Learning and Performance Glossary

bandwidth

Information carrying capacity of a communication channel.

baseline

1) Valid and reliable information about the intended learner population used to ascertain differences between learners' performances before and after instruction. 2) A set of measurements (metrics) that seek to establish the current starting level of a performance. These measurements are usually established before implementing improvement activities.

behavior

Any activity (either covert or overt) the learner will be expected to exhibit after training. The activity should be observable and measurable. It is the primary component of an objective.

behaviorism

Belief that learning results in a change in the learner's behavior. The focus of behaviorists is on the outputs of the learning process. The study of learning only through the examination and analysis of objectively observable and quantifiable behavioral events, in contrast with subjective mental states.

blended learning

When this term first arrived, most definitions followed the concept that it is a "blended" solution between elearning and classroom learning (face-to-face). However, some are now taking a broader view in that it goes beyond elearning and classrooms that include a group of related instructional units or modules of different media covering a major subject area. It was first known as brick and click.

Bloom's Taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom and colleagues developed a hierarchical domain model of educational activities: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor.

brain dominance

An individual's preference for using one's cognitive abilities. There are two styles of thinking - right brain (intuitive, spontaneous, qualitative) and left brain (factual, analytical and quantitative).

branching

An instructional technique, usually in the form of programmed text, in which the learner's next step of instruction is determined by her response to a previous step. Two or more directions in a program path can go from a decision point.

bricks and click

A traditional classroom approach combined with elearning or online learning (as in clicking a mouse). This is more comonly known as blending learning.

broadcast

Method of transferring learning content to many learners simultaneously.

bypassing

In programmed instruction, a technique that permits a student to skip certain portions of the material because of prior knowledge.