Quick Reference
Learning project terms, explained simply.
Use this quick reference to understand common learning, training, and instructional design terms you may see during a project. Each term is written to help clarify decisions, support better questions, and connect you to related posts or resources when available.
A
ADDIE
A classic instructional design framework that breaks course creation into five phases. In real projects, most teams treat it as a flexible checklist instead of a strict step-by-step recipe.
Accessibility
Designing learning so people with disabilities can use it. This includes screen reader support, keyboard navigation, color contrast, captions, transcripts, and clear structure on every screen.
Agile
An iterative way of working where you release small pieces of a course, get feedback quickly, and refine over short cycles instead of waiting for one big launch at the end.
AI in eLearning
Using artificial intelligence tools to support parts of the eLearning process, such as brainstorming, outlining, drafting scripts, summarizing content, creating visuals, building practice questions, or reviewing materials.
Assessment
Any activity that checks what learners know or can do. This includes quick checks, scenario questions, quizzes, simulations, and on-the-job tasks tied to real work.
Audience Analysis
The process of learning who the learners are, what they already know, what they need to do, and what may affect how they experience the training.
Authoring Tool
Software used to create eLearning courses, interactions, simulations, quizzes, and learning assets. Common examples include tools like Storyline, Rise, Captivate, and similar course-building platforms.
Analytics
Data that helps teams understand how learners interact with a course. This may include completions, quiz results, time spent, survey feedback, or LMS reports.
B
Behavior Change
A change in what people actually do after training. This may include applying a process, making better decisions, following a standard, or using a skill more consistently on the job.
Blended Learning
A training approach that combines more than one modality—like eLearning, virtual sessions, and on-the-job activities—to create one connected learning experience.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
A framework that organizes cognitive skills from basic recall to higher-order thinking, such as applying, analyzing, and creating. Many IDs use it to shape learning objectives and question difficulty.
Blueprint
A planning document that outlines the learning goal, audience, content structure, delivery format, activities, and key decisions before full course development begins.
Branching Scenario
An interactive scenario where learner choices lead to different paths and outcomes. It is often used to practice conversations, decisions, and judgment calls in a safe environment.
Business Outcome
A measurable change the organization cares about, such as reduced errors, higher sales, smoother onboarding, or faster time to proficiency. Training should support these outcomes, not exist as a standalone goal.
C
Captions
Text that appears with audio or video so learners can read what is being said. Captions support accessibility and are especially helpful when learners are in quiet, noisy, or shared spaces.
Chunking
Organizing information into smaller, meaningful pieces so it is easier to process and remember. In eLearning, this often shows up as short sections, clear steps, or grouped ideas instead of long walls of text.
Cognitive Load
The total mental effort a learner uses to understand and work with information. Too much load at once can overwhelm people and make it harder to learn, remember, or apply anything.
Completion Rate
The percentage of assigned learners who finish a course or learning activity. It is often tracked in an LMS or reporting dashboard.
Compliance Training
Training that helps employees follow laws, regulations, or internal policies, such as safety, ethics, data privacy, or harassment prevention.
Content Audit
A review of existing materials to see what is useful, outdated, duplicated, missing, or unclear. This may include slide decks, documents, recordings, job aids, policies, and SME notes.
Course Flow
The order and movement of a course from beginning to end. Course flow includes how topics are sequenced, how learners move through ideas, and how each part connects to the next.
Curriculum
A planned sequence of learning experiences that work together over time. It is not just a single course, but a full path of activities, resources, practice, and touchpoints.
D
Deliverable
A finished or review-ready item created during a learning project. Deliverables might include a storyboard, course module, video script, facilitator guide, job aid, or final eLearning package.
Design Document
A planning document that outlines goals, audience, content structure, activities, and assessment plans before development starts. It captures key decisions in one place for review and sign-off.
Design Thinking
An approach to solving problems that starts with understanding people, then moves through ideation, prototyping, and testing. It encourages experimenting and learning quickly from feedback.
Development
The phase where the actual learning materials are created, such as slides, eLearning modules, videos, guides, job aids, and supporting assets based on the approved design.
Diagnostic Assessment
A short check used before or near the beginning of training to understand what learners already know, where gaps exist, and what kind of support may be needed.
Discovery
The early phase of a project where you clarify the problem, audience, context, constraints, and success measures before committing to a solution or course outline.
Draft Review
A structured review of a draft course, storyboard, script, or learning asset before it is finalized. Reviewers look for accuracy, clarity, flow, usability, and alignment with the project goal.
E
eLearning
Learning experiences delivered through digital platforms, often as browser-based courses, LMS modules, or interactive web experiences that learners complete online.
eLearning Module
A self-contained section of digital learning. A module may be one part of a larger course or a standalone learning experience focused on a specific topic or skill.
Engagement
The level of attention, interest, and participation learners bring to a learning experience. It is influenced by relevance, challenge, interaction, pacing, and how useful the content feels.
Estimated Seat Time
The estimated amount of time a learner will spend completing a course, module, video, or learning activity.
Evaluation
The process of checking how well learning performed, from basic reactions and completion data to changes in behavior and business results.
Evaluation Plan
A plan for how a team will measure whether learning worked. It may include what data to collect, when to collect it, who reviews it, and how the results will inform updates.
Executive Sponsor
A leader who supports the learning project, helps clarify priorities, removes barriers, and reinforces why the training matters to the organization.
Experiential Learning
A learning approach where people gain skills and insight by doing real or simulated tasks, then reflecting on what happened and how to apply it back on the job.
F
Facilitator Guide
A document that helps an instructor, trainer, or facilitator lead a learning session. It may include timing, talking points, activity instructions, discussion prompts, and materials needed.
Feedback
Information given to learners, reviewers, or project teams to help improve performance, decisions, or the learning experience. Feedback may come from quizzes, practice activities, stakeholders, SMEs, or learners.
Final Review
The last structured review before a course, asset, or learning experience is approved for launch or delivery. It usually checks accuracy, functionality, visuals, accessibility, and readiness.
Flow
The way a learning experience moves from one idea, activity, or decision point to the next. Strong flow helps learners understand where they are, why it matters, and what comes next.
Formative Assessment
A low-stakes check built into the learning experience to help learners practice, receive feedback, and notice what they understand before a final assessment or real-world task.
Front-End Analysis
Early analysis used to understand the problem, audience, performance gap, content needs, constraints, and whether training is the right solution.
G
Gap Analysis
A process for comparing the current state to the desired state. In learning projects, it helps identify what people know or do now, what they need to know or do, and what is causing the gap.
Goal
The broad result a learning project is trying to support. A goal may describe what the organization wants to improve, what learners need to do better, or what outcome the training should help move forward.
Governance
The process for managing ownership, approvals, updates, and decisions after a learning product is created or launched.
Graphic Treatment
The visual style used across a learning experience, including color, typography, icons, imagery, layout, and overall look and feel.
Guided Practice
Practice that gives learners support while they apply new knowledge or skills. This may include hints, examples, feedback, scaffolding, or step-by-step support.
Guide / Job Guide
A reference document that helps people complete a task, follow a process, or remember key information after training. It may be used during work instead of inside a course.
H
Handout
A supporting document learners can use during or after a training experience. Handouts may summarize key points, provide steps, support an activity, or give learners something to reference later.
Help / Support Resource
A resource learners can use when they need help applying information after training. This may include a quick reference guide, checklist, FAQ, decision aid, or searchable support page.
High-Level Design
An early design plan that shows the overall direction of a learning project before the details are fully built out. It may include the audience, goals, course structure, delivery approach, and major activities.
Human-Centered Design
A design approach that starts with the people who will use the learning experience. It considers learner needs, context, barriers, emotions, and real work conditions.
Hybrid Learning
A learning approach that serves learners in more than one setting, such as a mix of in-person and virtual participation, or learning that supports both live and remote audiences.
Hyperlink
A clickable link that takes learners to another screen, page, document, website, resource, or part of the course.
I
Implementation
The point where a learning experience is prepared, launched, delivered, or made available to learners. This may include uploading files, testing access, communicating with learners, and coordinating rollout details.
Instructional Design
The process of creating learning experiences that help people build knowledge, skills, confidence, or job performance. It includes clarifying goals, organizing content, designing practice, and planning how learning will be supported.
Instructional Designer
A person who helps plan, design, develop, and improve learning experiences. Instructional designers often work with subject matter experts, stakeholders, and learners to make training clearer and more useful.
Interaction
Something learners do during a course or learning experience, such as clicking, choosing, sorting, answering, reflecting, practicing, or making a decision.
Interactive eLearning
Digital learning that asks learners to do something beyond simply reading or watching. This may include scenarios, knowledge checks, drag-and-drop activities, decision points, simulations, or guided practice.
Iteration
A cycle of improving a learning product based on feedback, testing, review, or new information. Iteration may happen during design, development, review, or after launch.
J
Job Aid
BuildA quick-reference resource that helps people complete a task while they are working. Job aids may include checklists, step-by-step guides, decision trees, templates, or process reminders.
Just-in-Time Learning
BuildLearning or support provided at the moment someone needs it. This might be a short video, checklist, searchable guide, tooltip, FAQ, or quick reference.
J
Build
Job Aid
A quick-reference resource that helps people complete a task while they are working. Job aids may include checklists, step-by-step guides, decision trees, templates, or process reminders.
Build
Just-in-Time Learning
Learning or support provided at the moment someone needs it. This might be a short video, checklist, searchable guide, tooltip, FAQ, or quick reference.
K
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
A measurable indicator used to track progress toward a goal. In learning projects, KPIs may connect training to outcomes such as fewer errors, faster onboarding, improved customer scores, or stronger process adoption.
Key Stakeholder
A person who has influence over the project, provides input, approves decisions, or is affected by the final learning experience. This may include leaders, SMEs, managers, compliance teams, or learner representatives.
Kickoff
The starting meeting or conversation for a learning project. A kickoff usually clarifies the goal, audience, scope, timeline, roles, source materials, review process, and next steps.
Kirkpatrick Model
A common framework for evaluating training across four levels: learner reaction, learning, behavior, and results. It helps teams think beyond whether learners liked the course.
Knowledge Check
A short question or activity that helps learners check their understanding during a course. Knowledge checks are usually low-stakes and are often paired with immediate feedback.
Knowledge Transfer
The process of sharing information, expertise, or context from one person or group to another. In learning projects, this often happens between SMEs and the person designing or building the course.
L
Learning & Development (L&D)
The part of an organization responsible for building skills, knowledge, and capabilities— often through training, programs, resources, and performance support.
Learning Objective
A clear statement of what learners should be able to do by the end of a course or lesson, usually written with an action verb and a focus on observable behavior.
Learning Outcome
The change you expect to see in knowledge, behavior, or performance after learning— often framed at a higher level than a single course objective.
Learning Path
An organized sequence of courses, resources, and experiences that learners move through over time to build a skill set or reach a role-ready level.
Learning Management System (LMS)
Software used to deliver, track, and manage learning—such as assigning courses, storing completions, and generating basic reports.
Learning Experience Design (LXD)
A way of designing learning that blends instructional design with UX, product thinking, and human-centered design. It looks at the end-to-end experience, not just a single course.
M
Metrics
The numbers you look at to understand how learning is performing—such as completions, quiz scores, time to competence, error rates, or other business-linked data.
Microlearning
Learning experiences broken into small, focused units—often a few minutes each— that target a single idea, skill, or task instead of a long, all-in-one course.
Mobile Learning
Learning experiences designed to work well on mobile devices—often shorter, tap-friendly, and focused on quick reference or practice rather than long, slide-heavy modules.
Modalities
The different formats you can use for learning—such as eLearning, video, ILT, VILT, job aids, simulations, or coaching—often combined in a single solution.
N
Narrative
The story thread that connects characters, situations, and events in a learning experience— often used in scenarios, case studies, or branching stories.
Navigation
The way learners move through a course or experience—buttons, menus, progress indicators, and rules about what they can do next.
Needs Analysis
The process of clarifying the real problem, audience, current performance, and desired state before deciding whether training is needed and what it should do.
Nudges (Learning Nudges)
Small, timely prompts—like reminders, tips, or micro-messages—that encourage people to use new behaviors or resources after training, often delivered through email, chat, or apps.
O
Onboarding
The structured process of helping new hires understand their role, team, tools, and culture— often combining courses, live sessions, shadowing, and on-the-job practice.
Online Learning
Any learning that happens over the internet—such as eLearning modules, virtual classes, webinars, or self-paced resources accessed through a browser or app.
On-the-Job Support
Tools and resources people use while doing their actual work—like job aids, checklists, embedded help, or quick reference guides that reduce the need to remember everything.
On-the-Job Training (OJT)
Training that happens as part of real work, usually with a more experienced person guiding, demonstrating, and coaching while the learner performs actual tasks.
P
Performance Support
Resources that help people do their jobs while they work—such as job aids, checklists, tooltips, or embedded help—so they don’t have to rely on memory from training alone.
Personas
Fictional but research-informed profiles that represent key learner groups—capturing their goals, constraints, context, and attitudes toward learning.
Pilot
A small-scale release of a learning solution to a limited audience to test content, flow, and logistics before rolling out more broadly.
Practice
Opportunities for learners to try the target skills—through scenarios, simulations, exercises, role plays, or real work—often with feedback and increasing challenge.
Pre-work
Activities or content learners complete before a live session or main course—such as short videos, readings, or reflections—to prime them and save time for deeper work.
Prototype
A quick, simplified version of a learning experience—such as a few sample screens, a clickable mockup, or a rough module—used to test ideas with stakeholders or learners.
Q
Qualitative Data
Non-numeric data—like comments, interview notes, observations, and themes—that help you understand how learners experienced a program and why results look the way they do.
Quantitative Data
Numeric data—like completions, scores, attendance, time spent, or KPI changes—that can be counted, compared, and tracked over time.
Question Bank
A collection of assessment questions grouped by topic, objective, or difficulty that an LMS or authoring tool can pull from to build quizzes or randomize items.
Quiz
A brief test used to check knowledge or understanding—often at the end of a lesson or module—made up of questions like multiple choice, true/false, or matching items.
R
Reflection
Intentional time for learners to think about what they experienced, what it means for their work, and how they might respond differently next time.
Reinforcement
Ongoing touchpoints—like reminders, nudges, refreshers, and manager check-ins—that help keep key ideas visible and support habit-building over time.
Retrieval Practice
Activities that ask learners to pull information from memory—like low-stakes quizzes, flashcards, or “what would you do?” questions—rather than just re-reading content.
Return on Investment (ROI)
A way of comparing the benefits of a learning initiative (like improved performance or reduced errors) to its costs in time, money, and resources.
Review Cycle
Planned rounds of feedback on drafts or builds—often from SMEs, stakeholders, and QA— with clear owners, deadlines, and what’s in scope for each round.
Role Play
A practice method where learners act out realistic situations—like coaching talks, customer calls, or feedback conversations—to try new skills in a safe environment.
S
Scenario-Based Learning
A learning approach that drops learners into realistic situations and asks them to make decisions, see consequences, and try again—often using branching or layered scenarios.
Simulation
An experience that imitates a real system, tool, or situation—like software sims, flight sims, or branching scenarios—so learners can practice without real-world risk.
SME (Subject Matter Expert)
A person with deep expertise in the topic or role you’re designing for—often a leader, high performer, or specialist who provides content, examples, and review.
Spaced Practice
A technique where practice or review happens across multiple sessions over time, instead of in one long block, to strengthen memory and skill.
Stakeholders
Individuals or groups who have a stake in the learning solution—such as sponsors, managers, SMEs, learners, and downstream teams affected by the results.
Storyboard
A detailed plan that lays out content, visuals, interactions, and audio script screen by screen (or slide by slide) before full development in an authoring tool.
T
Target Audience
The specific group of people a learning solution is meant to serve—defined by their roles, experience level, context, and what they need to be able to do.
Task Analysis
The process of breaking a job task into smaller, observable steps and decisions so you can see what people actually do and where they struggle.
Templates
Pre-built structures for documents or designs—like storyboards, slides, or emails—that give you a consistent starting point while leaving room for customization.
Time to Competence
The amount of time it takes for a learner—often a new hire—to reach a defined level of acceptable performance in their role.
Touchpoints
The individual moments where learners interact with the learning experience—emails, sign-up pages, modules, coaching sessions, nudges, and follow-ups.
Transfer of Training
The degree to which skills and knowledge from training show up later in real work— in how people behave, make decisions, and deliver results.
U
Upskilling
Helping people develop new or deeper skills so they can succeed in their current role or grow into future roles, often through targeted programs and practice.
Usability Testing
Observing real or representative learners as they try to use a course, tool, or resource to see where they get confused, stuck, or surprised.
User Experience (UX)
The overall experience someone has when interacting with a product or course—how easy it is to use, how it feels, and whether it helps them do what they came to do.
User Journey
A mapped view of all the steps a learner goes through with a solution—from first invite or announcement through completion, follow-up, and on-the-job use.
V
Video
A format that combines visuals, audio, and motion to share concepts, stories, demonstrations, or walkthroughs—live-action, animated, or screen-recorded.
Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT)
Real-time training led by a facilitator in a virtual platform—using chat, polls, breakout rooms, and shared screens instead of a physical classroom.
Visual Design
How a course or asset looks—layout, typography, color, spacing, and imagery—used intentionally to support clarity, focus, and emotional tone.
Voiceover
Recorded narration that guides learners through content—whether human-recorded or AI— usually following a script that complements (not reads) on-screen text.
W
Webinar
A live online session, often with a presenter and slides, delivered through a web platform— sometimes interactive, sometimes more broadcast-style.
Wireframe
A simple, low-fidelity sketch of screens or pages that focuses on structure, spacing, and content placement without final visuals or branding.
Workflow Learning
Learning that’s embedded directly into day-to-day work—through tools, prompts, job aids, and systems—so people don’t have to step away to a separate “course.”
Workplace Learning
All the ways people learn at work—formal programs, coaching, workflow learning, peer support, and informal problem-solving on the job.
X · Y · Z
xAPI (Experience API)
A specification for tracking learning activities across systems—not just in an LMS— by sending statements like “Dana completed Scenario 2” to a Learning Record Store (LRS).
YouTube & Open Video (Informal Learning)
When people use publicly available video platforms—like YouTube—to look up how-to content, explanations, or walkthroughs outside formal training programs.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
A concept from Vygotsky describing the “sweet spot” where a learner can succeed with some support—tasks that are just beyond what they can do alone, but not so hard they shut down.