Glossary
In this glossary, you will see definitions of terms that are commonly associated with the online environment and are frequently used throughout the DoDEA Virtual School.
Asynchronous instruction
Instruction that does not happen at the same time or same place. Examples include email and discussion forums.
Brick and mortar schools (BAM, B&M)
Refers to traditional school or traditional school building, as contrasted with an online school.
Content repository
A venue for saving and sharing content. A digital content repository is an online venue for saving and sharing digital content.
Cyberbullying
Involves harassing, embarrassing, or threatening a young person via the Internet, email, or mobile device. Technically, cyberbullying takes place between two or more young people. When adults are involved, it is typically referred to as cyber harassment or cyber stalking.
Digital citizenship
Norms of behavior with regard to technology use, including the practice of netiquette, ethical and legal online behavior.
Digital learning
A synonym for online learning.
Digital literacy
Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, analyze, and create information using technology.
Discussion board
A discussion board (also known by other names such as discussion group, discussion forum, message board, and online forum) is a general term for any online "bulletin board" that provides a venue for questions and answers. NOTE: In the DVS, online instructors monitor discussion boards to ensure that students post appropriate content.
Distance education
General term for any type of educational activity in which the participants are at a distance from each other. In other words, instructors and learners are separated in space. They may or may not be separated in time (asynchronous vs. synchronous).
Face-to-Face (F2F)
When two or more people meet in person. F2F refers to the traditional classroom teaching practices as seen in brick and mortar schools.
Facilitator
The DVHS facilitator is a local teacher or employee at a school that supervises DVHS students in the supplemental program during a specified class period. Facilitators serve as liaisons between the online teachers, students, parents, and school administrators.
Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is the instant messaging (IM) application used in the DVS. this tool allows teachers and students to connect in a variety of ways including: instant messages, video chats, and screen shares. Students are required to use their student.dodea.edu account to log-in. Click this link to view directions on how students can access this tool.
Instructional designer
Someone who uses the principles of learning, pedagogy, and content frameworks to create teaching materials and experiences for online courses.
Instructional media
The materials that teachers use to teach and students use to learn (for example, printed text, digitized text, software, speech, images).
Learning Management System (LMS)
An LMS is the platform or delivery system through which online courses are offered. An LMS generally includes software for creating and editing course content, communication tools, assessment tools, and other features for managing the course. All of the DVS online courses use Schoology as the LMS.
Online course
Any course offered over the Internet.
Online learning
Education in which instruction and content are delivered primarily over the Internet. The term does not include print-based correspondence education, broadcast television or radio, videocassettes, and stand-alone educational software programs that do not have a significant Internet-based instructional component. Used interchangeably with virtual learning, cyber learning, e-learning.
Synchronous instruction
Instruction in which the participants interact in the same time space. Examples are web conferencing (Google Meet), and Instant Messaging (Google Hangouts).
Tag
Tag also referred to as metadata is a coding statement for learning objects within a curriculum that describes the contents (using keywords, descriptive terms) enabling searches.
Threaded discussion
A forum that includes a running commentary of messages used by a group to facilitate asynchronous online discussions.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
A framework for the design of online learning objects and environments ensuring accessibility for all users.
Web Conference
A system by which many computer users can communicate with each other at the same time using webcams and audio devices over the internet often referred to as a webinar. The web conferencing tool in the DVS is Google Meet.
