Glossary of Terms

• admission

  entry to a particular institution or program that is formally granted by the institution after a student meets set requirements

• advisor/advising

  person or act of directing a student toward the proper courses necessary to complete the student's educational goals

• asynchronous communication or interaction

  any act of exchanging information involving a delay between the sending and the receiving of the message

• associate degree

  degree program requiring 60+ hours of specified course work

• bachelor's degree or baccalaureate

  the degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of science, typically requiring 120 hours of specified course work

• bursar

  campus office where student tuition and fee payments are made

• campus

  physical location of a college or university

• campus coordinator

  an ICN learner's primary contact at the Home Institutionan who assists with registration and provides on-campus support

• correspondence course

  a course in which all communication between student and instructor is done with printed materials via the US Mail

• credit course

  a class with specified learning goals which the student is required to meet in order to pass the course and that may be applied toward the fulfillment of degree requirements at a college or university

• degree program

  an organized sequence of classes that leads to the awarding of a college degree at the undergraduate or graduate level

• delivery method

  means by which a course is accessible to the student; can be television at a Receive Site, cable, videotape, via the Internet, or by U.S. mail

• distance learning

  a formal learning activity which occurs when students and instructor are separated by geographic distance or by time, often supported by communications technology such as television, videotape, computers or mail

• drop/withdrawal

  student option for not continuing enrollment in a course. Student receives a full or partial refund of tuition and fees if the drop or withdrawal is completed by a certain date near the beginning of the semester

• electronic mail (email)

  a system of exchanging messages by means of computers attached to a network

• electronic mail account or email account

  an authorization that allows the sending of electronic mail messages over a particular system, such as one college's network

• faculty

  instructors of higher education course work; a group term: one college teacher is "a member of the faculty"

• fees/costs

  payment required for itemized services or materials involved with higher education classes

• final exams

  tests often given at the end of a course to assess mastery of course material

• financial aid

  money available from various sources and under various conditions to students needing assistance to pay tuition and educational expenses. The term covers both grants and loans.

• graduate course

  a credit course that may be applied to a graduate degree (that is, a master's or other professional degree, usually requiring at least 30 hours of work beyond the bachelor's degree)

• independent study

  courses delivered and completed primarily via US mail

• Internet

  the web of interconnections among computers that allow computer users to exchange electronic mail and access host computers at a distance, including host computers providing sites on the World Wide Web ("WWW" or "Web")

• learning center

  a place where students can use equipment and obtain services needed to participate in distance education classes, including computers and fax machines

• learning center coordinator

  individual at a Learning Center who provides information about learning opportunities, access to equipment, instruction in its use, and general help with course-related or program-related service needs, questions, and problems

• library coordinator

  a librarian at a college or university who provides library services and resources to distance education students taking courses originating from that institution

• live interaction

  ability for students to participate in classes offered at a distance using electronic technology (video or audio return communication for a TV class or "chat" mode on the Internet)

• noncredit

  a class that typically meets only once or just a few times and that contributes toward personal or occupational development rather than being applicable toward a college degree

• open enrollment

  courses which allow students to register at any time throughout the year. Open enrollment courses generally must be completed within a six month or one year period, depending upon the originating institution

• parallel course

  course that must be taken the same semester as another for full credit

• prerequisite

  requirements necessary before a student can take a particular class

• professional development

  courses offered to improve knowledge and skills in a specific professional areas, such as professional certification programs

• registrar's office

  campus office where student registration and records are compiled

• registration

  act wherein a student enrolls in a specific course

• student services

  services for students and prospective students, including counseling and help with course registration

• syllabus

  outline of material a specific course will cover, on what schedule, with what assignments; usually distributed at the first class of the semester (plural: syllabi).

• transferability

  the extent to which a course taken from one campus may be accepted by another campus; variations determining full or partial transfer of the credit depend on such factors as whether the receiving campus offers an equivalent or similar course at comparable levels of academic expectation for learning; academic advisors and campus coordinators have information about whether and how specific courses will transfer to their institutions and degree programs

• transcript

  student record of grades, courses completed, and advancement toward a degree or toward the completion of a program

• tuition

  payment required for enrollment in a course

• undergraduate course

  a credit course that may be applied to an undergraduate degree (that is, a two-year college degree, often referred to as an associate degree, or a four-year college degree, often referred to as a bachelor's degree)

• World Wide Web (WWW or Web)

  an information system based on hypertext, in which you can follow links from one document to another; the millions of documents which make up the Web are located on computers all over the world and can be accessed via the Internet