The digital transformation glossary

An accessibility statement summarizes your efforts to produce the most accessible version of the site, interface, or course you’re delivering.

Within the accessibility statement you can note what measures you’ve taken (for example, ensuring adequate colour contrast for text legibility, adding transcripts for videos, and more), what interaction models have been tested (for example, responsive screen sizes, keyboard navigation, screen readers, zooming), what you know is working well, and any considerations or known issues (for example, testing with one kind of screen reader, but not others. ie, NVDA, but not JAWS).

In addition to these notes, offer a pathway to access support for any additional feedback or accommodations support.

Your accessibility statement should be prominently linked from your interface. For example, as a primary link in your website footer, from the main course landing page, and within any onboarding content.

Adaptive technology is technology that has been specifically designed to help people with disabilities navigate technology interfaces and perform specific tasks. For example, screen readers allow people with visual impairments to access text on a screen by converting it to speech.

Kerry Shield’s bi-modal flexible learning model is a learner-centred model that supports course delivery in two options:

• Synchronous online delivery with an asynchronous option for learning
• Synchronous in-person delivery with an asynchronous option for learning

This model empowers learners with choice and flexibility to learn at their own pace without missing course information. Beyond delivery, this model incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into course design to ensure learners can engage with the course material and demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes in multiple ways.

Reference: Shield, K. (2023, April 17). A case for bi-modal flexible learning, part 1, Faculty Focus.

Bloom’s taxonomy is a hierarchical model of classifying educational objectives, building from remembering to understanding, applying to analyzing, evaluating and, finally, creating.

1. Remembering: recall facts and basic concepts
2. Understanding: explain ideas or concepts
3. Applying: use information situationally
4. Analyzing: draw connections among ideas
5. Evaluating: make and defend judgments
6. Creating: produce new or original work on the topic

Instructional design practices help accelerate higher-order thinking for course participants to move beyond remembering and understanding toward application, analysis, and more.

Cohorts is a term often used in statistics and research to describe distinct groups of people that may have similar objectives, needs, or traits. Cohorts are similar to user groups, segments, and other ways of describing groups of people in design, research, and learning.

Communities of practice are an effective way to enhance online learning and self-directed learning by allowing learners to explore content and practice new skills together. Such communities have been shown to increase student satisfaction and retention (Leong, 2011) in e-learning programs.

Reference: Leong, P. (2011). Role of Social presence and Cognitive Absorption in Online Learning Environments. *Distance Education* , *32* (1), 5-28. doi: 10.1080/01587919.2011.565495

Differentiated learning is a philosophy of teaching that involves the idea that a teacher should avoid only teaching one way to the entire class. Instead, each student needs to be engaged in different ways based on their preferences, strengths, and weaknesses.

Online courses are particularly well suited to support differentiated learning by offering multiple modes of learning, self-directed learning, and more accessible and varied access to learning materials.

An individual education plan is a document that schools use to establish and define accommodations for students with disabilities.

Instructional Design is the planning, development, and creation of educational materials and curricula.

Using principles of Bloom’s taxonomy, differentiated learning, universal design for learning (UDL), and other methods, an Instructional Designer, Curriculum Designer, and/or Educator—along with subject matter expert(s) (SMEs)—develop lesson plans, assessments, materials, and collaborative activities that, together, help improve learning outcomes for course participants.

Also known as Learning Management Software

A Learning Management System, or LMS, is a platform or software used to deliver educational content to students. Using an LMS allows course content to be displayed and can enable activities and exams, interactive discussions, course management and tracking learner progress.

There are many different LMS platforms, including:

• 360Learning
• Acorn
• Blackboard
• Canvas
• Docebo
• D2L
• Edmodo
• Google Classroom
• Moodle
• Schoology
• Thinkific

Many human resources information systems (HRIS) offer an integrated LMS. For example, Cornerstone.

Say Yeah’s inclusive and accessible online education solutions work within and without an LMS or HRIS to give you the flexibility to easily enhance learning within your current systems or launch something new. Let’s connect to explore how we can support you in improving learning outcomes for your organization.

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Post-then-pre is an evaluative method that improves insight into learning effectiveness by removing bias and highlighting a likely change of behaviour from learners.

The methodology stems from asking learners to self-report following a learning exercise, not before. This minimizes “response-shift bias” and offers learners a path to share a direct and immediate comparative based on answering successive post then pre questions such as:

• Post: How confident are you with this topic now?
• Pre: How confident were you with this topic before taking this training?

Reference: S. Kay Rockwell & Harriet Kohn (1989). Post-Then-Pre Evaluation, Journal of Extension.

A rigid learning structure is a learning system that prioritizes standardizing curriculum design for the average learner over a personalized approach based on assessing individual interests, cognitive capacities, strengths, and modes of learning. Online learning programs that follow a rigid structure offer courses in one format (mostly video) with limited navigation features and interactive elements.

 The drawback of this model is that many learners will struggle not only with navigating the course but also with recalling and engaging with the course content, typically lost in video timelines.

Reference: Rohan, A T. (2023). Why “one size fits all education” might not work anymore. Higher Education Review.

Self-regulated learning involves students building and using strategies such as metacognition, time management, and critical thinking in their learning in a classroom. These strategies are strongly correlated (Wong, 2018) to more success in an online education environment.

Reference: Wong, J., Baars, M., Davis, D., Van Der Zee, T., Houben, G., & Paas, F. (2018). Supporting Self-Regulated Learning in Online Learning Environments and MOOCs: A Systematic Review. International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 35 (4-5), 356-373. doi:10.1080/10447318.2018.1543084

Universal Design for Learning is a methodology for structuring lesson planning and classroom management around equity and accessibility to that all students can feel included and supported by classroom activities, assignments, and the overall process of learning.

UDL’s components, Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression are based off of the neuroscience of learning.

Engagement focuses on stimulating learner interest and motivation for learning.

Representation is about providing learners with different forms of information and content.

Action & Expression allows learners to express what they know in different ways.

Learn more about the framework and it’s development at CAST.org.

Web standards form the foundation of each and every website. These standards are set by W3C, enacted by web browser makers, and used by web developers so that the content and code of a website can be viewable and interactive across devices, operating systems, and web browsers.

Web standards are the underlying foundation for ensuring the access, performance, and security of your website, app, and online courses. Without adherence to web standards, accessibility and performance suffers, which reduces engagement with your content.

Learn more about web standards from the W3C.