In an online course, technology is said to be seamless (or transparent) when it is easy to use, intuitive in nature, and is NOT the focus of the learning experience. If programs are difficult to use a [..]

Also known as smilies, they are keyboard characters used in combination to produce whimsical symbols representing a range of emotions. Examples are happy :-) and sad :-(. Some use emoticons in electro [..]

Refers to electronic message (email) sent to one or more individuals to their personal email mailboxes or messaging address, as opposed to a public conferencing forum.

A word (or a commonly pronounceable letter combination) formed by the initial letters of a phrase or title. In the online environment, people use acronyms to conserve time and space in an electronic m [..]

Online discussions occurring independent of time or location. Participants send messages to a central location (discussion forum) for later retrieval by other participants. Examples of asynchronous co [..]

Two or more students working together to learn. Some distinguish between the two terms based on the age of the learners: cooperative for K-12 education and collaborative learning for adult education. [..]

Face-to-face. The traditional classroom environment.

Electronic applications used in online courses as part of the course delivery. Examples are mailing lists, chat programs, streaming audio, streaming video, Web pages, etc. A successful online course w [..]

We often call the online course instructor the facilitator. Online instructors do not retain their traditional "teacher-centered" role from the on-ground paradigm. Instead, they beco [..]

A collection of software applications, usually bundled as an integrated package, that provide the various functions commonly required for the effective conduct of online learning. An LMS often include [..]