Lost in Translation? Breaking Down Education Lingo for Students

Navigating college is easier when you understand the language – here’s what you need to know.

Every profession has its own jargon – words or expressions used to make communication easier for those in the profession. However, these terms specific to a particular field often have the opposite effect for people not familiar with them. The wording can lead to confusion and miscommunication.

The recruiting team at the Global Campus at the University of Arkansas is here to help with a glossary of education jargon.

Below, members of the Online Student Liaison Office define several words and phrases and offer information specific to the U of A that may come in handy for students and prospective students. Commonly referred to as OSLOs, these staff members provide information that students and prospective students need to be successful. If they can’t answer a question, they will find the person at the U of A who can answer it, and they will make the connection.

Online student liaisons are available extended hours six days a week to answer your questions. Online student coaches are also available to help students with all kinds of questions once they have been admitted.

The Global Campus supports U of A colleges and schools in the development and delivery of online, distance and workforce education programs and courses.  It provides instructional design services, technology services and assistance with registration, marketing, recruiting and strategic academic development. More than 100 online degree, licensure and certificate programs can be found on the ONLINE website.

 

How Universities Work

Accreditation – A school’s official stamp of approval from an organization that ensures its programs meet certain quality standards. This approval is also a part of a school’s ability to issue federal financial aid to eligible students and for their degrees to be recognized by certain state and national boards.

Students may not understand the difference between regional and national accreditation status, said Kimberly Granados, an online student liaison.

“This is especially important for transfer students to understand as they attempt to transfer in credits from institutions they previously attended,” Granados said.

Karagin Miller, another online student liaison, explained that the U of A generally only accepts transfer credits from a college or university accredited by an institutional accreditor formerly known as a regional accreditor. Transfer credits are previously earned college credits that can be applied to a new degree program, saving time and money.

“Most of these schools are non-profit or state-owned institutions that meet a more stringent set of standards,” Miller said. “Students should consider accreditation and what credit schools will accept for transfer when thinking about trying to earn credit through other types of accrediting programs. Just because something is accredited doesn’t mean that there won’t be issues transferring credit earned at one institution to another institution.”

The University of Arkansas holds institutional accreditation, formerly known as regional accreditation, from the Higher Learning Commission, and many individual degree programs hold programmatic accreditation from other accrediting bodies specific to their field.

Compliance – Institutions must comply with university policies, federal regulations and state requirements when offering distance education. This includes the regulations where the student is located while studying in addition to where the school is located.  This is exceedingly important for international students and those participating in nursing and licensure programs and helps ensure that degrees earned at the institution can be used for employment or licensure where the student is located. Understanding compliance can help applicants grasp why programs are available in some areas and prohibited in others.

At the U of A, prospective students can reach out to the OSLO team or uacomply@uark.edu for questions about compliance and information about whether the program they are interested in can be taken from their location.

FERPA – The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, commonly known as FERPA, is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of student education records. With few exceptions, all student education records are considered confidential and may not be released without written consent of the student. This protection for college education records begins when the student enrolls in a higher education institution, regardless of the student’s age.

Matriculation – The official process of enrolling in a college or university, where you’re formally admitted and can start taking classes.

Transcripts – A document that details a student's academic history, including courses taken, grades received, credits earned, dates of attendance, degrees or certifications awarded and cumulative GPA, which is the abbreviation for grade point average. Students don’t always know what it means for transcripts to be considered official in regard to the admission process, Miller said. There are often cases where students order transcripts from their current or previous schools to be delivered to themselves. Once opened, those transcripts are no longer considered “official” for evaluation purposes.

“The best thing to do to ensure your transcript remains official is to have the transcripts delivered directly to the Registrar’s Office of the school that needs the official transcript,” Miller said. “This U of A webpage has all the information a student needs regarding official transcripts and how to submit them.”

Tuition Reimbursement – When an employer pays for part or all of an employee’s education. Employers set criteria for eligibility and conditions for use.

Undergraduate vs. Graduate – Students filling out applications often get tripped up by questions about their educational history, according to Miller. They may confuse what counts as undergraduate or graduate work when it comes time to list information about former high schools and colleges.

“High school is in its own category, and undergraduate here refers to any credit earned at another school as part of a program like an associate or bachelor’s degree,” she said. “Graduate refers to coursework at the master’s level and beyond.”

Withdrawal – Dropping a class after the add/drop period, which may have financial or academic consequences.

 

In the Classroom

Accommodations – Many students are not aware that they can request academic accommodations through the Center for Educational Access at the University of Arkansas, Granados said. Accommodations in this context refer to modifications available to ensure students with disabilities have the same access to programs and activities as other students.

Asynchronous and Synchronous – Synchronous instruction means the students in an online course must log in to the course on specific days and times. Asynchronous instruction allows students to log in at whatever time of day or day of the week is convenient for them. In most cases, for both models, there are due dates throughout the semester and assignments due each week.

“Knowing the difference between these is vital to enroll in classes and build a schedule, especially for those who are busy beyond the classroom,” Granados said.

Cohort – A group of students who start and finish a program together. Students in a cohort usually take classes together throughout their degree making it easier to build relationships and support each other along the way. It may also mean that students have to take courses in a specific order and schedule to stay with their cohort.

Course Equivalent – A course from another school or program that is considered to be the same as one offered at your current school. It means you can transfer the credit earned without losing value or requiring extra work.

Credit Hour – A unit of measurement for coursework. Most bachelor’s degrees require around 120 credit hours. Also, students need to understand the difference between for-credit courses and programs and non-credit courses and programs.

A degree program’s coursework will be made up of for-credit courses, Miller explained. However, a technical program may require course completion that does not generate credit that can be transferred into a degree plan. Completers of these programs often receive a certification instead.

“A good example of this would be our online degree programs versus our online professional and workforce development programs,” Miller said.

Discussion Board – An online forum where students post responses to class topics and interact with each other. Posting on a discussion topic is often a critical part of the student’s course grade. It’s basically the digital version of participating in classroom discussion.

Experiential Learning – Hands-on learning through real-world experiences, such as internships or projects.

Non-Traditional Student – This term can be defined in different ways for different purposes but is usually a student who doesn’t go directly from high school into college, typically between the ages of 18 to 22. Often, it refers to adult learners, working adults who are balancing life, work, caregiving, and school. Online programs at the U of A are specifically designed to meet the needs of these students with supports and pathways to help them meet their goals. 

Office Hours – Set times when professors are available to answer questions. In online programs, you can usually meet with instructors via video chat, and they are available by phone, email and sometimes text message.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

• Prerequisite: A course or requirement you must complete before enrolling in another course. It’s like laying the foundation before building something on top of it.
• Corequisite: A course that you need to take at the same time as another course. It’s often paired with the other course to ensure you have the knowledge needed for both.

Rubric – A grading guide that tells students exactly what the instructor is looking for in an assignment. Think of it as a checklist for success.

Self-Paced Course – A class where you move through the material at your own speed rather than following a set schedule. U of A degree programs are not self-paced and students need to be able to meet specific milestones on a schedule and should expect to interact with their professors and other students in each course.

Syllabus – A document outlining the structure of a course, including topics, assignments, deadlines and grading criteria. Syllabi also contain university policies related to enrollment such as inclement weather, academic integrity and accommodations. Think of it as your class roadmap for what to expect and when.

 

Technology

Learning Management System – The online platform where students access courses, turn in assignments, and communicate with instructors. Think of it as your online school hub. The U of A uses the Blackboard Ultra learning management system. The Blackboard Help Desk, which is part of the Learning Technology Support team at Global Campus, includes a support coordinator and three support specialists available seven days a week to help students and instructors with questions.

Multi-Factor Authentication – One of the first steps that new students encounter as they activate their new UARK accounts and continues to be important as a login method for cybersecurity. A common method of protection against unauthorized access, multi-factor authentication requires users to provide at least two different authentication factors to verify their identities and access their accounts. This process ensures better protection of both a user’s personal information, credentials and other assets, while also improving the security around the resources the user can access.

Proctoring – A method of supervising online exams to ensure academic honesty, sometimes involving a live person watching via webcam. The U of A will switch to a new system called Honorlock Online Proctoring beginning in June.

 

Celebrating Accomplishments

Commencement – A celebration during which students receive their diplomas. The term is often used interchangeably with graduation; however, you can graduate from a program, which means to complete it, without attending a commencement ceremony, which is voluntary.

“Online students often ask if they’re allowed to attend,” Granados said, and the answer is yes. “They can register to attend during the process of applying to graduate.”

Senior Walk – Unique to the U of A, this is a tradition of inscribing the names of graduates into sidewalks all over campus.

 

Portions of this article were generated with assistance from ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI.