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Distance Learning Definitions
| Accreditation | Evaluation of a postsecondary institution by one of the registered accrediting commissions. All Ohio campuses offering courses in the OhioLearns! catalog are regionally accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Accrediting agencies, which are private educational associations of regional or national scope, develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency's evaluation and that meet an agency's criteria are then "accredited " by that agency. For a list of regionally accrediting agencies recognized by the Office of Post Secondary Education, see www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/accreditation/index.html |
| Advisor | A professional counselor or faculty member who provides information regarding requirements of various programs of study and career options. An advisor is usually assigned to each enrolled student. |
| Associate Degree | An award that requires the completion of at least two academic years of college-level work or the equivalent in an academic or occupationally specific field of study, and which meets institutional standards for otherwise satisfying the requirements for this degree level. |
| Asynchronous | Literally means "not at the same time." An asynchronous course is one in which the instruction is delivered at one time and the work can be done at a different time. In asynchronous classes, students and teachers use e-mail, listservs or other technologies which allow them to communicate without having to be in the same place at the same time. |
| Bachelor's Degree | An award that requires the completion of at least four academic years of college-level work or the equivalent in an academic or occupationally specific field of study, and which meets institutional standards for otherwise satisfying the requirements for this degree level. Also called a Baccalaureate degree. |
| baud | The rate of data transmission based on the number of signal elements or symbols transmitted per second. Today most digital signals are characterized in bits per second. |
| Browser | Software that allows you to "surf" the Internet. Netscape, Mosaic, and Internet Explorer are examples of Web browsers. A browser provides an easy-to-use interface for accessing the information on the World Wide Web. |
| CAS | Stands for "Course Applicability System," a tool to see how credit transfers among Ohio colleges and universities. See www.miaimi.transfer.org |
| Catalog/Bulletin | A list of all courses, typically including course title, course number, description, prerequisite(s), and other requirements for the course. Catalogs may also contain other information pertinent to courses (programs related to courses, information about the institutions that provide the courses, etc.) A "searchable" catalog like OhioLearns! enables users to search for courses by a variety of descriptors: e.g., subject area of course, institution providing the course, level of course (undergraduate/graduate-level), delivery mode, etc. |
| Certificate | An award offered to recognize the work performed and skills or learning acquired by taking a particular class or series of classes. It may or may not apply toward a license or other degree. |
| Continuing Education | Courses, programs, or organized learning experiences usually taken after a degree is obtained to enhance personal or professional goals. Distance Education courses are often listed within the Continuing Education Department at universities. |
| Correspondence Course | A course offered primarily through print media. All textbooks, study guides, assignments, and tests are provided to the student's preferred mailing address. Faculty stay in touch with students through mail, email, telephone, and fax. |
| Course | A focused body of instruction offered by an education provider. A course may be made up of one or more classes. |
| Credential | A degree, certificate or award which recognizes a course of study taken in a certain area, and acknowledges the skills, knowledge and competencies acquired. An example is a teaching credential. |
| Credit | A unit of measure used in higher education. Recognition of attendance and/or performance in an instructional activity (course or program) that can be applied by a recipient to requirements for a degree, diploma, certificate, or other formal award. At some institutions a credit is the equivalent to the number of contact hours. For example, English 101 is offered Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. for 3 credits. How credits equate to contact hours vary at each institution. Also referred to as academic credit. |
| Credit Hour | An hour (or nearly an hour) of instruction given over a specific period in a semester quarter system. It is applied toward the total number of hours needed for completing the requirements of a traditional, credit-based degree, diploma, certificate or other formal award. |
| Degree | An award conferred by a college, university, or other postsecondary educational institution as official recognition for the successful completion of a program of studies. |
| Delivery Mode | The primary method or technology used to deliver instructional information to the student and used for communication between the instructor and the students. |
| Distance Learning | Learning that takes place when the instructor and student are separated by space and/or time. The gap between the two can be bridged through the use of technology - such as audio tapes, videoconferencing, satellite broadcasts and online technology - and/or more traditional delivery methods, such as the postal service. |
| Doctoral Degree | An award and formal recognition for advanced study beyond the Bachelor's and Master's degree. It generally takes two to four years of full time course work. It is the highest degree available in most areas of study. |
| Electronic Mail (Email) | |
| Graduate Courses/Degrees | Academic content offered to those who have already completed an undergraduate, or bachelor's, degree. |
| Graduate Student | A student who holds a bachelor's or first-professional degree and is taking courses toward an advanced degree such as a Master's or Doctoral Degree. |
| Home Institution | The institution from which you are seeking a degree, and whose requirements you must fulfill. |
| Host Institution | An institution from which you may take classes which will count toward your degree at your home institution. An institution that is cooperating with your home institution in delivering distance education courses leading to a degree. |
| Internet | A worldwide network of computer networks. It is an interconnection of large and small networks around the globe. The Internet began in 1962 as a computer network for the U.S. military and over time has grown into a global communication tool of many thousands of computer networks that share a common addressing scheme.Unlike online services, which are centrally controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design. Each Internet computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community. Remarkably, this anarchy by design works exceedingly well. There are a variety of ways to access the Internet. Most online services, such as America Online, offer access to some Internet services. It is also possible to gain access through a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP). |
| Listserv | Mailing list program for communicating with other people who have subscribed to the same list. Using e-mail, you can participate in listservs pertaining to your topics of interest. When you submit a message to the server, your message is relayed to all those on the listserv. You receive messages from other participants via e-mail. |
| Lower-Division Course | A course numbered at the 100 or 200 level. Rarely are courses above this numbering offered by community colleges. Many students complete all of the required 100 and 200 level courses at a community college before transferring to a four-year college or university. |
| Master's Degree | A graduate award that requires the successful completion of a program of study of at least one (or the full-time equivalent of), but generally not more than two, academic years of work beyond the bachelor's degree. |
|
MIME
|
Short for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, a specification for formatting non-ASCII messages so that they can be sent over the Internet. Many e-mail clients now support MIME, which enables them to send and receive graphics, audio, and video files via the Internet mail system. In addition, MIME supports messages in character sets other than ASCII. There are many predefined MIME types, such as GIF graphics files and PostScript files. It is also possible to define your own MIME types. In addition to e-mail applications, Web browsers also support various MIME types. This enables the browser to display or output files that are not in HTML format. MIME was defined in 1992 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). A new version, called S/MIME, supports encrypted messages. |
| monitor |
Another term for display screen. The term monitor, however, usually refers to
the entire box, whereas display screen can mean just the screen. In addition,
the term monitor often implies graphics capabilities.
There are many ways to classify monitors. The most basic is in terms of color capabilities, which separates monitors into three classes: monochrome :
The resolution of a monitor indicates how densely packed the pixels are. In general, the more pixels (often expressed in dots per inch), the sharper the image. Most modern monitors can display 1024 by 768 pixels, the SVGA standard. Some high-end models can display 1280 by 1024, or even 1600 by 1200. Another common way of classifying monitors is in terms of the type of signal they accept: analog or digital. Nearly all modern monitors accept analog signals, which is required by the VGA, SVGA, 8514/A, and other high-resolution color standards. A few monitors are fixed frequency, which means that they accept input at only one frequency. Most monitors, however, are multiscanning, which means that they automatically adjust themselves to the frequency of the signals being sent to it. This means that they can display images at different resolutions, depending on the data being sent to them by the video adapters. |
| Non-credit Course | A course or activity carrying no academic credit applicable toward a degree, diploma, certificate, or other formal award. Corporations or nonprofit organizations may offer noncredit courses. |
|
operating
systems |
The most important program that runs on a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. |
| Prerequisite | Prerequisite: A successfully completed course or courses, skills, or knowledge a student must possess and demonstrate to the satisfaction of an instructor prior to enrolling and taking a class. For example, knowing how to create spreadsheets may be a prerequisite for a class on business accounting. |
| Private Institution | Institution that's private |
| Public Institution | Institution supported primarily through public funds, including state universities and community colleges. |
| Quarter | An academic period used by some colleges and universities, typically lasting about 10 weeks. An institution on quarters may have three or four quarters in an academic year, depending on how the summer term is defined. |
| RAM |
Pronounced ramm, acronym for random access memory, a type of computer memory
that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed
without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory
found in computers and other devices, such as printers.
There are two basic types of RAM: dynamic RAM (DRAM) static RAM (SRAM) The two types differ in the technology they use to hold data, dynamic RAM being the more common type. Dynamic RAM needs to be refreshed thousands of times per second. Static RAM does not need to be refreshed, which makes it faster; but it is also more expensive than dynamic RAM. Both types of RAM are volatile, meaning that they lose their contents when the power is turned off. In common usage, the term RAM is synonymous with main memory, the memory available to programs. For example, a computer with 8M RAM has approximately 8 million bytes of memory that programs can use. In contrast, ROM (read-only memory) refers to special memory used to store programs that boot the computer and perform diagnostics. Most personal computers have a small amount of ROM (a few thousand bytes). In fact, both types of memory (ROM and RAM) allow random access. To be precise, therefore, RAM should be referred to as read/write RAM and ROM as read-only RAM. |
| Regional Coordinator | An OLN staff member located in one of four regions of Ohio who can assist with using the OLN Web site and finding distance courses or degrees. |
| Registrar | Person responsible for collecting and maintaining student academic records at a college or university. |
| Self-Paced Course | A course with a flexible schedule; a student does the work when he/she has time available. The student is not expected to proceed through this self-paced course with a cohort or group. There often is a maximum time limit that the student may take to complete the class, but this time limit is usually far longer than it takes to complete the material. An example is a correspondence class. |
| Semester | An academic period used by some colleges and universities, typically lasting between 15-18 weeks. An institution on semesters may have two or three semesters in an academic year, depending on how the summer term is defined. |
|
sound
card |
An expanson board that enables a computer to manipulate and output sounds. Sound cards are necessary for nearly all CD-ROMs and have become commonplace on modern personal computers. Sound cards enable the computer to output sound through speakers connected to the board, to record sound input from a microphone connected to the computer, and manipulate sound stored on a disk. Nearly all sound cards support MIDI, a standard for representing music electronically. In addition, most sound cards are Sound Blaster-compatible, which means that they can process commands written for a Sound Blaster card, the de facto standard for PC sound. Sound cards use two basic methods to translate digital data into analog sounds: FM Synthesis mimics different musical instruments according to built-in formulas. Wavetable Synthesis relies on recordings of actual instruments to produce sound. Wavetable synthesis produces more accurate sound, but is also more expensive. |
| Syllabus | A document provided by the instructor of a course that explains the course material, what students are expected to do, and how students will be graded/evaluated. A syllabus may be printed or Web-based. |
| Synchronous | A type of two-way communication with virtually no time delay, allowing participants to respond in real time. |
| Telecourse | A coordinated learning system based on a series of television programs. It is supplemented by printed materials (text, study guide, readings) and local faculty involvement in the form of lectures, and/or consultation. The telecourse programs may be viewed in a variety of ways. Most are broadcast over local cable stations. Program tapes may also be available for viewing on local campuses. |
| trackball |
A pointing device. Essentially, a trackball is a mouse lying on its back. To
move the pointer, you rotate the ball with your thumb, your fingers, or the
palm of your hand. There are usually one to three buttons next to the ball,
which you use just like mouse buttons. The advantage of trackballs over mice
is that the trackball is stationary so it does not require much space to use
it. In addition, you can place a trackball on any type of surface, including
your lap. For both these reasons, trackballs are popular pointing devices for
portable computers.
|
| Tuition | Amount of money charged to students for instructional services. At some institutions tuition may be charged on a per term, per course, or per-credit basis. |
| Undergraduate Student | A student who is taking courses toward an Associate of Arts or Bachelor's Degree. |
| World Wide Web (WWW or Web) | Loosely used, the WWW (or Web) refers to the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using gopher, FTP, HTTP, Telnet, Usenet, WAIS, and some other tools. The WWW is a hypertext-based, distributed information system originally created by researchers at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, to facilitate sharing research information. The Web presents the user with documents, called web pages, full of links to other documents or information systems. Selecting one of these links, the user can access more information about a particular topic. Web pages include text as well as multimedia (images, video, animation, sound). Servers are connected to the Internet to allow users to traverse ("surf") the Web using a Web browser. |
|
Web
browser |
A software application used to locate and display Web pages. The two most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Both of these are graphical browsers, which means that they can display graphics as well as text. In addition, most modern browsers can present multimedia information, including sound and video, though they require plug-ins for some formats. |
| Withdrawal from Course | The process of canceling a student's registration from a course before the completion of the course's requirements. Rules and deadlines for withdrawing from courses vary by institution. |
|
word
processing |
Using a computer to create, edit, and print documents. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. To perform word processing, you need a computer, a special program called a word processor, and a printer. A word processor enables you to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it on a printer. The great advantage of word processing over using a typewriter is that you can make changes without retyping the entire document. If you make a typing mistake, you simply back up the cursor and correct your mistake. If you want to delete a paragraph, you simply remove it, without leaving a trace. It is equally easy to insert a word, sentence, or paragraph in the middle of a document. Word processors also make it easy to move sections of text from one place to another within a document, or between documents. When you have made all the changes you want, you can send the file to a printer to get a hardcopy. |
