Axia College Material

Appendix C

Distance Learning Vocabulary

Asynchronous Communication
Communication between parties who are not together at the same time. Examples could include
email, fax, threaded discussions, postal mail, etc.

Attendance
A record-keeping function that states whether a student was present or not in a class meeting

Chat
A synchronous discussion between two or more people, held in an online, text-based
environment

Feedback
Information given to students about the correctness of their work that is meant to help reinforce
the concepts taught in the course

Internet
An electronic highway system that links computers around the world together and allows
commerce, information sharing, education, etc.

Forum
A component of an online classroom in which threaded discussions take place; some forums are
public to all, and others are privately used by specific students and instructors.

Online
Any type of communication or activity using electronic means; files may be stored online, a class
may run online, and grades may be accessed online.

Participation
A graded activity that reflects the amount of involvement in a class meeting; instructors specify
the grading of participation in their syllabus.

Platform
A software package

Synchronous
Communication between parties where the participants are communicating with each other at the
same time; examples may include communication through telephone, instant messaging, chat,
Web conferencing, etc.

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Threaded Discussion
A series of connected messages posted to a forum; as with email, topical messages are read and
replied to, and conversations can take place in a “threaded” manner.

Web
A part of the Internet that uses URLs to find Web sites

GEN 105