Glossary of Terms
Asynchronous
When used to describe a class, it means that there is no “class” session held at specific times each week. Course work may be posted at certain times, but participation in forums is ongoing. You are expected to check your email for updates a least once a day. Written assignments may have specific due dates.
Blended Course
A blended course is one in which 30-79% of the course is delivered online. The percentage of online instruction is dependent upon the course content and is at the discretion of the faculty. If a course is listed as blended, please contact the respective academic department for information on the specific meeting schedule for the semester.
Broadband
High-speed data transmission. The term commonly refers to Internet access via cable and DSL, which is as much as 400 times faster than analog dial-up. A broadband connection is highly recommended for anyone enrolled in an online course.
College of Professional and Continuing Studies
Adelphi’s college for the working professional, our programs and courses have been designed with the lives of busy adults in mind. College of Professional and Continuing Studies features evening and weekend courses, accelerated schedules, 4-credit courses for faster degree completion, personalized academic advisement, and generous transfer credit policies.
Distance Learning
Also referred to as online learning or e-learning, Distance Learning at Adelphi is a formalized teaching environment implemented remotely using various forms of electronic communication. Because distance learning is not constrained by geographic considerations, it offers opportunities to students with scheduling or distance limitations.
eCampus
The Adelphi eCampus portal gives you easy access to applications and services with a single sign on. Once you log on to eCampus, you can read your email, post to the message boards, access CLASS and Moodle, and check the calendar for the latest events.
Moodle
Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is a course management system developed by educators for educators, which offers many activities that foster active learning and student collaboration. Some of Moodle’s features include areas for student teamwork, peer evaluation, online journaling, built-in blogs and wikis, as well as a flexible course layout.
Netiquette
Proper “network etiquette” should be observed in your postings on the Internet, whether over email, message boards, or class chat sessions. Bad netiquette includes using profanity, personal attacks, emoticons, exclamation points, or UPPER CASE (shouting) to make your point. Re-read your messages carefully before you post, checking spelling, grammar, and tone. Your contributions should be of interest to several readers; don’t just post “I agree” responses.
Online Course
A course is considered “online” if more than 80% of the sessions are Web-based. However, some of our courses are 100% online. Sometimes students would meet on campus to interact face-to-face with each other and the faculty involved in the program, but that is a faculty decision based on his or her goals and the target student population. If the course listing does not specify whether the class is fully online, contact the respective academic department for details.
Podcasting
A method of publishing media files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically by subscription. Files can be viewed or listened to from a computer, or depending on the file type, they can be downloaded to portable mp3 players as well. Faculty can borrow digital sound and video recorders from the FCPE to tape class-related activities. The FCPE can publish podcasts via iTunes University or another online subscription, depending on the professor’s needs.
Portal
A Web “supersite” that provides a variety of services including news, email, discussion groups, and links to other sites, usually with some personalization of the way content is organized. Adelphi’s portal is eCampus, accessible only to students, faculty, and staff with an Adelphi login. You can check your Adelphi email from anywhere, access message boards and campus news, log on to Moodle and course registration, and more.
Respondus
Allows faculty to create and manage exams online, then print and/or publish them to Moodle. Completed exam grades are viewed in Moodle’s grade book. Exams created in a word processor can also be imported into Respondus.
Turnitin
An electronic service that acts as an anti-plagiarism tool for professors, Turnitin analyzes student papers and produces a customized originality report. Turnitin searches through billions of documents on the Internet and in online databases.
Wiki
An informational Web site that allows visitors to edit, delete, or modify content using their own Web browser. Thus, a Wiki is maintained by a collaborative effort of the site visitors, who jointly work to ensure the accuracy of the site’s content. The term comes from the Hawaiian phrase, “wiki wiki,” which means “very fast.”