With the 2019 educational conference show season about to start, here’s a handy guide to gaining a REAL understanding of the words you’re likely to come across. Please feel free to add in the comments anything I’ve omitted.
accountability
Keeping the money-people happy.
AI (artificial intelligence)
Ooh! Aah! Yes, please.
analytics (as in learning analytics)
The analysis of student data to reveal crucial insights such as the fact that students who work more, make more progress. Cf. data
AR (augmented reality)
Out-of-date interactive technology with no convincing classroom value. cf. interactive
benchmark
A word for standard that makes you sound like you know what you’re talking about.
blended (as in blended learning)
Homework. Or, if you want to sound more knowledgeable, the way e-learning is being combined with traditional classroom methods and independent study to create a new, hybrid teaching methodology that is shown by research to facilitate better learning outcomes.
bot
A non-unionized, cheap teacher for the masses.
brain-friendly
A word used by people who haven’t read enough neuro-science.
collaborative
Getting other people to help you, and getting praised for doing so.
CPD (continuous professional development)
Unpaid training.
creativity
A good excuse to get out your guitar, recite a few poems and show how sensitive you are. Cf. 21st century skills
curated (as in curated learning content)
Stuff nicked from other websites. A way of getting more personalization for less investment.
customer
The correct way to refer to students. Cf. markets
data
Information about students that can be sold to advertising companies.
design (as in learning design)
Used to mean curriculum by people selling edtech products who aren’t sure what curriculum means.
discovery learning
A myth with a long-gone expiry date.
disruptive (as in disruptive innovation in education)
A word used in utter seriousness by people who dream of getting rich from the privatisation of education.
drones
Handy for speaking and writing exercises, according to elearningindustry.com. They open up a new set of opportunities to make classes more relevant and engaging for students. They can in fact enrich students’ imagination and get them more involved into the learning process.
ecosystem (as in learning ecosystem)
All the different ways that data about learners can be captured, sold or hacked.
EdSurge
The go-to site for ‘news’ about edtech. The company’s goal is ‘to promote the smart adoption of education technology through impartial reporting’ … much of which is paid for by investors in edtech start-ups.
edutainment
PowerPoint, for example.
efficacy
A fancy word for efficiency that nobody bothers with much any more.
empowerment
Not connected to power in any way at all.
engagement
Sticking with something.
flipped (as in flipped classrooms)
Watching educational videos at home.
formative assessment
A critically important tool in the iterative process of maximizing the learning environment and customizing instruction to meet students’ needs. Also known as testing.
gamification
Persuading people to push buttons.
global citizens
Nice people.
immersive
Used to describe a learning activity that is less boring than other learning activities.
inclusive (as in inclusive practices)
Not to be confused with virtue-signalling.
innovative
A meaningless word that sounds good to some people. Interchangeable with cutting-edge and state-of-the-art
interactive
With buttons that can be pushed.
interactive whiteboard
A term you won’t hear this year, except when accompanied with a scoff, because everyone has forgotten it and wants to move on. Cf. 60% of the other terms in this glossary by 2025
(the) knowledge economy
Platform capitalism.
leadership
A smokescreen for poor pay and conditions. Cf. 21st century skills
literacy (as in critical literacy, digital literacy, emotional literacy, media literacy, visual literacy)
A jargon word used to mean that someone can do something.
MALL (Mobile assisted language learning)
Chatting or playing games with your phone in class.
markets
Another contemporary way of referring to students. Cf. customer
mediation
Translating, interpreting and things like that.
mindfulness
An ever-growing industry.
motivation
U.S. education technology companies raised $1.45 billion from venture capitalists and private-equity investors in 2018 (according to EdSurge).
outcomes (as in learning outcomes)
‘Learning’, or whatever, that can be measured.
personalized
A meaningless word useful for selling edtech stuff. Interchangeable with differentiated and individualized.
providers
A euphemism for sellers. Cf. solutions
publisher
An obsolete word for providers of educational learning solutions. Cf. solutions
quality
A bit of management jargon from the last century. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t know exactly what it means – you can define it yourself.
research
A slippery word that is meant to elicit a positive response.
resilience
Also known as grit, the ability to suspend your better judgment and plough on.
scaffolding
Something to do with Vygotsky, but it probably doesn’t matter what exactly. It’s a ‘good thing’.
SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
A VA (value-added) experience needed by students who spend too long in CAL in a VLE with poor UX.
skills (as in 21st century skills)
The abilities that young people will need for an imagined future workplace. These are to be paid for by the state, rather than the companies that might employ a small number of them on zero-hour contracts.
soft skills
Everything you need to be a compliant employee.
solutions (as in learning solutions)
A euphemism for stuff that someone is trying to sell to schools.
teacherpreneur
A teacher in need of a reality check.
thought leaders (as in educational thought leaders)
Effective self-promoters, usually with no background in education.
transformative
Nothing to do with Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow) … just another buzz word.
VR
Technology that makes you dizzy.
Adaptive Learning in ELT 