Learning & Development Lingo You Should Know
Afraid to ask what that word means? No problem, I’ve got you covered. You’ll find a long list of commonly used learning lingo below. Plus, I’ll show you how to use that super corporate jargon in a sentence — so you’ll sound like a pro in no time.
(Check back often as words & phrases are always being added)
Social Learning
Learning that takes place on social media. For example, Instagram and TikTok.
“We’re moving our product training over to social learning to make the most impact with our learners.”
ADDIE
Acronym for a commonly used learning development process. Stages of the process include: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.
“I’m going to use ADDIE for this upcoming project.”
Development
Placing all elements and media into a course or program - text, navigation, video, animation, interaction, etc. The step prior to actually launching your course or program.
“The development for this course is going to take at least 3 weeks since we have to film & edit video footage for it.”
Design
Putting together the framework for a course or program. The step prior to development in ADDIE.
“We have to get the design together before we can start developing. That way we won’t get too far into developing before realizing the course doesn’t flow well.'“
Implementation
Launching your course or program to your audience, including the tasks involved with uploading a course to your learning management system and marketing the course.
“During the course’s implementation, we launched to 8 different teams in a live Q&A call.”
Evaluation
Measuring the effectiveness of the course over a period of time after launch. There are varying levels of evaluation (levels 1-4) where some are immediate and others take months to measure.
“Based on the Level 1 evaluation, the course was really valuable to the learners.”
LMS
Learning Management System. This is usually a company-wide tool that houses all training courses. Typically a designated LMS team handles the uploading process and documents all course information that you supply them (course length, official course name, what constitutes a passing score, etc.).
“I just sent 3 courses to the LMS team to launch on Monday!”
Module
Training component. Could be used to refer to the entire course or large sections of a course.
“I just finished uploading 5 training modules, and have 2 more to go.”
eLearning
Electronic Learning. You’ll hear more terms that reference an online training module or program, but eLearning is the one that is most universally used.
“How many eLearning modules do you think this training program will have?”
ILT
Instructor-led Training. Also known as classroom training.
“We’re creating an ILT to certify all sales people in the new product.”
vILT
Virtual Instructor-led Training. A classroom-style training where participants engage via the hosting platform (example: Zoom, WebEx, Connect, GoTo Meeting, etc.) for their learning activities. When designing vILT courses, special consideration is made in order to ensure participants will connect with the content.
“This vILT content needs a lot more activity to bring it to life on screen.”
Learning Library
An online repository for quicker trainings, like PDFs and standalone videos.
“I created a learning library for sales people to grab training documents when they’re on the go.”
Learning Journey
The path that a learner takes from the start to finish of the learning program.
“The learning journey includes 4 phases of learning: novice, experienced, expert, and mentor.”
WBT
Web-based Training. Aren’t they all web-based these days? :) Nevertheless, this term is still used in some circles. Interchangeable with the term eLearning.
“We’ve got 6 WBTs to develop over the next 10 weeks, so we’ve got to start now!”
CBT
Computer-based Training. A bit archaic of a term, but still used today. Interchangeable with the term eLearning.
“I think we need to update those CBTs we still have on the LMS.”
Knowledge Check
A quiz at the end of a module or training to assess the level of knowledge transfer. Some might use acronyms like CYK = Check Your Knowledge or COL = Confirmation of Learning.
“I added a Knowledge Check to each section of the eLearning.”
Scope Creep
When the initial project terms that were agreed upon change, resulting in more work on your plate.
“The project team keeps changing their minds every time we meet with them. The scope creep is unreal.”
Asynchronous Learning
Learning that doesn’t occur at the same time or place for each learner. Any type of learning that’s not conducted “live”.
“We’re shifting towards more asynchronous learning for maximum efficiency.”
UI/UX
UI = User Interface. The visual layout of a tool — or in our case, a course.
“The course’s UI is beautiful. The color scheme is really on brand.”
UX = User Experience. How someone interacts with the tool, or course.
“The course’s UX needs improvement. Navigation through the course was not intuitive at all!”
Pedagogy
The study of teaching and learning methods. You might hear this in reference to someone’s specific approach to training, or you may never hear it at all.
“Our pedagogy is innovative and really prepares our learners for their job role.”
Storyboard
A written or visual mock-up of the ‘flow’ of a course during the design phase. You’ll want to use a storyboard when heavy development is involved. This way everyone is clear on the course’s look and feel before you get too far down the development road.
“I put together a storyboard that shows each scene with a script for the voiceover.”
B-roll
Supplemental video footage with visual interest and context to the topic. This allows for a greater variety of visual content and keeping the audience’s attention.
“We used a lot of b-roll in this video so it’s not just a person talking to the camera the entire time.”
Pilot
Initial testing period of a new program.
“We’re running a pilot program with just 2 teams to see what bumps in road occur.”
Capstone
The final component of a course or program. Typically a project or presentation intended to certify or graduate the learner from the program.
“I’m developing a capstone course for sales people ready to be promoted to a senior level.”
Authoring Tool
A software or tool where you develop a course. Example: Articulate Storyline.
“The authoring tool I’m using the create this course has a ton of great functionality!”
SCORM
Acronym for Shareable Content Object Reference Model. Don’t stress about what it stands for, though. Just remember that SCORM is the technical standard that makes an eLearning uploadable into a learning management system. Your authoring tool will publish a course into a SCORM file package when you’re ready.
“I just published this course in Storyline and now I’ve got to send the SCORM package to the LMS team.”
SME
Acronym for Subject Matter Expert. These are the folks that know and own the content. They typically provide content to you in the beginning of a project and help review a course or program once it’s ready for feedback.
“The SMEs were really happy with that last course you created.”
Instructional Designer
Someone who designs training courses for a living. Sometimes they’re heavily involved in the decision-making process, and other times they get to focus solely on the development of courses.
“The instructional designer edited the course last week.”
Training Plan
A “big picture” document consisting of the training project’s goals, who’s involved (and to what extent), what topics will be included, and a calendar of important dates. Think of it as the project roadmap that will answer any logistical questions for your project team, so everyone knows what’s going on all the way up until the training launches.
“I just sent everyone the training plan so you can see how the next 2 months will go as we put together this training.”
Design Plan
A document that outlines the details of the course itself. This could be individual lessons, objectives, timing, resources, activities, etc. An instructional designer should be able to create a course using the framed out design plan.
“I’m so glad we created a design plan before starting development — the SMEs changed a few things that would have taken much longer!”
Bloom’s Taxonomy (Learning Objectives)
A 6-level framework that displays the different levels of learning. It ranges from simple types of learning like recalling information, all the way to deeper learning like producing something based on what you learned. Most Bloom’s Taxonomy models will look like a pyramid and contain several actions in each category. These actions or verbs can be used to form your learning objectives.
“Every time I create learning objectives I look at my Bloom’s Taxonomy print out at my desk.”
Kirkpatrick Model (Evaluation Levels)
A 4-level evaluation model to make sure your training experiences actually accomplish what you set them up to do. Level 1 is learner reaction to the training, Level 2 is learning transfer after the training, Level 3 is behavior change over time, and Level 4 is business results over time. Most people will refer to the levels individually, not necessarily the model by name.
“We want to take the next 30 days to conduct a Level 2 evaluation since the sales teams just finished the new sales skills training.”
Synchronous Learning
Any learning that occurs in real time, with some form of two-way interaction: classroom, virtual instructor, etc.
“We want all new hires to have at least one synchronous learning experience during their first week to meet other new hires.”
Asynchronous Learning
Any learning that occurs on a learner’s own time: self-paced, self-directed, online learning modules, etc.
“The majority of our learning experiences are asynchronous, allowing learners to own their journey to expertise.”
Mobile Learning
Learning that occurs on via mobile phone, tablet, etc.
“Let’s meet our learners where they’re at by pushing out more mobile learning than before.”
Microlearning
Short but impactful training experiences.
“We need to focus more on microlearning, such as videos, to engage our learners.”
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