eLearning Acronyms

I happened to see some of the chat from this morning's #Lrnchat talking about how all the acronyms in this discipline make people crazy.

Over the years I have written probably about 4 bazillion glossaries, sidebars and so on, listing acronyms and what they mean.

In the spirit of sharing with the EMEA #lrnchat crew, I have posted some of them here. I also have Acronym directories for specialized verticals in learning (e.g. mobile has its own language, as does experimental psychology, content authoring, knowledge management, etc.etc.) I will save those for subsequent posts. But these ought to get people started:

·         AICC: Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee, an international association of technology-based training professionals that develops training guidelines for the aviation industry.

·       BMP (Bitmap Image): A graphic image stored as a specific arrangement of screen dots, or pixels. Web graphics are bitmap images. A graphic which is defined by specifying the colors of dots or pixels which make up the picture. Also known as raster graphics. Common types of bitmap graphics are GIF, JPEG, Photoshop, PCX, TIFF, PNG,

·       CMS (Content Management System): Software application that streamlines the process of designing, testing, approving, posting  and publishing digital content.

·       CSS (Cascading Style Sheet): A feature of HTML developed by the W3C. With Cascading Style sheets, both web designers and end users can create style templates (sheet) that specifies how different text elements (paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, etc.) appear on a web page.

·       DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Mark-up Language): DHTML is an HTML extension that allows web pages to react to the end users' input, such as displaying a web page based on the type of browser or computer end users are viewing a page with.

·       EPSS (Electronic Performance Support System): A program that provides on demand assistance on a discrete task. Considered to be a support tool or job aid. A good example of an EPSS is the built in help functions of many software programs.

·       F2F (face-to-face): Term used to describe the traditional classroom environment.

·       GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): A file format, and filename extension, for graphics files for display on web pages. Popular format as it provides the best picture quality to file size tradeoff. GIFs support 256 colors and are often used for Web images because they compress well.

·       GUI (Graphical User Interface): A way of representing the functions, features and contents of a program to a user by way of visual elements, such as icons, as opposed to textual elements, such as words and character strings. The Microsoft Windows operating system is the classic example of a program with a GUI.

·       HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The standard programming language for web content designed to be accessed by browsers.

·       ILT (instructor-led training): Usually refers to traditional classroom training, in which an instructor teaches a class to a room of students. The term is used synonymously with on-site training and classroom training.

·       LCMS (learning content management system): A software application that allows trainers and training directors to manage both the administrative and content-related functions of training. An LCMS combines the course management capabilities of an LMS (learning management system) with the content creation and storage capabilities of a CMS (content management system).

·       ISD (Instructional Systems Design): Term describing the systematic use of principles of instruction to ensure that learners acquire the skills and knowledge essential for successful completion of overtly specified performance goals.

·       JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): A popular file format for photographs intended for display on web pages. The file extension is JPG. JPEG images allow for more colors than GIF images and are usually smaller in size.

·       LMS (learning management system): Software that automates the administration of learning/course delivery events. The LMS registers users, tracks courses in a catalog, and records data from learners; it also provides reports to management. An LMS is typically designed to handle courses by multiple publishers and providers. It usually doesn't include its own authoring capabilities; instead, it focuses on managing courses created by a variety of other sources.

·         MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) - A video file format offering excellent quality in a relatively small file. Video files found on the Internet are frequently stored in the MPEG format.

·       PDF (Portable Document Format): Created by Adobe Systems in its software program, Adobe Acrobat, read using Reader, a universal document browser.

·       RFP (Request for Proposal): The official document produced by an organization that requests vendor bids for specific products and services.

·       RLO (Reusable Learning Object): A specific chunk of content and code that represents an assessment, exercise, instructional content, etc. In theory, RLO's can be used in many different courses.

·       ROI (Return On Investment): Generally, a ratio of the benefit or profit received from a given investment to the cost of the investment itself. In e-learning, ROI is most often calculated by comparing the tangible results of training (for example, an increase in units produced or a decrease in error rate) to the cost of providing the training.

SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model): SCORM is a series of e-learning specifications describing interoperable ways to store, launch and track course content and learner data.

·       SME - Subject Matter Expert: The member of a project team who is most knowledgeable about the content being instructed upon. Frequently, the SME is an expert contracted or assigned by an organization to consult on the training being created.

·       WBT (Web-based training): Any instructional event that can be accessed via the Internet or the Web.

·       WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get): Pronounced "wizzy wig," a WYSIWYG program allows designers to see text and graphics on screen exactly as they will appear when printed out or published online, rather than in programming code.

·       XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Mark-up Language): A hybrid of XML and HTML. Web pages designed in XHTML should look the same across all platforms.

·       XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) is a set of rules for encoding documents electronically. Although XML’s design focuses on documents, it is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures, for example in web services.

 Enjoy!

Comments

[M.R. Greene]

Add:
PNG (Portable Network Graphics): an open, extensible image format with lossless data compression. Designed to replace GIF and TIFF formats.

[Ron Ateshian]

Spot on topic. Here is a wiki that others in eLearning may want to use, reference and add to. It includes a section for acronyms:
http://son-of-fire.pbworks.com/

[Lms solution]

Hi..
This is a Great post You had mention each and every part of e learning in this post I like it very much.this one is really a useful for me.