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Are you an online
student or looking into becoming one? Are
there definitions for other terminology that
you would find useful to see here?
Please let us know on our Twitter page:
http://twitter.com/onlineuinfo
This section is dedicated to providing
you with definitions of the common terms you
may hear when you start looking into or
become enrolled in an online degree program.
If you don't find the answers you need here,
please check our
FAQ or send us a question via our
Twitter account above.
- Accreditation: A voluntary
process in which an online degree
program undergoes an evaluation by an
accrediting agency to determine that it
meets certain standards of quality and
integrity. There are two types of
accreditation, institutional and
specialized.
- Accrediting Agency: An
organization or institution recognized
by the U.S. Department of Education with
the authority to evaluate a school or
program to ensure that it meets certain
standards of quality and integrity.
- Adjunct Professors:
Part-time, non-tenured faculty members
are the most common instructors in
online classes. While some adjunct
professors are trying to get tenure,
most have full-time jobs outside of
academia with expertise in a certain
field.
- Adult Learners: Also known as
nontraditional students, adult learners
are individuals who are returning to
school after a period of time off and
who are entirely responsible for their
own finances and educational goals.
- Annual Catalog: A booklet
that contains all of the courses offered
by an institution. Usually includes
brief descriptions and times, and may
include instructors and class locations
in order to help students create a
schedule each semester. Catalogs are
usually updated once a year.
- Blog: A website that is
created and maintained by an individual
or organization who regularly posts
commentary, news or other information
related to a particular topic. Blogs may
contain text, videos, images or links to
other websites, and visitors can post
additional comments. Professors may use
a blog to provide information and to
foster class discussion in online degree
programs.
- Chat Room: An online
discussion forum that allows for
real-time, text conversations between
users, such as students and instructors.
- Diploma Mills: An learning
institution that offers fake degrees to
students for a flat fee, requiring
little to no actual course work.
- Discussion Forum: An online
message board used in online classes to
foster discussion on a particular topic.
Students can post a response and comment
on other students’ posts.
- Employer Reimbursement: You
may be able to have your employer pay
for your tuition if your degree will
help to advance your skills and
training. Students must typically make a
commitment to stay at their company for
at least a year to receive a tuition
reimbursement.
- Financial Aid: Students who
are unable to pay for their education on
their own can receive financial aid.
Options include scholarships, grants,
loans and employer reimbursement.
- Grants: Financial aid offered
by the government that does not have to
be paid back. Students in greater
financial need are more likely to
qualify and certain stipulations may
apply, like maintaining a minimum GPA.
- Instant Messaging (IM): A
real-time online conversation between
two people using text.
- Institutional Accreditation:
Applies to a school or institution as a
whole that has been evaluated by a
regional accrediting agency to determine
that it meets certain standards of
quality and integrity.
- Internship: A temporary work
position that allows students to gain
hands-on career experience in a
particular field. Online degrees in the
medical field typically require students
to complete an internship as part of
their coursework.
- Loans: Financial aid that is
“borrowed” paid back at a later time,
with or without interest. Students can
apply for a loan from the government or
from a private bank.
- Online Degree Programs: A
form of postsecondary education in which
students complete their coursework
entirely via the Internet, with little
or no face-to-face, in-person contact
with professors and classmates.
- Prerequisites: Requirements
that must be met in order to begin
taking classes. Prerequisites vary from
school to school and may include the
completion of other degrees, classes or
internships.
- Rolling Admissions: A policy
used by colleges to have a large time
frame to accept applications for new
students. Some institutions may have a
six-month window to accept applications
for admissions for a particular
semester, while others may be continuous
and have no specific end date.
- Scholarships: Financial aid
awarded to students by an institution or
organization for their academic,
athletic, artistic, philanthropic or
other achievements. They do not have to
be paid back.
- Specialized Accreditation:
Applies to a specific program or
department within a larger institution
that has been evaluated by an
accrediting agency with expertise in
that field to determine its quality and
effectiveness.
- Video Conferencing: Uses
audio and video technology to allow two
or more people at different locations to
interact. Distance learning instructors
can use video conferencing to hold
meetings and share documents and other
information with students.
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Entering into a new field? You'll
likely find a lot of jargon that may
be unfamiliar to you. Start creating
your own glossary by saving a
section of your notebook for terms
you don't understand. Ask us
(contact us on Twitter), your
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