Tips on how to teach terminology and definitions

Depending on how you are presenting the terms you could use hyperlinks to have the definition appear as a pop up in a layer, like you see on websites.

Often we will provide a glossary link on the page and have it appear in a light box.

Blair

Have you tried using them in a crossword style quiz?

Maria;

I did a medical terminology class for EMS dispatchers and it was not very exciting for sure.  We broke up the words and used games, etc to learn the roots words and then combined them into more complex words.  Scenarios and pronunciation guides we used as well.  I made a couple of games in Storyline and most in Bravo that were incorporated into the lessons as web objects.

Good luck.

Tim

Often helps to put the terminology into context using scenarios and offer inline glossary or a downloadable cheat sheet. 

Hi Maria!

Phil just beat me to the context punch. :) Enveloping those terms in the most meaningful (preferably motivatingly consequence-laden) context you can for the specific actions you want them to perform on the job is the best way to go. Make it memorable, give them a chance to practice the terms in context, and you should be golden. A job aid/reference point/takeaway is also essential.

Hope that helps. Best of luck, Maria!

I like the crossword a lot! Think I can use that as a knowledge check for the definitions :-)

Thanks for all the great tips guys! I agree that context is king, so will probably go down that route. And a cheat sheet in Resources is a good idea. The course is for ISO management systems auditor training so it is very important they get their terminology right. Thanks again!

Working with different fabric types and terminology in our clothing lines, I find that agents also need help with pronunciation.  The old standard of hearing the word pronounced properly and then used in a (hopefully, fun) sentence really helps with comprehension and understanding.

Place the terms in scenarios and context of how the learners will be exposed to the terms in real life. 

I am a huge fan of associating images and graphics to words that have been defined. I think it's really helpful for understand and retention.

We just developed an accounting course that introduced a lot of terminology.  We included audio that technically explained the term, then added a scenario with visuals that carried through the entire terminology section to connect it to something they already understand (in our case a car loan).

I'm with Phil and Jackie! Scenario's with proper context are my go to solution! But off course you can always design a cool hamster maze. Have the learner click an exit point to gain access to a specific term :)

I also like to use scenarios and a slide layer that displays the definition on mouse hover.

You can always create a seek and find puzzle and use the definition as your clue rather than the word.  This worked with College Students.

I agree with context above - what would they need to DO with that word or terminology? Must they memorize it, or be able to recognize it in a stack of documents and then act a certain way? I think using it in context, then providing resources (What's that? prompts that reveal over mouse hover) in slide and again as a resource attached to the module would be the way I would go.

It depends on what we need them to do. Sometimes a list /glossary page will work, but if they need to learn them during the course then a game or series of quizzes.

I try to create word associations with things I already know or have the learner come up with something they relate to when they hear and understand the term. I also like to create and notes page that I can access when I get momentarily stuck :}.

Personally I would add a trigger that would have the terminology pop up once the word was hovered/clicked on. I have used this technique in the past and allows the user the freedom to read freely but when required find the information they require quickly and not stop the flow of the course too much.  

How about flashcards? There must be templates for flashcards in Storyline 2. Look at this one: https://community.articulate.com/download/animated-flashcards-template

Hi Marie 

I have the same thing with my courses. I used a drag and drop "I get the users to match the term to the definition" 

Lots of great tips, thanks guys :-) I think I'll be using a mix of context scenarios and games, make sure I have a bit of variation in there. If I come up with something fun I'll share it here! Many thanks!

Printable cheat sheet is the way to go. Expecting someone to learn them through a module is unrealisticand won't be an enjoyable learning experience. Give them somethingto reference whilst doing the module and most importantly reference back 'on the job' when we know people learn the best. 

For new terminology, particularly related to healthcare, I like to reinforce the content with a interactive quiz question- typically five screens or so after the term definition(s) appears.  If there are a lot of terms, I create a glossary resource object.  For bigger projects, like a software launch, I do like the idea of a stick-to-the side-of-the-monitor-type desk reference (there are a few companies who create them, but you can make your own with a comb/wire binding machine, a printer, and a 3M picture hanger/sticky thing).

Hi there,

This calls for micro-learning. 

Create story around the term. One single term. And share it with your team. They will learn the term and also understand its relevance to real-life situations.

If there's a set of terms which need to be communicated together, than create a story with multiple scenes. Make sure each scene has a quiz or game to assess the knowledge.

I will tell you what did for one of the clients.

They wanted to communicate the different digital marketing terms to their digital sales team.

We deployed a microLMS using QuoDeck. We use to create a series of short stories and then shared the same with the sales team on whatsapp/ text messages. They found it really useful because they could learn the terms in an interesting way and the byte size information was easy to grasp.

Hope this helps!

P.S.: In case you are interested in finding more about micro-learning, you can download the INCITE microlearning framework for here for free: http://incite.quodeck.com