Glossary of LMS Terms

Ad Hoc Tool: A shorthand reference to the Report Wizard tool. This tool allows administrators to create their own reports in the LMS.

Assessment: A test or quiz. An assessment can be used as a stand-alone resource or as part of an e-learning course.

Audience Mapping: Defining a group of users through the use of domains and/or specific users.

Purpose:Learning resources, curricula, and home page announcements are made visible to appropriate groups of users through target audience mapping. When a user enters the LMS, the system will determine the resources and content that the user can view by comparing the audience definition (mapping) of these objects to that of the individual.

Domain: a type of data used to categorize users, such as "Job Title", "Business Unit", or "Manager/Not".
Level: a hierarchical grouping of elements within a domain, such as "Sales" or "East Region".
Element: one value within a domain, such as "Sales Manager", "East Region Sales", or "Yes-Manager".

The following table depicts some sample domains, elements, and levels for a fictional organization.

Domains	Levels	Elements
Business Unit	East Region	East Region Sales East Region Operations
	West Region	West Region Sales West Region Operations
Job Title	Sales	Sales Manager Sales Associate VP, Sales

Catalog Curricula: Defines the on-screen organization of resources in the Course Catalog for the defined target audience.

Certificate: A type of curricula that allows for a group of resources to be bundled together. When a user is enrolled in a certificate each resource is listed on the Development Plan, and completion of all of them is required for the completion of the certificate.

Certificate of Completion: A PDF certificate that sits on the user’s history and can be printed to show course completion.

Class Instance / Facilitated Session: A class instance happens at a specific time and place. A facilitated resource can have an unlimited number of classes associated with it.

Tip: Whenever you see the word “class” in the LMS, you know that it is referencing facilitated sessions.

Curricula: Broad Category that defines groups of learning resources. The three types of curricula are:

(Course) Catalog Curricula
Certificate
Mapping Curricula

Development / Learning / Training Plan: All of these terms can be used to describe where a user’s learning resource(s) reside until the resource is completed.

Enrollment Object (of a certificate): This term is often used interchangeably with the “certificate title.” Both of these terms refer to the resource that appears in the course catalog and into which the user initially enrolls. When a user enrolls into the resource that is the enrollment object, then all of the components of the certificate are placed on their Learning Plan.

Enrollment (Resource) Status: A term that reflects the progress that a user has made on a specific resource. The status terminology can vary based on whether or not it is a facilitated resource. Possible statuses are:

Not Started: This status is for non-facilitated type resources. It indicates that the course is on the user’s Learning Plan, but it has not been launched.
Incomplete: This status is for non-facilitated type resources. It indicates that the course has been launched from the Learning Plan, but it has not been completed.
Not Enrolled: This status is for facilitated type resources. It indicates that the course is on the user’s Learning Plan, but they have not yet enrolled into a specific instance.
Enrolled: This status is for facilitated type resources. It indicates that the user is enrolled into a specific class instance.
Waitlist: This status is for facilitated type resources. It indicates that the user has selected a class instance, but the selected instance was full so the user has been placed on the waitlist.
Pending Manager Approval: This status is for any type of resource. It indicates that the user wants to enroll in a resource, but needs their manager’s approval before the enrollment can be completed.
Expiring: The course will expire within the designated time period. (The time period is the value of the “expiration appearance,” which is set at the resource / audience level.) The user has been re-enrolled in the course and it is on the user’s Learning Plan.
Expired: The last completion for this course has expired. The user has been re-enrolled in the course and it is on the user’s Learning Plan.
Complete: The course has been completed and is on the user’s Learning History.
Waived: This is a form of completion indicating that the course requirement has been waived for this user. A waive is typically visible on the user’s Learning History.
- If used for a resource that has an expiration, this will only waive the user from the current requirement; the user will still need to complete the training before the next scheduled expiration date.
Exempt: This is a form of completion indicating that this user is exempt from the course requirement. This is typically not visible on the user’s Learning History, though this can vary based on system configuration.
- If used for a resource that has an expiration, the user will never have to take the course regardless of expiration date.

Equivalence: The ability to use one (or more) course(s) to mark another course complete.

Evaluation: A survey that is sent upon completion of a resource. The LMS has two types of evaluations:

Level 1: Sent the evening of the course completion date.
Level 3: Typically sent 30 days after course completion.

These levels are based on the Kirkpatrick model.

Expiration: Functionality that automatically creates a new enrollment for a previously completed course. The timing of the new enrollment is based on the user’s previous completion date.

Facilitated: Instructor-Led.

Fulfilled Item: A type of resource that refers to a physical object (such as a book or DVD) that must be sent to the user.

ILT: A commonly used abbreviation referring to an Instructor-Led Training event.

Mapping Curricula: The ability to create one audience and then have multiple courses automatically pushed to the Learning Plans of the users in the audience. Each course can have its own unique completion requirements.

Media Type: The method with which the training is delivered. Common media types include online, instructor-led, certificate, and assessment.

Online Learning (e-learning): Self-paced learning that can be taken from anywhere (assuming an internet connection) at any time.

Portal Page: A web-based page that provides a broad array of information to a defined audience.

Learning Resource: The basic unit of learning stored in the LMS. Learning resources are listed on the Development Plan and Development History and are available in the Course Catalog. Users must enroll in (or are enrolled into) learning resources in order to receive credit.

Possible learning resource types are:

Certificates
Facilitated (instructor-led)
Online (courseware, reference material, or assessments)
Physical items (books, CD-ROMs, etc.)
Video-based

Widget: The individual components of the portal page.