Accessibility – The practice of making products, services, environment, or information available and usable to as many people as possible. Accessibility in education focuses on making sure that all learners, considering all diverse needs, have equal access to educational resources, facilities, materials, and opportunities.
Accessible Learning Materials – These include textbooks, documents, and resources are provided in formats that suit the learner’s needs and abilities such as braille, audio, larger print, digital formats, etc.
Active Learning – The learner takes on a more "active" role in their learning which may enhance student engagement, improve critical thinking, and lead to better retention and application of knowledge. Examples include hands-on experiments, peer teaching, problem-based learning, case studies, debates, role-playing activities, group discussions.
Andragogy – The teaching of adults where the learner is seen as a self-directed, independent learner that takes responsibility for decisions.
Assessment – Methods or tools used to evaluate, measure, and document the readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or education needs of the learner.
Asynchronous – Participants (learners and instructors) are not involved in real-time interaction. This allows participants to manage their schedules and work on classwork when it is most convenient for them.
Authentic Assessments – Designed to measure a learner’s ability to apply skills and knowledge in real-world settings. These assessments may provide a more holistic view of a learner’s understanding of content as compared to traditional standardized tests.
Backwards Design – An instructional design approach that starts with the end goals in mind and works backwards to determine the steps needed to reach the goals. The three main stages are: identifying learning outcomes, determining assessment methods, and designing instructional strategies to align with the outcomes and assessments.
Behaviorism – (also called Behavioral Learning Theory) is a concept that focuses on how learners learn. Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are learned through interaction with their environment through repetition and positive reinforcement. Behaviorism can be equated to Pavlov’s Dog or as nurture plays a larger role in learner development than nature. Drills, question and answer, guided practice, regular review, and positive reinforcement are a few examples of teaching strategies that come from a behaviorism.
Bias – Prejudice against people or groups. This may be based on age, gender, race, sexual orientation, economic standing, religion, special educational needs, family associations, and more, that can be used to treat others unfairly. Bias can be both conscious and unconscious.
Blended Course – Some class live or real-time meetings are required for the class or program. During these meetings, learners can either physically sit in meetings or participate through web conferencing. These class times are held synchronously, meaning all learners are listening to the instructor, having discussions, etc. at the same time. To be classified as a blended course at UNK, at least 2/3 of the course must be online with 1/3 or less requiring mandatory meetings. For example, a 3-credit-hour course is 45 contact hours. This means 15 or fewer contact hours will be offered through synchronous, mandatory meetings with the remainder (at least 2/3 or more) being asynchronous.
Bloom’s Taxonomy – This is a set of three hierarchical frameworks of skills within the domains of Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor. The skills range from basic or foundational to complex and can be useful to use when creating course and lesson objectives. For instance, the Cognitive domain ranges from the most simple skill of ‘remembering’ to the most complex which is ‘creating’.
Classroom Management – How instructors create and maintain the learning environment. Classroom management ensures the learner and instructor get the most out of the experience. These include decisions about the structure, organization, and activities that support learners in an on-going process.
Cognitive Load – The total amount of mental effort a person's working memory can process at a time to complete a task or process information. Instructors can utilize the practices of breaking complex tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces (also known as chunking materials), providing clear instructions, or using visual aids to support comprehension.
Compliance – Following the legal and ethical standards to ensure that institutions, educators, and staff meet criteria related to accessibility, accommodations, safety, curriculum, diversity, data protection, and more. The focus of compliance is to protect individual’s rights, ensure student and staff well-being, and create an environment that gives priority to the learning process.
Constructivism – This theory of learning acknowledges that each person brings unique previous experiences to their learning and constructs their own understanding of new information. Instructors who subscribe to this theory focus on creating firsthand experience and inquiry instead of lecture and repetition. Constructivists may provide loose instructions to keep the learner on track while allowing the learners to create their own theories and mistakes, giving them the opportunity to learn from the mistakes, correct them, and understand the concept more clearly.
Course Delivery – The mode used to deliver educational content. The modes currently recognized by the office of the registrar at UNK are: face-to-face, online, and blended.
Critical Thinking – The ability individually evaluate, question, and challenge information objectively in order to make reasoned judgements.
Experiential Learning – A process of learning where the student is immersed in the learning process, learners learn by doing the activity and reflecting on the experience. Some examples of experiential learning include laboratory experiments, practicums, field experiences, internships, performances, and undergraduate/graduate research.
Feedback – How instructors provide information to learners about their work. GENERAL Feedback includes comments such as “Good Job”, “Keep Trying”, “Nice Work”. These comments are positive and nice to hear but tend to not provide learners with much in terms of next steps. SPECIFIC Feedback, on the other hand, gives a learner useful follow-up step(s). For instance, “Be sure you are always using a block indentation for quotes that are longer than 40 words” or “Watch that your verb tense is consistent because in the same paragraph, you have used both past and present-tense verbs”. Typically, you can include a general statement to give ‘kudos’ or open with a positive, but then include a specific correction that learners can apply to their future work or to a revision.
First Generation Students – A student whose parents have not completed a bachelor’s degree. Please see the First Gen Lopers page for more information about the resources available on our campus to support First Generation Students.
Fixed Mindset – The belief that a person’s intelligence, talents, and personality are unable to grow or change. A person with a fixed mindset can be easily frustrated with other learners’ success and will give up easily.
Flipped Classroom – A way of setting up your class time to be more hands-on by assigning homework that is done BEFORE the class to prepare for the in-class activity. For instance, the learners may read materials prior to coming to class and the classroom time is utilized to participate in activities that involve Bloom Taxonomy’s higher order skills like thinking and collaborating about what was read.
Formative Assessment – Used to gauge learners’ skills or knowledge throughout a lesson/unit/course. These assessments are generally short like a 5-10-item quiz or even checking for understanding. The instructor can utilize the scores from the assessment to identify where learners are struggling and address problems before moving on to the next topic. Learners may also benefit by identifying their strengths and weaknesses before the higher-stakes (Summative) assessments. Formative assessments usually have low, or no points associated. Some examples include drawing a concept map to represent understanding of a topic, participating in a group discussion, writing the main point of a lecture, submitting a research proposal for early feedback, etc.
Gamification – Applying gaming elements in your classes to influence participant behavior. Concepts such as ‘leveling up’ by completing a certain number of tasks or earning ‘power boosts’ by participating in extra opportunities bring a sense of fun competition to classes. Gamification helps to: 1.) build community in the classroom, 2.) encourage collaboration, 3.) build a positive attitude, and 4.) increases student engagement and participation.
Growth Mindset – The belief that a person’s intelligence, talents, and personality are continually growing and changing. A person with a growth mindset sees opportunities in challenges and sees other learners’ success as an inspiration to learn more as well.
Inclusive Teaching – Teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learner needs, such as providing multiple ways to present information and offering varied assessment methods.
Inquiry-Based Learning – An approach centered on active questioning, investigation, and exploration by the learner. Learners do not receive information from the instructor through a lecture, rather learners engage in activities that assist in building deeper understanding through their own active curiosity and exploration. This method builds off of independent thinking, research, analysis, and communication, as learners take ownership of their learning. Inquiry-based learning can be done in a variety of formats, some are: fieldwork, case studies, investigations, individual and group projects, research projects, and more.
Learning Objectives/Outcomes – Initial statements that describe the skills, abilities, and knowledge that learners can demonstrate at the end of a learning timeframe. The learning objectives/outcomes should be realistic and achievable goals given the timeframe. They should be measurable outcomes that learners can demonstrate 2.) written using future tense action verbs 3.) with clear and concise statements that 4.) explain the measurable skills the learner should be able to demonstrate.
Learning Management System (LMS) – Software applications instructors and learners utilize to organize, access, and interact with educational materials. The LMS allows the learner and instructor to interact, shares resources and materials with the learner, receives submitted assignments and assessments, tracks progress, and reports the formalized grade in a virtual setting. At UNK our Learning Management System is Canvas.
Liberationist – Liberationist pedagogy believes that the learners and their contributions are as valuable as the teacher’s. In liberationist pedagogy learners can take on the role of the educator to share their understanding with the class. This is considered a collaborative learning style that is used to deepen the knowledge of the class, including the instructor. It is often seen as the opposite of a ‘traditional’ classroom.
Online Course – Consist of 100% asynchronous instruction without any required synchronous or real-time/live meetings. This means learners can view lectures, participate in class discussions, etc. at any time, but work within the course (such as readings, discussion boards, or papers) will still have due dates. Online courses also have specific start and end dates, which at UNK are listed in MyBlue.
Pedagogy – The study of how knowledge and skills are taught and learned. It is the method, and practice of teaching. Pedagogy methods will vary dependent on the instructor’s teaching style, theories used, how they give feedback, and the assessments planned.
Problem-Based Learning – A student-centered learning approach that gives learners the ability to learn about a subject by working to solve an open-ended problem. When using this style of teaching, learners apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems as opposed to learning through listening to the teacher lecture. Problem-Based Learning encourages active learning and critical thinking skills by asking the learner to 1.) analyze the problem, 2.) evaluate what they know and need to learn 3.) work towards a solution, 4.) present a solution, and 5.) report their results.
Project-Based Learning – Project-based learning is a student-centered learning approach that gives learners the ability to learn about a subject by working to develop a multifaceted project. In project-based learning, learners have a longer time to work and explore the problem or goal in greater depth. The project can be completed by learners creating a report, presentation, or a product.
Rubric – Evaluation tool or set of guidelines used to rate learner work. A rubric generally has three parts: 1. criteria (what the learner needs to demonstrate), 2. rating scale (the numerical or descriptive labels associated with the criteria), and 3. indicators (the level of performance the learner demonstrates). Rubric types are most often holistic or analytic. A holistic rubric is used to assess learner overall performance on an activity with defined levels of achievement, you can think of it as analyzing the ‘whole’. Where an analytical rubric usually is written in a table format that includes levels of achievement allowing you to assess achievements based on multiple criteria. You can assign different values to each criterion and include an overall score by totaling the criteria.
Scaffolding – In education, this refers to the teaching technique building skills in an intentional and progressive manner. Foundational information is taught first and then ‘built on’ as the learners are ready. The instructor shares new information, allows time for learners to work together to practice, then the learner works individually. Scaffolding in education originates from the use of scaffolding in construction, where builders create a temporary platform to allow floors and walls to be built, then the next level is erected for the process to continue.
Social Constructivist – This is a blend of behaviorism and constructivism learning theories. Instructors who use this approach see that learning is a dynamic, social process. They facilitate learning by separating the learners into smaller groups to focus discussions using specific prompts, while the groups work to foster student-lead learning as they construct their own understandings.
Summative Assessment – A summative assessment is used to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit, to ‘sum up’ student learning. Summative assessments often carry a higher point value than formative assessments. Some examples include midterm or final exam, final project, paper, recital, presentation, etc. The information an instructor learns from the summative assessments can be used to guide future course revisions.
Synchronous – The participants are involved in real-time interaction in the classroom or via live digital delivery. Synchronous courses require learners to attend courses at predetermined times and places.
Teaching Strategies – The methods, techniques, and procedures that are used during instruction. The strategies utilize a range of tools and practices to share information, encourage understanding, and support learners so they can obtain knowledge and/or skills. A few strategies are lectures, discussions, demonstrations, debates, multimedia presentations, hands-on activities, and more.
Transfer – A learner’s ability to apply the mastered knowledge or skill from one context to a different context. For example, during authentic assessments, instructors are looking to see if the content learned through reading, lectures, and previous coursework will transfer to a real-world situation.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) – An approach to teaching and learning that works to give all learners equal opportunities to succeed. Instructors develop a learning environment in which they present information in multiple ways, engage learners in a variety of ways, and provide options for learners to demonstrate their knowledge. Examples include considering accessibility when creating PowerPoint, Word, Excel, PDF materials, including alternative text (alt. Text) for images, providing closed captions and/or transcriptions for audio/video, writing hyperlink text in descriptive language, including headers for tables and charts, and more.
