learning Initiative
5. ceased virtual school
6. change management
7. charter school
8. Cloud computing
9. College
10. Commercial enterprise - see Private provider
11. Consortium
12. country
13. country code
14. critical success factor
15. digital university
16. distance learning
17. edublogger
18. e-learning
19. Evolution of existing institution
20. Failed E-Learning Initiative
21. flatten
22. force field analysis
23. frugal innovation
24. Further Education
25. Giant E-Learning Initiative
26. Higher Education
27. interactive university
28. International initiative
29. International Standard Classification of Education
30. key success factor
31. Learning management system - see Virtual learning environment (VLE)
32. liminality
33. Major E-Learning Initiative
34. Megaprovider
35. multicampus university
36. Multinational initiative
37. National initiative
38. Newly created institution
39. Notable E-Learning Initiative
40. open college
41. Open Educational Resources
42. open university
43. overseas department
44. pathfinder
45. peak body
46. penumbra
47. Private provider
48. Private nonprofit provider
49. quality assurance
50. realm
51. redirect
52. supraregion
53. Technical and Further Education
54. underwiki
55. University
56. University college
57. virtual campus and synonyms in other languages
58. virtual college
59. Virtual learning environment
60. virtual mobility
61. virtual school
62. virtual university

Other glossaries

The main "official" UK glossaries with coverage relevant to this report are:

• The LTSN “Glossary of Terms in Learning and Teaching in Higher Educa-tion” at http://www.ltsn.ac.uk/genericcentre/index.asp?id=17632.
• The LTSN-01 glossary at http://www.ltsn-01.ac.uk/resources/defs/search.
• The JISC glossary at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=about_glossary – however, this is oriented mainly to institutional terms.
• The CETIS “encyclopaedia” at http://www.cetis.ac.uk/encyclopedia.

In addition, several UK universities and related agencies have set up their own glossa-ries, presumably reflecting the lack of a clear model for the sector. Most of these are rather short; some of the best of these are at:

• Birkbeck College – http://www.bbk.ac.uk/ccs/elearn/glossary.htm.
• The LTSN Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism resource guide with its glos-sary at http://www.hlst.ltsn.ac.uk/projects/specialists/erskine_glossary.html.

Outside the UK academic and governmental sector, there are a number of glossaries of some use, though none are comprehensive and most have very brief entries. Look in particular at:

• The EduTech wiki run by the University of Geneva has a large number of definitions of useful terms and concepts in e-learning.
• The “e-learning site” glossary, a good mix of technical and pedagogic, at http://www.e-learningsite.com/elearning/glossary/glossary.htm, with a Euro-pean flavour.
• The “official” European glossary, useful for the pedago-political jargon, at http://www.elearningeuropa.info/glossary.php?lng=1.
• The glossary from the US-based American Society for Training and Develop-ment (ASTD) Learning Circuits Web site at http://www.learningcircuits.org/

glossary.

• The “Commonwealth of Learning” glossary, with a Commonwealth flavour, at http://www.col.org/resources/startupguides/glossary.htm – useful for the more traditional open- and distance-learning terms.
• The so-called “World Wide Learning” glossary of e-learning and technical terms at http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning/elearning-glossary.htm.
• The “Encyclopaedia of Educational Technology”, a structured collection of in-formative longer articles, at http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/.
• The "Glossary of Terms Relating to Educational Development and Educational Technology" (PDF), prepared by IAC member Terence Karran for the World Bank Institute's Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) for Latin America and the Caribbean. It needs updating, but we want to include it as a resource until further updating. File:Glossary Karran 2006.pdf
• The Belgian site of the Higher Education Register has a Glossary which is available in English and Dutch and weaves related hyperlinks in its descriptions.

• Finally (for our purposes), the amusing and somewhat irreverent “e-Learning Guru” glossary at http://www.e-learningguru.com/gloss.htm.

Those unsatisfied with these lists can find many more on the Internet. A meta-glossary (list of glossaries) is at http://www.uwex.edu/disted/glossary.html – and there is a marvellous multilingual glossary of “open and distance learning” terms at http://stoner.phys.uaic.ro/idesc/glossary/.

SAGE has a comprehensive list of glossaries and encyclopedias under development, several of which are of relevance to our glossary work. See in particular 21st Century Education: A Reference Handbook by Thomas L. Good and the SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences edited by Larry E. Sullivan (use the link given earlier in the paragraph).

See also Abbreviations
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