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backmapping

The process of analyzing desired student outcomes (or learning objectives) to identify prerequisite skills and knowledge; starting with what students will know and be able to do at the end of a course and drilling down to what must be learned first, in order for the outcome to be successful.

bandwidth

The capacity, measured in data bits, of a channel or Internet line, usually expressed as the amount of data transferred in a specified unit of time; affect speed and amount of data that can be transferred to (and from) a computer and a network.

benchmarking

Criteria to which student mastery of content can be compared at defined points throughout the instructional year or grading period; used to monitor student progress.

blended learning

An instructional approach that combines classroom-based learning with computer-based, off-site activities; aka hybrid learning.

blog

An online, interactive journal published on the Web, characterized by regular posts by the owner, comments from readers, digital images, and Web links; aka Weblog.

blogosphere

The online social network of blogs; methaphor for social networking culture resulting from bloggers and other participants in blogs..

Bloom's Taxonomy

Model of learning that classifies tasks as favoring one of three domains: affective, cognitive, or psychomotor, and within each domain, tasks could fall into a range of difficulty, i.e. simplist: recall of facts, most demanding: analysis and synthesis of information; defined by a team of cognitive psychologists led by Benjamin Bloom.

broken link

A hyperlink that fails to connect you to a Web page.

browser

A software program used to locate and view Web pages; includes Netscape, Mosaic, Microsoft Internet Explorer, FireFox and others.