ASTD Handbook 2e

ASTD Handbook 2e is the second edition of the book that is:

• Titled ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development;
• Edited by Elaine Biech;
• Published by ASTD Press, which, according to the Handbook,

  is an internationally renowned source of insightful and practical information on workplace learning, training, and professional development,

  in 2014.

The copyright belongs to the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)

• Accelerated Learning (AL) is the practice of using a multimodal, multisensory approach to instruction to make learning more efficient. It's accomplished by honoring the different learning preferences of each learner and using experiential learning exercises (such as role plays, mnemonics, props, and music).
• Accomplishments refer to the specific outputs a performer is asked to achieve.
• Active Training is an approach that ensures that participants are actively involved in the learning process. Active learning is based on cooperative learning, in which participants learn from each other in pairs or small groups. Some examples of active training include group discussions, games, simulations, and role plays.
• ADDIE is an instructional systems development model composed of five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.
  1. Analysis is the process of gathering data to identify specific needs -- the who, what, where, when, and why of the design process.
  2. Design is the planning stage.
  3. Development is the phase in which training materials and content are selected and developed based on learning objectives.
  4. Implementation occurs when the course is delivered, whether in person or electronically.
  5. Evaluation is the ongoing process of developing and improving instructional materials based on feedback received during and following implementation.
• Adult Learning Theory encompasses the collective theories and principles of how adults learn and acquire knowledge. Popularized by Malcolm Knowles, adult learning theory provides the foundation that learning and development professionals need to meet learning needs in the workplace.
• Affective Learning is the acquisition of knowledge based on Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy in which he identified three learning domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Affective refers to the learner's outlook, attitude, or mindset.
• Affinity Diagrams (also referred to as affinity maps) gather large numbers of ideas, organize them into logical groupings based on the natural relationships among items, and define groups of items. The outcomes of affinity diagrams are large groups of ideas that are grouped into related clusters of ideas, each with a clear title and with the relationship among the clusters clearly drawn. (See also Interrelationship Digraphs.)
• After Action Review (AAR) was first developed by the U.S. Army to allow individuals to learn for themselves after an action what happened, why, and how to improve performance.
• Alternate Reality Game is a story-like game that manifests in the real world, spread over time and space, using varied media.
• Analysis is a systematic examination and evaluation of data or information that breaks it into its component parts to uncover their interrelationships. Common analyses in training and development include these.
  1. Audience Analysis is conducted to understand a target population, demographics, and other relevant information prior to job analysis, training, or other solution.
  2. Gap Analysis identifies the discrepancy between the desired and actual knowledge, skills, and performance, and specifies root causes.
  3. Job Analysis identifies all duties and responsibilities and the respective tasks done on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.
  4. Root Cause Analysis identifies the true cause(s) of the gap between desired and actual knowledge, skills, or performance.
  5. SWOT Analysis is a matrix analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, usually addressing an organizational analysis, but can be used by an individual.
  6. Task Analysis is the process of identifying the specific steps to correctly perform a job function.
  7. Training Needs Analysis is the process of collecting and synthesizing data to identify how training can help an organization reach its goals.
• Analytics is the discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data. Talent management analytics refers to the use of HR and talent data to improve business performance.
• Andragogy (from the Greek meaning "adult learning") is the adult learning theory developed by Malcolm Knowles based on five key principles that influence how adults learn: self-concept, prior experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation to learn.
• Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an approach to large-scale organizational change that involves the analysis of positive and successful (rather than negative or failing) operations. The AI 4-D cycle (discovery, dream, design, destiny) includes identifying areas for improvement, analyzing previous successes, searching for solutions, and developing an action plan.
• Areas of Expertise (AOEs) are specialized, functional knowledge and skill sets needed for a particular job or industry. In the current Competency Model, 10 AOEs were identified for the T&D profession.
• Assessment Center is a catch-all term for a variety of exercises, including oral exercises, counseling simulations, problem analysis exercises, interview simulations, role-play exercises, written report or analysis exercises, and group exercises.
• ASTD Competency Model is an occupation-wide model that identifies the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to be a successful performer in the T&D field.
• ASTD HPI Model is a results-based, systematic process used to identify performance problems, analyze root causes, select and design solutions, manage solutions in the workplace, measure results, and continually improve performance in an organization.
• Asynchronous Communication is a communication that occurs outside real time.
• Asynchronous Training or Learning is learning in which the trainer and the learner do not participate simultaneously; for example, asynchronous e-learning.
• Audio refers to the electronic or digital reproduction of sound waves. Used most broadly to refer to sounds we hear. On its own, it is a method of communication that is used in radio and in multimedia applications. Audio is also a component of video communication that combines both pictures and audio.
• Audio Editing is the process of cutting out unwanted content from an audio recording. Traditionally performed by literally cutting tape, it is now performed using audio editing software where "umms" and "ahhs" and other elements can be cut from the audio. Audio editing also includes adding music, sound effects, and processing the audio elements with tools such as the graphic equalizer and compressor.
• Augmented Reality uses digital technology to add information to a real-world environment whose elements are augmented or supplemented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics, or GPS data.
• Authoring Tools are software programs that allow a content expert to interact with a computer in everyday language to develop courseware.
• Avatar is a graphical representation of the computer user or the user's alter ego or character.
• Baby Boomer refers to the generation born from 1946 to 1963 in the U.S. who are typically characterized as competitive and loyal to their employers.
• Behaviorism is an approach to psychology focused on observable and measurable behavior. It is usually associated with psychologist and author B.F. Skinner.
• Benchmarking is an evaluation of one's own practices and comparison with other companies' practices.
• Best Practices are techniques that are believed to constitute a paradigm of excellence in a particular field.
• Blended Learning is the practice of using several media in one curriculum. It typically refers to the combination of classroom instruction and any type of training that includes use of online resources.
• Blog (weblog) is an extension of a personal website consisting of journal-like entries posted on a webpage for public viewing. Blogs usually contain links to other websites along with the thoughts, comments, and personality of the blog's creator.
• Bloom's Digital Taxonomy is an update to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy that attempts to account for the new behaviors and actions emerging as technology advances and becomes more ubiquitous.
• Bloom's Taxonomy, developed by Benjamin Bloom, consists of the three learning outcomes based on three domains: cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (attitude) -- sometimes referred to as KSAs.
• Brainstorming is a group process for generating ideas in an uninhibited manner.
• Breakout Rooms are private meeting sub-rooms where participants have private discussions and collaborate on tasks. In a virtual classroom, the facilitator creates a breakout room as a whiteboard or chat; in an instructor-led in-person classroom, the facilitator identifies additional space, often located in a separate room.
• Burden of Evidence is the degree to which an evaluation must be able to isolate the effects of the interventions, and to provide compelling proof on a solutions impact.
• Business Acumen is the understanding of how a company makes money in order to make prompt and wise business decisions that are likely to lead to a good outcome.
• Business Awareness is the understanding of key factors affecting a business, such as its current situation, influences from its industry or market, and factors affecting growth. Having business awareness is essential to strategic involvement with top management.
• Business Case is the justification of value added for any organization, program, project, or initiative.
• Business Intelligence (BI) Tools are tools and systems that play a role in strategic planning and help organizations make decisions.
• Buzz Groups are small groups of learners assembled to discuss specific issues, problems, or situations within a short, stated timeframe.
• Career Advisors, also called career coaches, are those professionals responsible for career advising.
• Career Development is a planned process of interaction between an organization and an individual that allows the employee to grow in an organization.
• Case Study is a learning method in which a real or fictitious situation is presented for analysis and problem solving.
• Cause-and-Effect Analysis is a diagram-based exercise (sometimes called a fishbone diagram) to identify all the likely causes of a problem.
• Certification is the validation of competencies, usually through testing, which typically results in a designation. The designation is typically earned by an individual for the purpose of assuring one's qualifications to practice.
• Chain of Evidence refers to the data, information, and testimonies at each of the four evaluation levels that, when presented in sequence, act to demonstrate value obtained from a business partnership initiative.
• Chat Room is a synchronous process in which the learners and trainer are online at the same time. Chat rooms are similar to electronic bulletin boards, but bulletin boards are asynchronous.
• Coaching is a process in which a more experienced person, or coach, provides an employee with constructive advice and feedback with the goal of improving performance.
• Cognition is a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making.
• Cognitive Dissonance Theory states that when contradicting cognitions exist, this conflict compels the human mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs or to modify existing beliefs to minimize the amount of dissonance between cognitions.
• Cognitive Load refers to mental work imposed on working memory that may help or impede learning.
• Cognitivism is a theory that attempts to answer how and why people learn by attributing the process to cognitive activity. It is the "tell" approach to learning, based on the theory that learning occurs through exposure to logically presented information, usually involving lecture. It can also include diagrams, videos, films, panels, class presentations, interviews with SMEs, readings, debates, and case studies.
• Collaborative Learning is an instructional approach in which learners and instructors share the responsibility for learning and work together to determine how a session should progress.
• Commentary is a media term used to describe narration in audio or video. In video, commentary provides additional information that has not been conveyed by picture.
• Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common interest in an area of competence and who share the experiences of their practice.
• Competencies include the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to successfully perform key work functions in a job, industry, or occupation.
• Competency Model refers to the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to successfully perform key work functions in a job, industry, or occupation. A competency model is usually represented graphically.
• Computer-Based Training (CBT) encompasses the use of computers in both instruction and management of the teaching and learning process. Computer-aided instruction and computer-managed instruction are also included under the term CBT.
• Concurrent Validity is the extent to which an instrument agrees with the results of other instruments administered at approximately the same time to measure the same characteristics.
• Conditions of Learning refers to Robert Gagné's theory of nine events of instruction that ensure learning occurs.
• Consultant is a person who uses expertise, influence, and personal skills to facilitate a client-requested change or improvement. Consultants may be employees of an organization (internal) or under contract with the organization (external) due to needed help, information, or perspective.
• Content Management System (CMS) is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content. A CMS is frequently a web application used for managing websites and web content, though in many cases, CMSs require special client software for editing and constructing articles.
• Control Group is a group of participants in an experiment that is equal in all ways to the experimental group except for having received the experimental treatment (for example, a group that has undergone training versus a group that has not).
• Correlation is a measure of the relationship between two or more variables; if one changes, the other is likely to make a corresponding change. If such a change moves the variables in the same direction, it is a positive correlation; if the change moves the variables in opposite directions, it is a negative correlation.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis is a type of return-on-investment analysis used to prove that an initiative either paid for itself or generated more financial benefit than costs.
• Counseling helps people evaluate their behaviors and discover and learn more productive behavior patterns.
• CPLP (Certified Professional in Learning and Performance) is a professional credential offered by the ASTD Certification Institute to training and development professionals.
• Criterion Validity is the extent to which an assessment can predict or agree with external constructs. Criterion validity is determined by looking at the correlation between the instrument and the criterion measure.
• Critical Behaviors are the minimum, key behaviors that employees require to consistently perform on the job in order to bring about targeted outcomes.
• Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.
• CSS stands for cascading style sheets, a standard for separating out how information looks from what it says, supporting flexible content delivery.
• Current Capability Assessment measures an organization's talent and how current skills match the needs of the organization now and in the future.
• Data Collection refers to the collection of all facts, figures, statistics, and other information that is used for various types of analyses and assessments. Some examples of data-collection methods or tools are examinations of in-house or external written sources, questionnaires, interviews, and observation of trainees or jobholders.
• Decorative Graphic is a visual that is added for aesthetic or humorous effect.
• Delivery is any method of transferring content to learners, including instructor-led training, web-based training, CD-ROM, and books.
• Design is the planning stage of a learning initiative.
• Development is learning or other types of activities that prepare a person for additional job responsibilities and enable him to gain knowledge or skills. It may also refer to the creation of training materials or courses. (See also ADDIE.)
• Discovery Learning is the process of learning by engaging in an activity.
• Distance Learning is an educational situation in which the instructor and students are separated by time, location, or both. Distance learning can be synchronous or asynchronous.
• Double-Loop Learning is to change underlying values and assumptions as decision making progresses. People often refer to this act as reframing or changing the context.
• Drivers are processes and systems that reinforce, monitor, encourage, and reward performance of critical behaviors on the job.
• Dyads consist of two learners working together as a team to conduct discussions, role plays, or other experiential activities in a training session.
• Effect Size is a way of quantifying the difference, using standard deviation, between two groups. For example, if one group (the treatment group) has had an experimental treatment and the other (the control group) has not, the effect size is a measure of the effectiveness between the two groups.
• E-Learning is a term covering a wide set of applications and processes, such as web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. Delivery of content may take place via the Internet, intranet or extranet (local area network [LAN] or wide area network [WAN]), audio- and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive television, CD-ROM, and more.
• Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) is software that provides just-in-time, on-demand information, guidance, examples, and step-by-step dialog boxes to improve job performance without the need for training or coaching by other people.
• Embodied Interaction occurs during human-computer interaction in physical and social spaces emphasizing practical engagement over abstract reasoning and situated meaning over generalization.
• Embodied Space is the location where human experience and consciousness takes on material and spatial form.
• Emotional Intelligence is an "eighth intelligence" based on Gardner's multiple intelligence theory, which suggests an ability to accurately identify and understand one's own emotional reactions and those of others and is related to personal qualities,such as selfconfidence and motivation. The theory was popularized by Daniel Goleman in the 1990s in his book, Emotional Intelligence.
• Enabling Objectives, also called supporting objectives, support terminal objectives by breaking them down into manageable chunks. Enabling objectives are the building blocks that provide additional concepts or skills needed to meet a terminal objective. (See also Terminal Objectives.)
• Engagement is a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his organization that influences him to give greater discretionary effort to his work. Higher engagement levels yield higher productivity and retention rates.
• Environment is the setting or condition in which an activity occurs. Environment is a factor that affects performance and it can include tools, equipment, furniture, hardware and software, and physical conditions, such as light, heat or cold, ventilation, and so forth.
• Evaluation of training is a multilevel, systematic method for gathering information about the effectiveness and effect of training programs. Results of the measurements can be used to improve the offering, determine whether the learning objectives have been achieved, and assess the value of the training to the organization.
• Evidence-Based Training is a process of making decisions regarding the design, development, and delivery of training on data rather than opinion or tradition.
• Experience-Centered Instruction focuses on the learner's experience during instruction and the production of fresh insights.
• Experiential Learning occurs when a learner participates in an activity, reviews the activity, identifies useful knowledge or skills that were gained, and transfers the result to the workplace.
• Experiential Learning Activities (ELAs) are a way of learning that emphasizes experience and reflection and uses an inductive learning process that takes the learner through five stages: experiencing, publishing, processing, generalizing, and applying.
• Explanatory Graphic is a visual that illustrates qualitative or quantitative relationships among lesson content elements.
• Explicit Knowledge is information that has been documented or can be shared with someone.
• Extant Data are archival or existing records, reports, and data that may be available inside or outside an organization. Examples include job descriptions, competency models, benchmarking reports, annual reports, financial statements, strategic plans, mission statements, staffing statistics, climate surveys, 360-degree (or upward) feedback, performance appraisals, grievances, turnover rates, absenteeism, suggestion box feedback, and accident statistics.
• Extraneous Cognitive Load refers to irrelevant mental work imposed on working memory that impedes learning.
• Facilitation in the training field refers to the work of the person or trainer who guides or makes learning easier, both in content and in application of the content to the job.
• Flipped Classroom is a form of blended learning in which new content is learned independently online, by watching video lectures, or reading, followed by more personalized guidance and interaction with the trainer instead of lecturing.
• Force Field Analysis is a diagnostic tool developed by Kurt Lewin to assess two types of forces related to introducing change in organizations: driving and restraining. Driving forces are those that help implement the change, whereas restraining forces are those that will get in the way of the change.
• Forecasting Models are used to isolate the effects of training. With this approach, the output variable is predicted with the assumption that no training is conducted. The actual performance of the variable after the training is then compared with the forecasted value, which results in an estimate of the training impact.
• Formal Learning is planned learning that derives from activities within a structured learning setting.
• Formative Evaluation (from a training impact perspective) is an assessment of the effectiveness of a training program while the program materials are being developed or "formed." Examples of formative evaluation include pilots as well as technical and production reviews.
• Foundational Competencies are the clusters of competencies needed for success across most occupations. In the ASTD Competency Model, they are the bedrock upon which to build more specialized, T&D-specific competencies.
• Front-End Analysis is a term credited to Joe Harless that refers to performance analysis. It includes carrying out a business analysis, identifying performance gaps, completing a task analysis, performing a cause analysis, and usually identifying a key performer or exemplar.
• Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction were developed by Robert Gagné, a pioneer in the field of instructional design. His nine events of instruction are meant to help ensure that learning occurs.
• Gamification applies the essence of games: fun, play, transparency, design, and challenge to real-world objectives in scenarios that can be conducted online or offline.
• Gantt Chart graphically displays the time relationships of a project's steps and key checkpoints or deliverable dates, known as milestones.
• Gap Analysis is a critical activity carried out during performance analysis that defines driving and restraining forces, current state versus desired state, and methods for change.
• Howard Gardner developed the Multiple Intelligence Theory, which states there's no single way in which everyone thinks and learns. Gardner devised a list of intelligences: linguistic/verbal, logical/mathematical, spatial/visual, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, existential, and emotional. These intelligences in different combinations make up a person's learning style.
• Generation X refers to those born from 1964 to 1979 in the U.S. who are typically characterized as independent free agents accustomed to taking care of themselves and making lifestyle choices that contribute to their happiness and health.
• Generation Y, also called Millenials, are the members of the generation born after 1980 in the U.S. who are the most outspoken and empowered. They are socially conscious, selfcentered, and have high expectations of organizations.
• Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model identified six factors that can either hinder or facilitate workplace performance: information, resources, incentives or consequences, knowledge and skills, capacity, and motivation. Thomas F. Gilbert was a psychologist who lived from 1927 to 1995.
• Goals refer to end states or conditions toward which human effort is directed.
• Governance is the oversight of process, such as strategy or content life cycle, including policy and management.
• Hard Data are objective, quantitative measures commonly stated in terms of frequency, percentage, proportion, or time.
• Harless's Front-End Analysis Model is a diagnostic model designed by Joe Harless to identify the cause of a performance problem; the model is based on the belief that the cause should drive the solution.
• Heads-Up Display (HUD) is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints.
• Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument is a method of personality testing developed by W.E. (Ned) Herrmann that classifies learners in terms of preferences for thinking in four modes based on brain function: left brain, cerebral; left brain, limbic; right brain, limbic; right brain, cerebral. (See also Learning Styles.)
• Horizontal Development refers to adding more knowledge, skills, and competencies. It is about what you know and is measured through 360-degree feedback.
• HTML5 is the fifth revision of the markup language for the World Wide Web, standardizing a variety of advanced features supporting animation and interactivity across web applications' responsive design.
• Human Capital describes the collective knowledge, skills, competencies, and value of the people in an organization.
• Human Performance Improvement (HPI) is a results-based, systematic process used to identify performance problems, analyze root causes, select and design actions, manage solutions in the workplace, measure results, and continually improve performance in an organization. It is based on open systems theory, or the view that any organization is a system that absorbs environmental inputs, uses them in transformational processes, and produces outputs.
• Human Resource Development (HRD) is the term coined by Leonard Nadler to describe the organized learning experiences of training, education, and development offered by employers within a specific timeframe to improve employee performance or personal growth. Also, it is another name for the field and profession sometimes called training or training and development.
• Icebreakers are activities conducted at the beginning of training programs that introduce participants to one another, may introduce content, and in general help participants ease into the program.
• Implementation occurs when a course is delivered, whether in person or virtually.
• Independent Variable is the variable that influences the dependent variable. Age, seniority, gender, shift, level of education, and so on may all be factors (independent variables) that influence a person's performance (the dependent variable).
• Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are plans for improvement in a current job or for job advancement. These plans may or may not be tied to a performance appraisal system; however, a good plan usually is integrated with a performance appraisal.
• Informal Learning describes learning that occurs outside a structured program or class. It happens in everyday life and on the job through observing others, trial-and-error, and talking and collaborating with others. The broad category of informal learning can include social learning, but some instances of informal learning are not social -- for example, studying and reading.
• Instant Feedback is a feature that allows participants to communicate with facilitators at any time throughout a virtual classroom by selecting from a menu of feedback options such as: raise hand, agree, stepped away; may also be referred to as a raise hand feature, emoticons, or status changes.
• Instruction is imparted knowledge as well as the practice of instructing. Instruction or training is used to fill a learning need. In the workplace, it covers many types of content and can be delivered in many formal and informal ways.
• Instructional Designer is a person who applies a systematic methodology based on instructional theory to create learning content.
• Instructional Strategies, sometimes called presentation strategies, are the mechanisms through which instruction is presented.
• Instructional System is the combination of inputs, such as subject matter and resources, and outputs, such as curriculum and materials, to build a training course.
• Instructional Systems Design (ISD), sometimes referred to as instructional systems development, is a systems approach to analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating any instructional experience based on the belief that training is most effective when it gives learners a clear statement of what they must be able to do as a result of training and how their performance will be evaluated.
• Integrated Talent Management (ITM) is a series of HR processes that are integrated for competitive advantage. ITM builds an organization's culture, engagement, capability, and capacity through the integration of such processes as talent acquisition, employee development, retention, and deployment; it ensures that these processes are aligned to organizational goals and strategy. ITM is sometimes described as putting the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time.
• Interrelationship Digraphs are follow-ons to affinity diagrams. They chart cause-andeffect relationships among groups of ideas. (See also Affinity Diagrams.)
• Interval Variables make it possible to rank order items being measured and to quantify and compare the sizes of differences between them.
• Intranet is a computer network that's accessible only to authorized users; for example, to employees of an organization.
• Intrapreneurship was defined in 1978 by Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot and refers to free market entrepreneurship within a corporation; currently is used as a means for organizations to ignite innovation within their ranks and effectively develop employees of diverse ages and backgrounds.
• Job Aids provide guidance about when and how to carry out tasks and steps. Job aids, also known as performance support, reduce the amount of recall needed and minimize error. Tasks performed infrequently, or tasks that are highly complex or likely to change, or involve a high probability of error, are good candidates for job aids. Job aids often take the form of checklists, video demonstrations, or audio instruction.
• Job Analysis identifies all duties and job responsibilities and the respective tasks done on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis that make up a single job function or role.
• Just-in-Time Training is instruction delivered when it's needed and used on a job.
• Donald Kirkpatrick, a pioneer of training evaluation, first postulated his evaluation model in the 1950s. The model has four levels of evaluation: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. (See also Evaluation.)
• Knowledge relates to the cognitive abilities a person needs to be able to carry out a job.
• Knowledge involves the development of intellectual skills.
• Knowledge Exchanges, also known as knowledge exchange networks, enable different groups in an organization to share documents and information, create lists of links in simple webpages, and discuss issues of mutual interest.
• Knowledge Management (KM) is the explicit and systematic management of intellectual capital and organizational knowledge as well as the associated processes of creating, gathering, organizing, disseminating, leveraging, and using intellectual capital for improving the organization and the individuals in it.
• Knowledge Mapping is a process for identifying and connecting the location, ownership, value, and use of knowledge and expertise in an organization. Examples of knowledge maps are network charts, yellow pages of experts, or a matrix relating knowledge to key processes.
• Knowledge Repository is the storage location of knowledge in a knowledge management system.
• Knowles, Malcolm is considered the father of adult learning theory. He defined six assumptions about adult learning and published The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species in 1973.
• Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, developed by David Kolb, is an inventory of four learning styles or modes (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation) and learners' orientation to them. Kolb categorizes learners as convergers, divergers, assimilators, or accommodators.
• KSA is an abbreviation standing for two different things, depending on who is using it: 1) Knowledge (cognitive), skills (psychomotor), and attitude (affective) are the three objective domains of learning defined by Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy in the 1950s. Bloom's classification of learning objectives is used in education and training to determine the goals of the educational process. 2) Knowledge, skills, and ability are the KSAs used by the U.S. federal government and some private hiring agencies to distinguish qualified from unqualified candidates.
• Leadership Development is any activity that increases the leadership ability of an individual or the leadership capability of an organization. It includes activities such as learning events, mentoring, coaching, self-study, job rotation, and special assignments to develop the knowledge and skills required to lead.
• Leading Indicators are short-term observations and measurements suggesting that critical behaviors are on track to create a positive impact on desired results.
• Learning is the process of gaining knowledge, understanding, or skill by study, instruction, or experience.
• Learning Content Management System (LCMS) is software technology that provides a multi-user environment where developers, authors, instructional designers, and subject matter experts may create, store, reuse, manage, and deliver digital e-learning content from a central object repository. An LCMS focuses on the development, management, and publishing of the content that will typically be delivered via a learning management system (LMS).
• Learning Environment is the physical and emotional surroundings and setting in which learning takes place.
• Learning Information Systems are complementary networks of hardware and software used to create, deliver, and administer learning. LMSs and LCMSs are examples of such tools.
• Learning Management System (LMS) is software technology for delivering online courses or training to learners while performing learning management functions such as creating course catalogs, keeping track of learners' progress and performance across all types of training, and generating reports. An LMS is not used to create course content. That work is performed using an LCMS.
• Learning Modalities (See Learning Styles.)
• Learning Objectives are clear, measurable statements of behavior that a learner must demonstrate for training to be considered a success.
• Learning Objects are self-contained chunks of instructional material used in LCMSs. They typically include three components: a performance goal, the necessary learning content to reach that goal, and some form of evaluation to measure whether or not the goal was achieved.
• Learning Styles describe individuals' approaches to learning that involves the way they behave, feel, and process information. Learning styles are the basis for a number of assessment models. (See also Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument and VAK Model.)
• Learning Transfer refers to how individuals transfer learning in one context to another similar context.
• Level 1: Reaction is the first level of Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Evaluation Model. It measures participants' reaction to and satisfaction with a training program.
• Level 2: Learning is the second level of Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Evaluation Model. It determines whether participants learned what was intended for them to learn as a result of a training session. It measures the participant's acquisition of cognitive knowledge or behavioral skills.
• Level 3: Behavior is the third level of Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Evaluation Model. It measures the degree to which training participants are able to transfer their learning to their workplace behaviors.
• Level 4: Results is the fourth level of Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Evaluation Model. It measures the effect of the learning on organizational performance.
• Likert Scale is a linear scale used in data collection to rate statements and attitudes; for example, respondents receive a definition of the scale from 1 to 10.
• Mager, Robert developed behavioral learning objectives with three elements: what the worker must do (performance), the conditions under which the work must be done, and the standard or criterion that is considered acceptable performance.
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs was introduced by Abraham Maslow in 1954 in his book Motivation and Personality. Maslow contended that people have complex needs, which they strive to fulfill and which change and evolve over time. He categorized these needs as physiological, safety/security, social/belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow contends that basic needs have to be satisfied before a person can focus on growth.
• Mean Score, or the average of a group of numbers, is the most robust, or least affected by the presence of extreme values (outliers), of the three measures of central tendency because each number in the data set has an effect on its (mean) value.
• Measures of Central Tendency are three statistical averages: mean (the average of a group of numbers), median (the middle of a distribution where half the numbers are above the median and half are below), and mode (the most frequently occurring value in a group of numbers).
• Media is a term traditionally used to describe the radio, television, and print industries; however, in a broader context it includes anything that facilitates transmission of a message such as the web, instructional workbooks, and radio or television.
• Median is the middle of a distribution arranged by magnitude; half the numbers are above the median, and half are below the median.
• Mentoring is the career development practice of using an experienced person or group to share wisdom and expertise with a protégé over a specific period of time. There are three common types of mentoring: one-on-one, group, and virtual.
• Meta-Analysis is a statistical review technique that synthesizes the results of many experimental studies.
• Milestones are the indicators of an event within a process, usually placed at the end of a phase to mark its completion. They are used to ensure that a deliverable or project can be completed on time.
• Millennials (See Generation Y.)
• Mobile Learning is learning that takes place via such wireless devices as smartphones, tablets, or laptop computers.
• Motivation Theory is based on the idea that when people have the right environment to work in, they will be motivated to grow and become connected to that environment. This theory is important to coaching.
• Multimedia is a term used to describe the convergence of audio, video, animation, images, text, and interactive content into one medium such as the web. Multimedia content is associated with digital technologies and enables users to control various aspects of online learning such as content sequence.
• Multiple Intelligence Theory, popularized by Howard Gardner in Frames of Mind (1985), describes how intelligences reflect how people prefer to process information. Gardner believes that most people are comfortable in three to four of these intelligences and avoid the others. For example, for learners who are not comfortable working with others, doing group case studies may interfere with their ability to process new material.
• Multi-Rater Feedback is another name for 360-Degree Feedback Evaluation, which is feedback from superiors, direct reports, peers, and internal and external customers on how a person performs in any number of behavioral areas.
• Multisensory Learning engages the learner and increases retention. Audio and video can often convey feelings and subtle contexts of learning more effectively than other tools.
• Multi-Tracking is the editing process where multiple audio tracks are combined to play simultaneously. Each individual track has its own controls for volume and effects, such as graphic equalization; it was traditionally used as a technique to record pop music where each track would feature a different instrument.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an instrument that helps determine personality type based on preferences for extraversion or introversion, intuiting or sensing, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. It's used in career development and team building.
• Needs Analysis is the process of collecting and synthesizing data to identify how training can help an entity reach its goals.
• Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California in the 1970s. The title asserts a connection between the neurological processes ("neuro"), language ("linguistic"), and behavioral patterns learned through experience ("programming") that proponents speculate can be changed to achieve specific goals in life.
• Neuroscience is any of the sciences, such as neurochemistry and experimental psychology, that deal with the structure or function of the nervous system and brain.
• Noise Removal Technology attempts to identify background noise when you are recording and then remove it.
• Nominal Data is a number or variable used to classify a system, as in digits in a telephone number or numbers on a football player's jersey.
• Normal Distribution is a way observations tend to pile up around a particular value rather than be spread evenly across a range of values.
• Objective is a target or purpose that, when combined with other objectives, leads to a goal.
  1. Behavioral Objectives specify the particular new behavior that an individual should be able to perform after training.
• Objective-Centered describes a theory of instruction that concentrates on observable and measurable outcomes. It is based on behaviorism, the primary tenet of which is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds.
• Observation occurs when participants are directed to view or witness an event and be prepared to share their reflections, reactions, data, or insights. This is also a methodology for data collection.
• [[Onboarding, sometimes called new employee orientation, refers to the process by which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective members in their organizations.
• Open Space Technology is an approach for facilitating meetings, conferences, symposia, and so forth that is focused on a specific purpose or task -- but starting without any formal agenda beyond the overall purpose or theme. Open space meetings ensure that all issues and ideas that people are willing to raise are discussed.
• Open System is one that continuously interacts with its environment. In organizations, an open system is said to allow people to learn from and influence one another because of their interconnectedness and interdependence within the system.
• Open Systems Theory, also known as living or general systems theory, is based on the idea that an open system continuously interacts with its environment. Organizations can be viewed as open systems.
• Ordinal Data is a number or variable that allows ranking order of importance from highest to lowest.
• Organization Development (OD) is the process of developing an organization to be more effective in achieving its business goals. OD uses planned initiatives to develop the systems, structures, and process in the organization to improve effectiveness.
• Organizational Culture is the unspoken pattern of values that guide the behavior, attitudes, and practices of the people in an organization.
• Outlier is a data point that's far removed in value from others in a data set.
• Outsourcing Training refers to using resources or products external to an organization to meet its learning requirements.
• Pedagogy is the art or practice of teaching and often refers to teaching children. Pedagogy focuses on the skills teachers use to impart knowledge and emphasizes the role of the teacher. It is contrasted with andragogy, the teaching of adults. In andragogy the focus is on the learner, who is assumed to be self-directed and motivated to learn in order to perform a task. (See also Andragogy.)
• Performance describes the execution and accomplishment of some activity; it is not an adjective that describes the action itself.
• Performance Analysis measures the gap between desired and actual performance.
• Performance Gap Analysis identifies and describes past, present, and potential future human performance gaps.
• Performance Support is a storage place for task-specific information, other than memory, that is available just in time at the point of need and may also be called a job aid.
• Personal Learning Network (PLN) is an informal network of people seeking knowledge or willing to share knowledge in a particular subject area. Members of a PLN enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship. They may be inside or outside each other's work group or company.
• Jack Phillips and Patricia Phillips developed a model for measuring the return-oninvestment or ROI of training programs.
• Podcast is a series of digital-media files distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portal media players and computers. The term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the series of content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The term derives from the words iPod and broadcast -- the Apple iPod being the brand name of the portal media player for which the first podcasting scripts were developed.
• Poll is a virtual classroom feature that allows the facilitator to post questions to participants and show poll results in real time or after all responses have been received.
• Process Consulting refers to helping a client understand what is happening based on attention and observation of the emotional, nonverbal, perceptual, and spatial aspects of human behavior; it identifies solutions and transfers the skills to the client to manage the ongoing process.
• Producer refers to the virtual classroom technology expert who partners with the facilitator to deliver virtual classroom training.
• Professional Development Plan (PDP) is a working document or blueprint for career goals and the strategies for achieving them.
• Professional Niche is a marketing statement bundling personal expertise and capabilities spotlighting a candidate's individualized qualified background.
• Program Evaluation assesses the effect of a training program on learning.
• Program Evaluation Review Technique Chart (PERT Chart) is a diagramming technique that enables project managers to estimate a range of task durations by estimating the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely durations for each task.
• Project Life Cycle is everything that happens from the beginning to the end of a project.
• Project Management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of resources for a finite period to complete specific goals and objectives.
• Project Scope is what will or won't be done on a project. Project scope management includes the processes needed to complete all required work (and only the required work) so that the project is completed successfully.
• Project Work Teams are groups of employees from various departments or backgrounds who work together to identify and resolve workplace issues or problems.
• Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement.
• Pull Learning allows learners to select what they want, is self-directed, and may be called informal learning.
• Push Learning is directed by others, requires learners to accept knowledge and skills as presented, and may be called formal learning.
• Qualitative Analysis involves looking at participants' opinions, behaviors, and attributes and is often descriptive.
• Qualitative Data are information that can be difficult to express in measures or numbers.
• Random Assignment is the process of assigning a sample to different groups or treatments in a study.
• Random Sampling means that each person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen for the sample. Choosing every tenth person from an alphabetical list of names, for example, creates a random sample.
• Random Selection is the process of drawing a sample of people from a population for a study.
• Rapid Instructional Design (RID) is a collection of strategies for quickly producing instructional packages to enable a group of learners to achieve a set of specific instructional objectives.
• Reliability is the ability to achieve consistent results from a measurement over time.
• Results refer to the goals an organization strives for.
• Results-Based Approach is driven by a business need and a performance need and must also be justified by the results of the cause analysis.
• Return-on-Expectations (ROE) is the measure of satisfaction by key business stakeholders that demonstrates the degree to which their expectations have been met.
• Return-on-Investment (ROI) is a ratio of the benefit or profit received from a given investment to the cost of the investment itself. ROI calculations are used to show certain benefits of training programs.
• Role Play is an activity during which participants act out roles, attitudes, or behaviors that are not their own to practice skills or apply something they have learned. Frequently, an observer provides feedback to those in character.
• Root Cause Analysis is used to determine why a performance gap exists and identify the contributing factors.
• Rummler-Brache's Nine Box Model is a matrix approach to performance management based on three levels of performance (organization, process, and performer) and three dimensions of performance (goals, design, and management).
• Schein's Career Anchors Theory is a concept developed in 1961 by Edgar Schein. A career anchor is one's self-concept about one's talents and abilities, basic values, and motives and needs as they pertain to career.
• Scope Creep refers to work or deliverables that are added to a project but were neither part of the project requirements nor added through a formal change process.
• Screen Text is written text that is reproduced on the screen of a media device such as a computer monitor, mobile telephone, tablet, or e-book reader. It is read 25 percent slower than text on paper and does not always conform to traditional grammar.
• Self-Directed Learning (SDL) is learning in which the learner determines the pace and timing of content delivery. SDL occurs through a variety of media, ranging from print products to web-based systems. It also refers to informal learning in which a person seeks information or guidance from others, for example, through social media.
• Semantic Web is a mechanism of adding information about information, supporting machine processing and recombination so that content can be assembled by rules, not by hand.
• Significant means probably true (not caused by chance) in statistics.
• Simulation is the act of imitating the behavior of some situation or some process by means of something suitably analogous. In training situations, simulations range from simple live exercises to complex computer software. Simulations allow people to learn by performing and repeating an action in a safe environment. Simulations are popular for teaching decision making.
• Single-Loop Learning refers to a type of learning in which people learn and use new skills for necessary but incremental change.
• Six Sigma Methodology is a disciplined, data-driven methodology for eliminating defects (driving toward six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in a process. The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction.
• Skills refer to proficiency, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training or experience.
• Smile Sheet is a nickname for the form used in Level 1 evaluation of instructors and training classes.
• Social Learning refers to learning that occurs through interacting with and observing others. It is often informal and unconscious, and often happens as an organic result of living and moving in the world.
• Social Media are electronic communication tools used to extend social interactions and learning across organizations and geography.
• Soft Data are qualitative measures. They are intangible, anecdotal, personal, and subjective, as in opinions, attitudes, assumptions, feelings, values, and desires. Qualitative data cannot be objectified, and that characteristic makes them valuable.
• Sound Effects are audio recordings of common day noises such as a door closing or car starting. Sound effects are individual elements usually saved as individual files that can be combined to create an audio picture and are powerful for grabbing attention and conveying information fast.
• Split Attention is the mental load that is caused by separation of related instructional content causing working memory to hold parts of the information while viewing other parts.
• Stakeholder is any individual or group who has an interest in the outcome of a project, program, or general success.
• Standard Deviation is a common measure or indicator of the amount of variability of scores from the mean. The standard deviation is often used in formulas for advanced or inferential statistics.
• Storyboard is a visual plan of each shot a videographer plans to shoot in order to convey a message. It features a drawing of how the shot should look with additional instructions such as shot size, camera positions, movements, and angles.
• Strategic Planning is the process that allows an organization to identify its aspirations and future challenges, clarify and gain consensus around a business strategy, communicate the strategy throughout the organization, align departments and personal goals with the overarching organizational strategy, and identify and align strategic initiatives. This process is often combined with long-term (five- to 10-year) planning initiatives.
• Structured Mentoring is a time-limited process focused on a protégé's acquisition of a particular skill set and on specific behavioral objectives.
• Subject Matter Expert (SME) is a person who has extensive knowledge and skills in a particular subject area.
• Succession Planning is the process of identifying key positions, candidates, and employees to meet the challenges that an organization faces in the short and long term.
• Summative Evaluation assesses and summarizes the development of learners at a specific point following training. Summative evaluation may also be used to diagnose weaknesses.
• Surveys collect the type of information employees have as well as the type of information they need to do their jobs.
• Synchronous Training occurs when the trainer and the learner participate in the training at the same time. It is most often used when discussing web-based training, which can be synchronous or asynchronous.
• Systems Thinking is a conceptual framework that encompasses the whole, making patterns (and ways to change them) more understandable.
• Tacit Knowledge]] ([[as opposed to explicit knowledge) is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. It is personal knowledge gained through experience.
• Talent Development Reporting Principles (TDRP) establishes internal reporting standards for planning and collecting human capital data and defining and reporting critical outcomes, effectiveness, and efficiency measures needed to deliver results and contribute to organizational success. TDRp is an industry-led, grassroots initiative.
• Task Analysis examines a single task within a job and breaks it down into the actual steps of performance.
• Technical Consulting relies on the knowledge and expertise of the consultant to solve the client's problem.
• Teleconferencing is the instantaneous exchange of audio, video, and text between two or more people or groups at two or more locations.
• Terminal Objectives are the final behavioral outcomes of a specific instructional event. The designer must state an objective clearly and describe the intended exit competencies for the specified unit, lesson, course, or program for which it was written.
• Texting is the act of composing and sending a brief, electronic message between two or more mobile phones or fixed or portable devices over a phone network. Term originally referred to messages sent using the Short Message Service (SMS).
• Theory X is a theory of human motivation about work developed by Douglas McGregor in the 1960s. It assumes that employees are inherently lazy, dislike work, and will avoid it if they can. Belief in Theory X leads to close supervision and tight control of employees by their managers.
• Theory Y, also developed by Douglas McGregor, postulates that most people are selfmotivated and enjoy working and will work to achieve goals to which they are committed, especially if rewards result from the achievement of those goals.
• 360-Degree Feedback Evaluation is feedback from superiors, direct reports, peers, and internal and external customers on how a person performs in any number of behavioral areas.
• Traditional Mentoring focuses on career development and overall career performance over the short or long term.
• Traditionalists refer to the generation born before 1946 in the U.S. who are typically characterized as loyal, dependable, responsible, altruistic, and hard working.
• Trainers are people who help individuals improve performance by teaching, instructing, or facilitating learning in an organization.
• Training Needs Assessment is the process of collecting and synthesizing data to identify how training can help an organization reach its goals.
• Training Objective is a statement of what an instructor hopes to accomplish during the training session.
• Training Transfer Evaluation measures the success of the learner's ability to transfer and implement learning on the job.
• Trend Lines are used to project the values of specific output variables if training had not been undertaken. The projection is compared to the actual data after training, and the difference represents the estimate of the impact of training. Under certain conditions, this strategy can accurately isolate the training impact.
• Triple-Loop Learning refers to a type of learning in which people make fundamental shifts about how they view themselves and willingly alter their beliefs and values about themselves and about the world (a transformational act).
• Tuckman Group Development Model is a team-maturing model that depicts five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.
• VAK Model, developed by Neil Fleming, is a division of learning styles into three categories: visual (learners need pictures, diagrams, and other visuals), audio (learners need to hear information), and kinesthetic (learners need hands-on learning). Some people learn primarily through one learning style, others through a combination of the three.
• Validity describes how well the evaluation instrument measures what it is intended to measure.
• Variance is a measure of how spread out a distribution is. It's calculated as the average squared deviation of each number from the mean of a data set.
• Vertical Development refers to advancement in a person's thinking capability or how one thinks. The outcome of vertical stage development is the ability to think in more complex, systemic, strategic, and interdependent ways.
• Video refers to the electronic or digital reproduction of moving pictures and is a key method of online communication. It is generally combined with audio to create a final message although it does not have to include an audio track.
• Video Editing is the process of assembling video footage in a video editing software program, cutting out redundant elements of the footage and trimming them so they are run naturally together. Music, sound effects, and special effects are combined during the edit process to create a final video file.
• Video Script is written text of a video that includes all spoken word content plus a visual description of each shot along with camera moves, positions, and angles. Factual scripts such as those used in industrial video tend to follow a two-column format. In the left column the shot is described visually and any monologue, dialogue, or commentary is included in the right column. Any audio such as music is also noted in the right column.
• Virtual Classroom is an online learning space where learners and instructors interact.
• Virtual Reality (VR) is computer-based technology that gives learners a realistic, threedimensional, interactive experience. This powerful tool enhances learning by allowing students to perform skills in a realistic, engaging simulation of a real-life environment.
• Web 2.0 is the use of Internet technology and web design to enhance information sharing and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of online communities and hosted services such as social networking sites, wikis, and blogs.
• Web Portals are websites that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way.
• Web-Based Training (WBT) refers to the delivery of educational content via a web browser over the Internet, a private intranet, or an extranet.
• WIIFM is Internet slang for "What's in it for me?" Also used by trainers and facilitators at the start of a training program to promote learners' interest in its content.
• Wiki is a collection of webpages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community website.
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the primary tool in project management used to begin planning and documenting project deliverables.
• Workforce Planning is the process that ensures that an organization can meet its goals and objectives within a given business environment by having the right workforce capability. It is part of integrated talent management, which involves having the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time.
• Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP) is a term for the professions of training, performance improvement, employee development, and workplace education. Collectively, this profession is more commonly known as training and development (T&D).
• XML is a markup language specifically designed to support separating out content structure in in web pages supporting different delivery of the same content to different devices.