What is terminology?

The language we use in everyday conversations has developed in a random, arbitrary way. The meanings of words are shaped by their usage, and usually change naturally to fit new circumstances. We, their users, generally make use of them as we find them, and, bar the odd misunderstanding, succeed most of the time in communicating satisfactorily with our conversation partners.

Not so terminology. Terms are artificial entities. They are single or multi-word expressions which have been consciously crafted by experts from the subject field in question to label the concepts of the domain, and to define relationships between them. Often, plain old words won't do: everyday language tends to be rough around the edges, and can be ambiguous and at times quite imprecise.

In the world of educational and learning technology, the official body which defines the technical standards is the IMS Global Learning Consortium for Question and Test Interoperability  (http://www.imsglobal.org). Some of the terminology used in TAO is taken from these standards (henceforth referred to as QTI standards), and some of it has been adopted from the general usage employed in the education industry.

As with any terminology, the meanings of terms may deviate from the meanings the same words have in other fields, or in everyday language. For this reason, there are areas of potential confusion when it comes to names of entities in TAO. One of the reasons for this confusion is that the developers of technology in the sector of education and learning have, in some respects, a differing vantage point from the end users of that technology, who consist of assessment professionals and classroom teachers. Because of this discrepancy, some terms can seem opaque – or even misleading – to the end users of TAO. 

The following chapter takes a look at some of the less obvious terms used in the TAO architecture.