SyberWorks Learning and Performance Glossary
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F2F (Face-to-Face): a term used to describe traditional classroom environments. Facilitative Questioning: an approach whereby a teacher or counselor poses open-ended questions to students, to allow them to explore ideas that may be complex or emotionally difficult. There are no right or wrong answers in this approach.
Facilitative Tools: electronic features, such as Web-pages, mailing lists, chat programs, and streaming audio and video, that are used to deliver online courses.
Facilitator: an online instructor who assists, directs, and stimulates learning during an online course.
Fading: a technique of cognitive apprenticeship whereby the instructor transfers full control of a performance to the learner and gradually withdraws support.
False Starter: a person who registers for, but does not complete, an e-Learning course.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions): an informational list of questions and answers about a topic, product, or service, directed primarily to new users. FAQs appear on Websites and discussion boards and within desktop applications.
Fax (Facsimile): (noun) printed text and graphic information transmitted over standard telephone lines. (verb) to transmit text and graphic information over standard telephone lines.
Feedback: any means by which a teacher communicates with a student about the quality or correctness of the student's work or actions.
Fiber-Optic Cable: glass fiber used for laser transmission of data, audio, and video. Fiber-optic cable has a much greater bandwidth capacity than coaxial cable or copper wire.
Field Observation: students leave the classroom to observe events, organisms, and objects in their natural surroundings. Usually includes the collection and recording of data in a field journal.
Field Trial: the third stage of "formative evaluation," where a product or program is evaluated I use, in the actual setting for which it is intended. Also, the second phase of "summative evaluation," where a product or program is tested for its ability to do what it was designed to do.
Field Trip: an activity that occurs outside the classroom, for providing hands-on experience with objects or people that only exist in specific places. Target locations for field trips can include museums, zoos, places of business, farms, colleges, theaters, historical monuments or buildings, forests, wetlands, nature parks, or the grounds of the school itself.
File Server: a computer that stores and manages data files and software on a computer network, giving users the capability of sharing information and other resources.
Films: motion pictures can be used to enhance learning of literature, language, or historical events.
Filmstrips: a form of presentation in which a series of still images are projected onto a screen. To accompany the images, an audio tape is usually played, which contains cues that advance the film in synchrony with the audio. This format is still used in a few places, but has largely been superseded by videotapes and interactive web pages.
Find Your Partner: a method for assigning students to groups and at the same time reviewing previous concepts. Equations, sentences, or questions and answers are written on pieces of paper, which are cut into sections. The sections are distributed to students, who compare their sections until they find matches.
Finding and Investigating Problems: a key element of scientific research is finding and investigating problems. Exposing children to real-life data, and asking them to "create" problems from this data, can result in more meaningful problem-solving and a deeper understanding of "what science is."
Firewall: specialized hardware or software designed to secure a computer or network from unauthorized access.
FireWire: Apple Computer's trademarked name for its high-speed serial bus supporting the IEEE 1394 data-transfer standard. FireWire enables the connection of up to 63 devices, at transfer speeds up to 400 and 800 mbps.
First Important Priorities (FIP): Edward de Bono's process for listing and then prioritizing options. The technique is useful in decision-making and in strengthening critical thinking skills.
Fishbone: an organizing tool to help students visualize how many events can be tied to, or contribute to, a result.
Fishbowl: discussion format where students are selected from the class. They sit in front of the class as a panel, to discuss topics while the class observes. Then discussion is opened to the entire class.
Five Whys?: asking a chain of "why questions," with each question deeper into the root cause of a problem.
Flash: authoring software by Adobe (formerly Macromedia) that allows designers to use simple "vector graphics" to create computer animations that can be viewed by any browser with the Flash Player plug-in. Flash is also used to develop fully interactive websites, presentations, video interfaces, and environments.
Flash Cards: traditional flash cards are note cards with a question, problem, or fact on one side, and the answer or a related fact on the other side. Flash cards can be used by individual students for independent practice, or can be used by pairs of students to practice as a team. More recently, online flash cards have appeared on the Internet. Online flash cards take many forms, but typically include either a box where you can type your answer or choose from multiple answers.
Floppy Disk (Floppy Diskette): a data storage medium used with older personal computers. Current floppy disks can store up to 1.44 MB of data and are usually 3 ½ inches in size. Older floppy disks were 5 ¼ inches in size. Also spelled "floppy disc."
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