Do you speak my language? Problems with language in eLearning....

This may seem like a daft question, but it is actually my way of introducing a series of posts I am planning to do over the next few weeks (yep... a series of connected posts).

If you are a bioscientist (or any scientist or educator), the chances are at some point you will need to use eLearning in your teaching, and this is where the problems can start.

Very rarely have I encountered an 'off-the-shelf' solution that fits my needs (see earlier post on Tips for Exemplary Course Design (but watch out for the limitations of your VLE) and so I am left with a choice of either compromising my brilliant teaching idea, or finding a solution that meets my needs. I would encourage everyone to go for the second option, however, that is where the fun (or problems, depending on your point of view) start.

If you try to find your own solution (be it using some new software that your institution doesn't currently support, or by 'rolling your own' solution) at some point you are going to have to talk to your local, hopefully friendly, IT support guys so that you can get it installed on a system, and/or so your students can access it.

Now, I am not saying this is true of all IT support, but they do tend to talk their own language, and sometimes it is difficult to understand what they are talking about*. (Although in fairness over the years I have met some IT guys who seem to do it on purpose.)

So, over the next few weeks I am going to do 26 posts (I bet you can see where this is going?) which will be an A-Z of computing/technology terms that I think are important in eLearning. In each case I will give my definition (understanding) of the term and where appropriate an indication of where the technology could be applied. The true aim of the posts is to help resolve some of the communication difficulties faced when educators meet IT experts.

By the way, it will not be a definitive list.

Image from: wikimedia.org

* This is not a dig at IT guys as it tends to be true of most interdisciplinary conversations. A UK biochemist can easily chat about science to a US biochemist, but put a biochemist and physiologist from the same country together in a room and they will soon run in to a 'language' problem.

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