Common Terms Used When Teaching Online

asynchronous: events that occur at different times.  When teaching online, the term asynchronous usually relates to communication or a meeting in which participants are engaged at different periods of time.  A discussion board is a tool often used for asyn-chronous discussion in online classrooms.

blended learning environment: a course where learning occurs in both a virtual (online) and physical (classroom) environment.  For example, a course that meets in the class-room twice a week and has a weekly chat can be considered a blended learning envi-ronment.

chat:  a form of synchronous communication that occurs between two or more people.  A chat can be in textual, audio, or video format.  Online courses generally have a chat tool (often called a “chat room”) that will allow participants to communicate with each other in real time.

discussion board: a tool to facilitate asynchronous communication.  They allow participants to submit text entries (often called “posts”) at a time when it is convenient for them.  These entries can be viewed by other participants at a later point.  Discussions are usually organized in a thread, where responses that are related to each other are linked to each other in the order in which they are posted. 

gradebook: a tool in Blackboard that allows instructors to record student grades for course assignments.  The gradebook can record grades for assignments posted both in and outside of the Blackboard system.  Each student has access to his or her grade only.

learning object: a self-contained, reusable digital resource that breaks educational con-tent down into smaller chunks to facilitate learning.  Learning objects are usually de-signed to address one or two specific concepts and can be used in a variety of in-stances.  They can consist of text, web pages, images, audio, video, or any combination of these formats. 

survey: a tool used in Blackboard that presents a variety of questions and solicits a re-sponse to each from students.  The results are always anonymous and are not scored by Blackboard, but a student’s participation (whether or not they completed the survey) can be recorded.  Surveys are particularly good for formatively evaluation and for gaug-ing the level of conceptual understanding by the entire class as a collective group.

synchronous: an event that occurs at the same time for all participants.  When teaching online, the term synchronous usually relates to communication or a meeting in which participants are engaged at the same time. Chat is a tool that is often used for synchro-nous discussions in online classrooms. 

Wimba: an online learning environment that runs inside Blackboard and provides virtual classrooms that support audio, chat, application sharing, and content display.  Sessions that occur in Wimba can be archived for review at a later time.