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Glossary of Key Terms

4A Framework
A framework for evaluating edtech tools based on the elements of accessibility, active engagement, advocacy for inclusion, and accountability.[1]

Accessibility
The degree to which content, programs, or tools support and accommodate the needs and preferences of diverse learners.

Adult Basic Education (ABE)
Adult education programs equivalent to zero through eighth grade.

Adult Secondary Education (ASE)
Adult education programs equivalent to ninth through twelfth grade. The primary objective is to obtain a high school diploma or certificate.

Adults with Disabilities (AWD)
Individuals with cognitive, medical, physical, or sensory disabilities. Adult education programs can provide modified equipment, instructional strategies, and materials to meet the needs of these learners.

AI Integration Framework (World Education)
A framework that helps adult education programs plan for responsible AI use across instruction, operations, and data practices. It includes guiding questions, scenarios, and a tool evaluation rubric.[2]

AI Literacy / AILit Framework
The skills needed to understand, use, and evaluate AI tools responsibly. The AILit Framework organizes these skills into four domains: Engage, Create, Manage, and Design.[3]

Andragogy
A practical and theoretical approach to adult education, where learners are autonomous and self-directed, and educators act as facilitators.[4]

Asynchronous Learning
Educators and learners interact with the content and with each other at different times. Asynchronous learning can happen within a structured schedule (e.g., weekly deadlines) and include a combination of collaborative and independent activities.

Blended Learning
Learning experiences that utilize digital or online learning tools that are connected to face-to-face instruction.[5]

Career Technical Education (CTE)
Adult education programs that deliver customized curriculum, including academic career preparation and job readiness skills, to train learners for a specific career pathway. Programs may include apprenticeship/internship opportunities or result in industry certifications.

Civic Objectives and Additional Assessment Plans (COAAPs)
California-approved instructional objectives and related performance-based assessments used in EL Civics programs. Learners complete tasks that demonstrate civic participation, digital literacy, or other community and workplace skills.[6]

Clock Time Model / Teacher Verification Model / Learner Mastery Model
Three NRS-approved methods for calculating proxy hours in distance education: [7]

Clock Time Model uses time logged by an online platform.
Teacher Verification Model assigns hours based on an instructor’s review of completed work.
Learner Mastery Model awards hours when a learner demonstrates mastery on an assessment.

Communities of Practice (CoP)
Groups of educators or staff who meet regularly to share strategies, reflect on practice, and solve problems in a shared area of work. CoPs support ongoing learning and continuous improvement.

Community of Inquiry (CoI)
A framework for designing online and blended learning that emphasizes meaningful interaction among learners and instructors. It focuses on three elements: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence.

Competency-Based Education (CBE)
A learner-centered approach that includes the following elements: learner choice, meaningful and relevant assessment, differentiated instruction, mastery-based progress, active and personalized learning, culturally responsive instruction, and clear expectations for learning.[8]

Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP)
An annual planning document for WIOA Title II agencies that outlines goals, implementation strategies, and how the program uses data and technology to improve instruction and services.[9]

Digital Citizen
Someone who is “inclusive, equitable, and culturally aware as they live, learn, and work in an interconnected world.”[10]

Digital Citizenship Competencies (DigCitCommit)
A set of competencies that describe how individuals participate responsibly and effectively in digital spaces. The framework includes five areas: Inclusive, Informed, Engaged, Balanced, and Alert.[11]

Digital Credential
A verified, digital record of a skill or achievement, such as a badge, certificate, or industry-recognized credential. It typically includes information about who issued it, what was required to earn it, and how it can be shared.

Digital Equity
“The condition in which individuals and communities have the information technology capacity that is needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States.”[12]

Digital Learning
Learning experiences that utilize digital tools for teaching and learning.

Digital Literacy
The ability to find, evaluate, organize, create, and communicate digital information.[13]

Digital Navigation / Digital Navigator
Support provided to help learners access devices, connectivity, and digital tools, including onboarding, troubleshooting, and guidance on how to participate in online or blended learning. A digital navigator is a staff member or trained volunteer who offers this assistance.[14]

Digital Resilience
“The awareness, skills, agility, and confidence to be empowered users of new technologies and adapt to changing digital skill demands.”[15]

Digital Wallet
A secure online space where learners can store, manage, and share their digital credentials, certificates, or badges. Some wallets also support Learning and Employment Records.

Distance Education
Learning experiences that are influenced by an educational organization (i.e., not private study) where the educator and learner are physically separated; educators and learners use digital tools and two-way communication; and there are opportunities for social interaction.[16]

Distance Learning Plan (DLP)
A required component of WIOA planning that describes how a program delivers distance learning, including instruction, technology use, staffing, and reporting procedures.[17]

English as a Second Language (ESL)
Competency-based programs designed to enable learners to become proficient in speaking, listening, reading, writing, mathematics, and decision-making/problem-solving in the English language.

Experiential Learning Model
Establishes a learner’s experiences as central to the learning process. There are four stages to the experiential learning model: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation.[18]

General Educational Development (GED)
One of two California-approved high school equivalency tests. Includes four separate exams: mathematical reasoning, reasoning through language arts, social studies, and science.

Generative AI
AI tools that create new content such as text, images, audio, or video in response to prompts. These tools produce outputs by predicting patterns based on large amounts of training data.

Hallucination (AI)
When an AI tool generates information that is inaccurate, misleading, or entirely fabricated. Hallucinations occur because the model predicts plausible language rather than verifying facts.

Heutagogy
Focuses on the individual learner as the center of the learning process.[19] Like andragogy, the educator facilitates the learning process by providing resources and support, but in heutagogy the learner fully owns the learning path and process.

High School Equivalency (HSE) Credential
California has two state-approved high school equivalency tests: GED and HiSET. Learners who pass a high school equivalency test earn a state-issued HSE credential, which is an alternative to a high school diploma.

High School Equivalency Test (HiSET)
One of two California-approved high school equivalency tests. Governed by ETS. Includes five separate sections: language arts—reading; language arts writing; mathematics; science; and social studies.[]

Hybrid Learning
Learning experiences that utilize digital or online learning tools, but digital learning and face-to-face instruction are not connected.[20]

HyFlex Learning
Learning occurs concurrently in physical and virtual spaces; learners choose whether to attend class face-to-face or online.

Informal Assessment
Any activity that checks understanding during instruction without using a standardized test. Examples include quizzes, exit tickets, discussions, reflections, or practice tasks.

Interoperability
The controlled, seamless, and secure exchange of data between applications.[21]

Large Language Model (LLM)
A type of AI system trained on extensive text data to generate and interpret language. LLMs power tools that answer questions, draft text, or analyze written materials.

Learning and Employment Record (LER)
A digital profile that organizes verified data about a learner’s skills, credentials, coursework, and work history. LERs are portable and can be shared with employers or training providers.

Learning Management System (LMS)
A digital platform for storing and sharing digital content, managing assignments and feedback, and communicating with learners.

Measurable Skill Gains
A WIOA indicator for evaluating program effectiveness. Adult education program participants can demonstrate measurable skill gains by completing an educational level through pre- and post-testing, credit completion, or entering a postsecondary education program; or by earning a secondary school diploma.[22]

Micro-credential
A credential (usually digital) that confirms a specific skill or competency, typically earned by completing a defined learning task and submitting evidence such as an assessment, project, or portfolio sample.

National External Diploma Program (NEDP)
A competency-based and performance-based assessment that allows adult learners to earn a regular high school diploma.[23] NEDP participants build an electronic portfolio to demonstrate their academic and digital skills through a series of life and work tasks.

National Reporting System (NRS)
Evaluates the effectiveness of adult education programs through reporting standards for program outcomes and performance indicators.

Online Learning
Includes asynchronous and synchronous learning experiences that occur online, whether in blended or hybrid learning environments. Online learning also includes open-source content that is free and open to any interested learners.

Open Educational Resources (OER)
Freely accessible, openly licensed digital materials for teaching and learning.[24]

Pedagogical Usability
How well a tool facilitates the learning process.[25]

Performance-Based Assessment
An assessment in which learners demonstrate skills by completing practical or task-based activities. These assessments measure how well learners apply knowledge in authentic contexts.

Practice Engagement Theory (PET)
A theory that describes learning as a process strengthened by repeated, purposeful practice. It emphasizes clear goals, frequent feedback, and opportunities to apply skills in varied and meaningful contexts.

Prompt / Prompt Engineering
The text or instructions given to an AI tool to guide its output. Prompt design refers to creating clear, structured prompts that produce useful and accurate responses.

Proxy Hours
Estimated instructional hours earned through approved online coursework completed independently by learners. Proxy hours are combined with contact hours for NRS reporting.[26]

Remote Proctoring
A process in which a trained proctor oversees a computer-based assessment while the learner tests from home or another off-site location. It includes identity verification, monitoring, and security procedures.

Remote Testing
A form of computer-based assessment where learners take the assessment from their homes or somewhere other than an approved testing location.

SAMR Framework
A model for technology integration that includes four stages of substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.[27]

Social–Emotional Learning (SEL)
Includes the ability to: (1) set and achieve positive goals; (2) feel and show empathy for others; (3) establish and maintain positive relationships; (4) make responsible decisions; and (5) understand and manage emotions.[28]

Stages of Self-Directed Learning
The stages of self-directed learning include Stage 1: learner dependent on authoritative educator; Stage 2: learner interested in the learning process with the educator acting as a guide; Stage 3: learner involved in the learning process with the educator acting as a facilitator; and Stage 4: learner is self-directed with the educator acting as a consultant.[29]

Synchronous Learning
Educators and learners interact with the content and with each other during live sessions. Synchronous learning can include in-person activities or in digital spaces (e.g., video conferencing sessions).

Technical Usability
The ease of use and interaction between users and the tool.[30]

TPACK Framework
An instructional framework that identifies three core components of content, pedagogy, and technology as the foundation for high-quality teaching with the complex interaction among the three components as critical to understanding how technology integration is implemented within various contexts.[31]

Transformative Learning
“Learning that transforms problematic frames of reference—sets of fixed assumptions and expectations (habits of mind, meaning perspectives, mindsets)—to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, reflective, and emotionally able to change.[32]

Transformative SEL
An approach to social and emotional learning that links individual skills with equity, identity, and community context. It emphasizes reflection, shared power, and learning environments that honor diverse experiences.[33]

Triple E Framework
A learner-centered instructional framework for helping educators implement effective technology integration through engagement, enhancement, and extension.[34]

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Commonly accepted digital accessibility standards that emphasize four content principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.[35]

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
Federal policy that requires states to align workforce education programs with performance goals focused on accountability, transparency, and improved workforce development.[35]