SmarterU Glossary

A

Account

A container of SmarterU records which includes, but is not limited to, groups, users, courses, and dashboard sets.

Account Permission

An authorization that allows a user to perform a specific function for the account. 

Action

A condition that a learner must complete as part of a requirement. The two types of actions are global and private.

Active

A status type that can be associated with any record in SmarterU. By default, the dashboards, reports, and lists in SmarterU only include active records. 

Activity

A type of task in an online course that provides interactivity. Activity types include flashcards, fill-in-the-blank, gameshow, labelling, matching, and multichoice.

Adhoc Discussion

A type of discussion forum that exists independently from a course or session.

Admin Interface

A collection of screens that users who have access to view or manage SmarterU records use to interact with SmarterU.

Administrator

One of the access levels that can be assigned to a user. Administrators are granted all group permissions to all groups and will have access to all of SmarterU's administrative functions. 

Agency

Organizations that award a license to learners who demonstrate that they possess the required skills and knowledge.

Archive

An act that can be performed on a course, venue, or room.

Archiving a course prevents additional learners from being enrolled in the course. Learners enrolled in and learners who are in the progress of taking an archived course will still be able to complete the course. 

Archiving a venue or room prevents new instructor-led courses from being associated with the venue or room. Existing sessions associated with an archived venue or room will continue to be associated with the venue or room. 

Article

A content type that can be contained in a knowledge base.

B

Block

A grouping of actions and/or courses in a requirement from which learners can choose from.

C

Catalog

A course state that can be used to display courses or learning plans that allow for self-enrollment on a dashboard set's page. 

Category

A container for pages within a dashboard set.

CDATA

CDATA stands for Character Data. CDATA is used by SmarterU's API to ensure that XML packages properly handle special characters.

Certification

Competencies that demonstrate that a learner is able to perform their assigned learning plan. A certification consists of one or more requirements.

Chapter

A container for organizing tasks in an online course. 

Course

A program of study on a particular subject. SmarterU supports online, instructor-led, and SCORM courses.

Course Manager

The user(s) who are able to edit a course's settings and content. 

Credit

A form of payment that enables accounts to control a group's enrollments.

D

Dashboard Set

A named configuration that controls what's displayed on the learner interface. A dashboard set consists of categories and pages. 

Discussion Forum

A SmarterU feature that enables users to interact with one another online. The two types of discussion forums are adhoc and object.

E

Email Template

Pre-defined formats (e.g., colors, fonts, background, layout) and content (e.g., text, variables) for SmarterU's emails.

Email Template Variable

Built-in identifiers that when used in an email template or snippet are replaced with their actual value. 

Enrollment

A registration of a user in a course, subscription, or learning plan. 

External Course

A course or training taken outside of SmarterU.

External Storefront

An interface outside of SmarterU that enables customers to purchase an account's subscription variants.

F

File

Any digital media including documents, images, videos, and audio that may be associated with a SmarterU record or the knowledge base.

Folder

A container that is used to organize knowledge base's articles and files.

Form

A questionnaire for collecting information.

G

Global Action

A type of action that is shared across requirements. When a user satisfies a global action under one requirement, it satisfies the action for other requirements that it's associated with. 

Group

Groups are containers within a SmarterU account that contain courses, learners, and learner results. Groups provide a way to create sub-accounts within your system. 

Group Permission

An authorization that enables a user to perform certain functions for a group.

H

Historical Training

Instructor-led courses that occurred in the past.

Home Group

A SmarterU feature that provides control over who is able to edit and report on users.

I

Inactive

A status type that can be associated with any record in SmarterU. By default, the dashboards, reports, and lists in SmarterU do not include inactive records.

Instructor

A person who is designated to teach an instructor-led course session. 

Instructor-Led Course

A type of course that is offered outside of SmarterU. This includes in-classroom training and webinars.

K 

Knowledge Base

A repository within SmarterU that enables accounts to store information that is separate from courses. A knowledge base can contain one or more folders which can contain articles and files.

L

Leaderboard

A type of page on the learner interface that enables learners to see how many points they have earned toward a point tracker relative to other users or groups.

Learner

A user who is enrolled in or has the ability to enroll in a course.

Learner Interface

A collection of screens that learners use to interact with SmarterU.

Learning Plan

A collection of certifications that may be assigned to users to track whether they are fulfilling their position's requirements.

Learning Plan Lock

A SmarterU feature that requires that a group's users be assigned a learning plan in order to enroll in a course. When Learning Plan Lock is enabled for a group's course, users cannot be manually enrolled in the course unless the learner is already assigned the learning plan.

License

A permit from an agency that demonstrates that the user is authorized to do something. 

O

Object Discussion

A type of discussion forum that is associated with a course or session.

Online Course

A type of course that is built using the Course Builder Dashboard. 

Organization

An outside entity to which you may want to associate users to.

Owner

One of the access levels that can be assigned to a user. Like administrators, owners are granted all group permissions to all groups and will have access to all of SmarterU's administrative functions. However, owners will also be able to edit and log in as administrators.

P

Page

A configured display on the learner interface.

Point

A unit earned toward a point tracker when a learner completes a course. 

Point Tracker

A named collection for recording the number of points that learners earn when they complete a course.

Portal

A website that provides access to SmarterU.

Private Action

A type of action that is specific to a requirement.

R

Report

A collection of data from SmarterU.

Requirement

A set of criteria that a learner must satisfy to fulfill a certification. A requirement can include courses and actions.

Reward

A thing that is given to a learner for earning a specified number of points toward a point tracker. 

Room

A space within a venue that can be associated with an instructor-led course.

S

Scheduled Report

A report that SmarterU will run at a specific date and time.

SCORM Course

A course created using a third-party development product that may be packaged for and uploaded to SmarterU. A SCORM course may also be packaged for use outside of SmarterU. In SmarterU, SCORM courses also include xAPI which is sometimes referred to as Tin Can or Experience API.

Session

A specific occurrence of an instructor-led course.

Single Sign-On

A way to allow account users to use a single login to access SmarterU from a third-party provider. It is also referred to as SSO.

Snippet

A type of email template variable that contains reusable content that can be included in an email template.

SSO

See Single Sign-On.

Storefront

An interface that enables customers to purchase your account's variants.

Subscription

A grouping of courses that can be made available to groups for a specified duration.

Subscription Lock

A SmarterU feature that requires a group's users to have an active subscription in order to enroll in a subscription's course. When subscription lock is enabled, users cannot be manually enrolled in the course unless the learner is already enrolled in the subscription.

Supervisor

A user who is responsible for other users.

T

Tag

A keyword that provides a way to identify related objects. Tags can be associated with courses, knowledge base items (i.e., articles and files), groups, and subscriptions.

Task

A specific piece of work in an online course that learners must complete. 

Team

A named collection of users. 

Theme

A pre-defined set of colors that can be applied to a portal's login page, the admin interface, or to a dashboard set. 

Timeline

A type of page on the learner interface that displays a graphical representation of the courses a learner has completed. If the points and reward functionality is enabled for the account, the timeline also displays points a learner has earned.

U

Unenrollment

When a learner's course enrollment is terminated before the learner completes the course. 

User

A person who has access to SmarterU.

V

Variable

An identifier that is replaced with its actual value. Variables are used in several areas of SmarterU including course and certification completion certificates, email templates, and post-course evaluations.

Variant

A subset of a subscription that specifies the subscriptions length and course settings such as the due date, grace period, and completion access.

Venue

A physical location where an instructor-led course may be held.

W

Wage

The amount of money a user earns per hour.

Waiting List

 A list that is used to track users who are waiting for admission into an instructor-led course or session that has reached its capacity. 

Webinar

An instructor-led course session that is online and reachable by a URL.