Acronym

An abbreviation (as FBI; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)) formed from initial letters; also, a word (as NATO, radar, or snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term.

Action Verb

An action verb expresses action, or something that a person can do. You should use action verbs abundantly in resumes to describe all skills, jobs, or accomplishments. Using action verbs will enable you to highlight the tasks you can do; word choice is critical in order to describe what you have done. In order to make a striking first impression, use action verbs as the first word of each bullet point to emphasize job descriptions in your resume.

APA

Acronym for American Psychological Association. APA is an editorial style of formatting manuscripts for publication developed by the American Psychological Association. The current edition is the 5th edition.

Assignment

Assignments are products that are submitted for a grade that follow a set of Lessons.

Chat

When two or more people exchange text messages in near real time (synchronous) over the Internet. This is unlike e-mail, in which a message is sent to which a response will be made at a later time

Chat Room

A system where people can "chat" on a Web site through their Internet browser.

Competencies

The knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, motivations, and beliefs people must have in order to be successful in a job.

Conciseness

The goal of concise writing is to use the most effective words. Concise writing does not always have the fewest words, but it always uses the strongest ones. Writers often fill sentences with weak or unnecessary words that can be deleted or replaced. Words and phrases should be deliberately chosen for the target audience.

Course Manager

A person who provides: (1) guidance for and clarification of the course requirements as outlined in the Syllabus, (2) feedback on assignments submitted, and (3) grading of assignments as stipulated by the scoring rubrics included in each assignment template.

Discussion Board

An asynchronous method of discussion. Discussion threads are accessed, read by, and replied to by a community of users. Discussion threads can be used for gaining or sharing information on certain topics. They can also be referred back to as reminders of questions and their respective responses.

Download

To copy or transfer a file from a remote computer, usually a Web server, to your computer.

FAQ

Acronym for Frequently Asked Question.

Figure

Any type of illustration other than a table is called a figure. A figure may be a chart, graph, photograph, drawing, or other depiction (APA Publication Manual, 2001, p. 176).

Forum

A section of a Web site where users post and read topics of common interest.

Gap

The difference between what is and what should be - the difference between an actual state (what results are) and a desired state (what results should be) (Kaufman, Rojas, & Mayer, 1993).

Heading

The title written at the beginning of a piece of writing, or at the beginning part of a book. Using headings can outline the hierarchy of the ideas you wish to present and convey the sequence and levels of importance. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online; APA Publication Manual, 2001, p. 10).

Independent Study Course

A type of course that does not have an instructor who stands and delivers, ie, the students are responsible for reading the required texts and e-Syllabi and working through the assignments.

Interpret

To explain or translate the meaning of (data).

Lesson

A division of a course of instruction. A series of Lessons precede each Assignment and provide background and guidance for completing the Assignments.

Morris Library

The SIUC Morris Library, which is the main library on the SIUC Carbondale campus, can be accessed by a link in the Internet Resources section of your course. We strongly encourage you to utilize Morris Library’s services available to distance education students. For answers to questions, please navigate the Morris Library Web site, ask your Course Manager, or click on the “Ask Anything” button on the Morris Library Web site for specific answers to your questions.

Needs Assessment

A process for pinpointing reasons for gaps in performance or a method for identifying new and future performance needs.

Objective

Something toward which effort is directed: an aim, goal, or end of action.

Organizational Culture

The habits and customs that people in an organization develop to cope with change, which include norms for dress, food and eating, language, and space.

Reference

A book, article, Web site, etc, from which information has been obtained. A reference page citation usually includes the information such as author, title, date of publication, journal title (if applicable), volume and page numbers (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online).

Reference Page

A list at the end of a library paper, proposal, journal article, etc, that documents the works cited in the text and provides the information needed to identify and retrieve each source.

Rubric

A scoring guide for evaluating the quality of work that normally has three essential features: evaluative criteria, quality definitions, and a scoring strategy.

Skills or Abilities

What people must know or be able to do in order to properly perform a job.

Start Here

The Start Here section is designed to be the student’s first introduction to the course. It offers the student a Welcome and Introduction to the course. It also describes the Course Delivery and Methods with emphasis on the menu descriptions to aid in course navigation. Other topics such as:  course manager roles, additional contact information, and computer specification recommendations among others are discussed.

Table

A set of data arranged in rows and columns.

Template

A downloadable electronic pattern guide to create and complete assignments as MS Word documents.

Thread

A series of replies to a particular subject. Threads are commonly found in forums, newsgroups, and e-mail programs.

Training Needs Assessment (TNA)

A tool used to identify what educational courses or activities should be provided to employees to improve their work productivity. The focus is placed on training needs as opposed to desires.