Glossary¶
This glossary defines key concepts used throughout the workbook.
Terms are grouped to reflect how they are used in practice.
Systems and Impact¶
Training as an intervention
Training is a deliberate action within a broader system of people, resources, relationships, constraints, and external influences. Its effectiveness depends on how it interacts with this system.
Theory of Change
A structured explanation of how training activities are expected to lead to outputs, outcomes, and longer-term impact.
Outputs, outcomes, and impact
- Outputs: Immediate products of training (e.g. completed tasks, materials)
- Outcomes: What participants do differently after training
- Impact: Longer-term change resulting from those outcomes
Constraints (system conditions)
Real-world factors such as time, access, infrastructure, and power dynamics that shape what is possible in training design. Constraints are not just limitations—they are conditions you design within.
Positionality
The role, background, and influence of the facilitator or designer, which shapes decisions, priorities, and participation.
Learners and Context¶
Primary and secondary audiences
- Primary audience: Direct participants in the training
- Secondary audience: People those participants later support, train, or influence
Needs assessment
A practical process to understand what learners need to do, what they already know, and what constraints they face.
Learner realities
The conditions shaping participation and learning, including access, time, language, culture, and responsibilities.
Lived experience and prior knowledge
The knowledge, mental models, and experiences learners bring, which new learning should connect to.
Learning and How It Works¶
Cognitive load
The amount of information learners can process at once; excessive load reduces understanding and retention.
Retrieval
Recalling knowledge from memory, which strengthens learning more effectively than re-exposure.
Reinforcement (spacing)
Revisiting ideas over time and across contexts to improve retention and transfer.
Social learning
Learning through interaction, discussion, collaboration, and shared problem-solving.
Active learning
Learning through doing, discussing, analysing, or applying, rather than passively receiving content.
Scaffolding
Providing structured support early in learning and gradually reducing it as learners gain independence.
Psychological safety
A learning environment where participants feel safe to contribute, make mistakes, and revise their thinking.
Design and Alignment¶
Learning outcomes
Clear, observable statements describing what learners should be able to do by the end of the training.
Backward design
A design approach that starts with learning outcomes, defines evidence of success, then designs activities and supporting content.
Alignment (constructive alignment)
Ensuring learning outcomes, activities, and assessment support the same capabilities.
Activities (learning activities)
Structured tasks where learners practise, apply, and demonstrate learning.
Content (supporting content)
Information and resources that support participation in activities, not the driver of design.
Misalignment
A disconnect between outcomes, activities, assessment, or content that reduces effectiveness.
Fit for purpose
The extent to which a resource or activity supports the intended learning outcomes and works in the specific learner and context conditions.
Participation, Co-Design, and Co-Creation¶
Co-design
Participants help shape decisions about the training (e.g. priorities, structure, activities).
Co-creation
Participants contribute ideas, examples, or outputs during activities or material development.
Meaningful participation
Learners actively contribute and have influence, rather than passively receiving content.
Trade-offs
Design decisions balancing competing priorities such as time, depth, participation, and complexity.
Practice, Feedback, and Iteration¶
Practice
Opportunities for learners to apply knowledge or skills in realistic tasks aligned with outcomes.
Feedback
Information that helps learners improve; effective feedback is specific, timely, and actionable.
Iteration (learning)
Cycles of attempt, feedback, and revision that support improvement in learner performance.
Iteration (design and materials)
Ongoing cycles of use, feedback, and improvement that refine training design and materials over time.
Peer learning
Learning through interaction, feedback, and collaboration between participants.
Assessment and Evaluation¶
Assessment
Methods used to determine what learners can do, produce, or decide, aligned with learning outcomes.
Evaluation
Judging whether the training contributed to intended outcomes or broader change over time.
Indicators
Observable signs that learning or change has occurred.
Evidence
Information collected to assess indicators and judge success.
Signal vs noise
Distinguishing meaningful evidence of learning or impact (signal) from less useful or misleading data (noise).
Open Educational Resources (OER) and Materials¶
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Teaching and learning materials that are openly licensed, allowing reuse, adaptation, and sharing.
Training materials
Resources used to support training (e.g. slides, activities, guides). These can be reused, adapted, and shared independently of a specific training delivery.
Reuse, adapt, create
A practical decision framework for working with materials:
- Reuse: use as is
- Adapt: modify to fit context
- Create: develop new materials when needed
Reusability
The extent to which a material can be understood and used without additional explanation.
Adaptation
Modifying a resource so it aligns with learners, context, and outcomes.
Localisation
Adapting materials to reflect language, culture, and local context.
Publishability
The extent to which a resource is clear, documented, and ready to be shared and used by others.
Documentation
Information that explains how and why a resource should be used, including purpose, audience, and instructions.
Discoverability
How easily others can find and understand a resource.
Versioning
Tracking changes to materials over time, including what changed, why, and which version is current.
OER lifecycle
The ongoing process through which materials are reused, adapted, shared, used, improved, and reused again.
Sustainability (of materials)
Making realistic decisions about how materials are maintained, updated, or archived based on use, relevance, and available capacity.