Activity structures: Basic frameworks for classroom activities that can be easily adapted to fit a wide range of course variables. Dr. Judi Harris describes these.

Analysis: The fourth level of Bloom's Taxonomy, analysis requires the student to examine and break information down into parts to examine and understand its meaning. This level requires students to "read between the lines," make inferences, and find evidence to support generalizations.

Application: This is the third level of ability in Bloom's Taxonomy. It is seen when students use methods, theories, or concepts in new situations. Instead of simply interpreting a graph, they might construct a new graph using the data, or use a learned formula to actually solve an equation.

Asynchronous: Occurring at different times. In the context of communication, the label asynchronous is used with technologies such as email and threaded discussions where users communicate with no expectation of receiving an immediate response from other communicators.

Bloom, Benjamin: An educational psychologist who, along with some colleagues, is responsible for the development of a scale for categorizing student activities in the cognitive domain.

Bloom's Taxonomy: A group of educational psychologists led by Benjamin considered student abilities in the cognitive domain, ranking these behaviors from plain and simple to the most complex. Bloom divides student cognitive abilities into the following six categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. This ranking has become known as Bloom's Taxonomy.

Boolean logic: In computerized information retrieval, search queries use and, or, and not to connect keywords, which describe and represent the topic being retrieved. Examples: A and B, A or B, A not B.

Bridging: This scaffolding technique provides a personal connection between the learner and the theme of the class, and taps into the student's prior knowledge relevant to the class theme. Brainstorming about a topic prior to a lesson is an example of bridging.

Bruner, Jerome: The term "scaffolding" was first used by Jerome Bruner in his book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (1986) to describe the assistance that a teacher gives a student to help him/her safely take risks and reach higher than would be possible by the students efforts alone.

CMC: Computer Mediated Communication. Communication between two or more people that is conducted using computers. A variety of different CMC methods, such as email, text-based-chat, and videoconferencing, exist and more are being created.

Communicating: For the purposes of this module communicating is a category of activities in which students engage in a learning environment. Communicating activities are characterized by their purpose, directionality of information flow, and in some cases their placement in the course of study. Communicating activities are undertaken to help students use and test ideas they are formulating, expand their scope of inquiry, build relationships with others, and to learn more about a subject. Communicating activities usually have some degree of bi-directional information exchange. Finally, communicating activities occur throughout the unit of study and are not considered summative in nature.

Comprehension: The second level of student ability in Bloom's taxonomy is called "comprehension" and requires a student to demonstrate an understanding of the information. Students may show this by summarizing main ideas, translating a mathematical word problem to numbers, or by interpreting charts or graphs.

Computer Mediated Communication: Communication between two or more people that is conducted using computers. A variety of different CMC methods, such as email, text-based-chat, and videoconferencing, exist and more are being created.

Contextualization: This scaffold creates a clear experiential environment that familiarizes new, unknown concepts and throws light on them. Visualizations, focus questions, and use of manipulatives are all helpful. Input is made comprehensible through a variety of means which manipulate the content of the materials that teachers include in their lessons.

Creative Reporting: It often does not have the more formal and stylized structures that may be present in the other types of reporting. Typically, creative reporting deals with reality through a fictional tool. For example, a student may attempt to express the African American inner city contemporary experience through the creation of a script or a poem.

Data: According to Davenport and Prusak (2000), data refers to a "set of discrete, objective facts about events;" by itself, it does not have relevance or purpose.

Desktop video conferencing: Technology that permits users to communicate via voice and video over phone lines or the network.

E-mail: Short for electronic mail, e-mail is a system of world-wide electronic communication, in which messages are generated by a computer user at one computer and sent to a recipient, usually at another computer. Although generated electronically, e-mail is very similar in concept to "snail mail," our normal mail system via the post office. An e-mail message appears in the recipient's e-mail "box." Like "snail mail," or regular mail, e-mail is asynchronous communication (i.e. not in real time).

Electronic discussion list: A form of electronic conferencing, an electronic discussion list provides a central clearinghouse for all messages intended for the entire conference group. Each message sent to the list is then distributed simultaneously to all recipients, who receive them as e-mail. Electronic discussion lists facilitate ongoing conversations on topics of mutual interest to recipients located anywhere geographically as long as they are connected to the Internet. Many professional groups now have one or more electronic discussion lists, such as a list for elementary music teachers. These lists are a useful way to network, keep up-to-date in the field, discuss current issues, and share information with fellow professionals. Like e-mail, electronic discussion lists provide an asynchronous form of communication (i.e. not in real time).

Email: Electronic mail. A technology that allows the user to send (usually) text-based messages via a computer network.

Evaluation: The sixth and highest level of student ability in Bloom's Taxonomy is called "evaluation." This level requires the student to present and defend opinions while making judgments about the value of material and methods for a given purpose.

Explicit knowledge: Based on Polyani's work (as cited by Nonaka, 1994; Davenport and Prusak, 2000), explicit knowledge is formal and systematic, typically codified in records, such as libraries, archives, and databases.

Expository Reporting: Expository reporting tends to be an unemotional attempt to simply inform an audience. It deals with explaining how to do something, and is also often used in the writing of step-by-step instructions in technical manuals.

Face-to-face: Synchronous communication between two or more people that occurs in real time with all parties being in the same location.

Flame: An attack on a person via a communications media such as email. Flames are sometimes very personal and harsh.

Gardner, Howard-Gardner: is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments (I.Q. tests).

Graphic Organizer: a diagram or picture of important summary information in a lesson.

Group-to-group: communication that takes place between a group of people and another group of people. Technologies that support group-to-group communication include chat and conferencing.

Information: Consisting of the flow of messages and meanings, it requires both a sender and receiver. According to Davenport and Prusak (2000), "information is meant to change the way the receiver perceives something, to have an impact on judgment and behavior. It must inform; it's data that makes a difference." Nonaka (1994) says that information has two characteristics: it is syntactic (objective and measurable, such as the measurement of the volume of information in a phone bill) and semantic (the conveyed meaning, such as the message content). Information is the medium for initiating and formalizing knowledge.

Information Age: Generally starting in the early 1970's, the Information Age is the term that describes the increase in the creation, publication, consumption, and manipulation of information. It refers in particular to the role of computers and computer networks in facilitating this information explosion.

Instant messaging: A person-to-person chat environment that allows two users to communicate using (usually) text based messages. Instant messaging is usually thought of as a synchronous communication technology.

Internet: Called the network of networks, the Internet is a world-wide system of interconnected networks that use the TCP/IP protocol. Once connected to the Internet from their personal computers, teachers and educators have access to electronic resources world wide, which can be integrated into their classroom. Examples are web pages, e-mail, threaded discussions, and electronic discussion lists (the last three are listed in this glossary).

Interpersonal exchange: A broad category of activity structures as described by Dr. Judi Harris. Interpersonal exchanges are activity structures feature individuals or groups communicating directly with each other.

Jean Lave: One of the researchers known for situated learning theory.

Jean Piaget: A Swiss scholar who worked in several fields including genetic epistemology and developmental psychology, Piaget developed a stage-based theory of child development that is still taught today.

John Dewey: An American philosopher and educational leader born in 1859 whose work on experiential learning is influential today through constructivism.

Knowledge: According to Nonaka (1994), it is combining and organizing the flow of information with personal commitment and beliefs. Knowledge is formed in the minds of individuals, developed through interactions (called "communities of interaction" or "communities of practice"), and supported by organizations.

Lev Vygotsky: A theorist who developed Social Development Theory. Born in 1896 and living until 1934 his work has been re-discovered following the warming of relations between the old Soviet Union and the United states in the post cold-war world.

Media richness theory: Media Richness Theory is based on the assumption that face-to-face communication is the richest form of human communication because of the ease with which information is transmitted. The information that is transmitted includes the actual message contained in the words of the speaker, and the information about the message, and about the speaker that are contained in cues such as tone of voice, facial expressions and body language. Media Richness Theory holds that all forms of communication have different abilities to carry both types of information and that these characteristics are important to consider when choosing a communication method.

Metacognitive Development: This scaffold supports students' internalization of strategies through a conscious focus on the implementation of plans of attack, and fosters student autonomy through self-monitoring and self-assessment.

Modeling: This scaffolding technique clarifies procedures through direct experience, and provides concrete examples of what a student's finished product should look like. The main idea here is that any task that is introduced for the first time should be modeled, and that students need to be given clear samples of what is requested of them for imitation.

Narrative Reporting: The focus of narrative reporting is on events, details and descriptions, and usually answers the who, what, where, why and how. It asks the presenter to put events and actions in a certain order that lead to a complication or problem.

One-to-group: Communication that takes place between one person and a group of people. Technologies that are most often used for one-to-group communication include conferencing and chat.

One-to-one: Communication that takes place between two people. Technologies that support one-to-one communication include email, instant messaging, chat, and conferencing.

Persuasive Reporting: The chief goal in the persuasive reporting of information is to get people to agree with the reporter's specific point of view. The intent is to convince the audience to either take action or come around to a particular way of looking at something. The topic of the presentation is generally debatable, ending with a call to action.

Reporting: For the purposes of this module reporting is a category of activities in which students organize and present information in a learning environment. Reporting activities are characterized by their purpose, directionality of information flow, and in some cases their placement in the course of study. Reporting activities usually have some degree of one-way information transmission. Finally, reporting activities usually occur at the end of the unit of study and are considered summative in nature.

Rubric: an evaluation scale.

Scaffolding: Assistance given by a teacher or coach to a learner that helps them take risks and achieve at a higher level than the learner could on their own.

Scaffolding Instruction: Scaffolding Instruction is a way for educators to provide support mechanisms to allow learners to handle complex tasks, with the eventual goal of learner autonomy.

Schema: This term refers to the background knowledge about a subject that a student already knows before a topic is introduced.

Schema Building: This scaffold helps students establish the connections that exist between and across concepts that may otherwise appear unrelated, and helps students gain perspective with regards to where ideas fit in the larger scheme of things.

Situated Learning: A theory of learning that focuses on the contextual nature of learning and the need for creating learning environments that are situated in both physically and socially. Situated learning theory holds that it is difficult to transfer learning from one environment to another.

Social Learning Theory: Vygotsky's theory of development that emphasizes the social nature of learning through language. Vygostky believed that cognitive development in children depends on social interactions during a finite length of time he termed the Zone of Proximal Development.

Social presence theory: A theory that attempts to explain why people experience different degrees of the salience of another person in an interaction.

Synchronous: Occurring at the same time. In the context of communication, the label synchronous is used with technologies such as chat and conferencing, which occur in near real-time. Users in the communication environment send and receive messages with very little lag time.

Synthesis: This is the fifth level in Bloom's taxonomy and deals with the task of putting together parts to form a new whole. This might involve working with parts and putting them together in a creative new way, or using old ideas to come up with new ones.

Tacit knowledge: Based on Polyani's work (as cited in Nonaka, 1994; Davenport and Prusak, 2000), tacit knowledge is personal, rooted in action, with commitment and involvement in a specific context. It consists of paradigms, viewpoints, beliefs, and concrete know-how, such as crafts and skills.

Text Representation: Text Representation is a scaffold that invites students to extend their understandings and apply them in novel formats. Students might work in groups to pick out a symbol that presents itself in a difficult passage, draw that symbol, and write a quote that illustrates the choice of symbol. In this way the text has been presented in a new way, which may help some of the students understand the contents of the article more clearly.

Text-based chat: Synchronous communication system that lets users type messages to each other.

Text-based discussions: Typically asynchronous interchanges between people using technologies such as bulletin boards or threaded discussions.

Threaded discussion: A form of electronic conferencing which functions like an electronic bulletin board, threaded discussions are electronic messages that are posted, archived, and viewable on a web site. Discussion participants can view both previous and current messages and respond to them in an asynchronous manner (i.e. not in real time). This is useful for facilitating ongoing class discussions between scheduled in-class sessions and to assist students in preparing for the next in-class session. Students may also wish to create a threaded discussion to share their ideas, drafts-in-progress, and completed work with each other and to solicit comments. Some threaded discussions not only post to a web site but also automatically (and simultaneously) generate an e-mail message to all discussion recipients. This last merges both the advantages of personal e-mail and electronic bulletin boards.

Video conferencing: Technology that permits users to communicate via voice and video over phone lines or the network.

Voice-enabled chat: Chat environments that include the capability for participants to use sound capabilities of their computers to hear each other speak in near real-time.

Vygotsky, Lev: A theorist who developed Social Development Theory. Born in 1896 and living until 1934 his work has been re-discovered following the warming of relations between the old Soviet Union and the United states in the post cold-war world.

Webcasting: Transmitting a video and/or audio signal via the Internet. Webcasting can be near real-time and synchronous or asynchronous.

Webquests: These are web pages or web sites, which have a specific educational objective. Usually created by teachers and educators, webquests consist of learning activities that enhance and extend existing classroom experiences. Webquests are available for many different topical areas and disciplines, from social science to science to the humanities. Popular webquests often integrate information gathering functions, such as collecting local data on plant or animal life. Judi Harris has gathered, classified, and described many webquests in her book, Virtual Architecture, and also on her corresponding web site (both listed on the Readings page for this lesson).

Zone of Proximal Development: This is Lev Vygotsky's term for the time between which a child can solve a certain problem only with help from another and the time when the child can solve the same problem on their own. Vygotsky believed that the ZPD was a crucial time for full social engagement of the child in order to achieve maximum learning.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): This is Lev Vygotsky's term for the time between which a child can solve a certain problem only with help from another and the time when the child can solve the same problem on their own. Vygotsky believed that the ZPD was a crucial time for full social engagement of the child in order to achieve maximum learning.