Microsoft Certified Educator flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Collaboration versus group work

Collaboration requires shared intellectual effort and mutual accountability for a joint product; group work can be mere division of tasks with no interdependence or shared reasoning.

Positive interdependence

A structure in which each member's contribution is necessary for group success, so learners cannot succeed unless peers also succeed.

Individual accountability

Each learner is assessed on their own understanding, often through individual quizzes, role logs, or peer evaluation, preventing free-riding in group tasks.

Jigsaw structure

Learners become experts on one subtopic in expert groups, then teach it in home groups; assessment must sample all subtopics, not just one.

Think-pair-share

A three-step structure where learners think alone, discuss with a partner, then share with the class, ensuring individual processing before group talk.

Group size decision rule

Two to three members suit short synthesis tasks; four to five suit multi-role projects such as jigsaw; larger groups increase free-rider risk.

Skilled communication criteria

A communication task specifies audience, purpose, format, and success criteria before students begin, so quality is judged against stated expectations.

Multimodal communication

Combining text, image, audio, or data visual so that each mode carries part of the message rather than decorating the written text.

Peer feedback protocol

A structured routine requiring comments to be specific, referenced to criteria, and actionable; vague praise such as 'good job' fails the protocol.

Revision cycle

Draft, structured feedback against the rubric, revise, then publish; feedback without a subsequent revision step does not improve communication skill.

Modality-task matching

Data-dense findings suit charts and reports, persuasion suits argument or infographic, and processes suit sequences or video demonstrations.

Attribution in communication feedback

Feedback names the specific feature of the work that succeeded or failed, so learners can repeat or repair it in the next product.

Self-regulation cycle

Three phases: forethought with goal setting and planning, performance with monitoring and adjustment, and self-reflection with evaluation and attribution.

SMART learning goal

A goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, allowing the learner to monitor progress and judge completion.

Metacognitive prompt

A question asking learners what strategy they are using, whether it is working, and what they will change; more effective than generic reflection.

Process-focused feedback

Feedback directed at strategy, effort, or task features; it sustains persistence better than person-focused praise about intelligence or talent.

Scaffold fading

Planning templates and checklists are provided early and removed as learners demonstrate independent use, transferring regulation to the student.

Criteria-anchored self-assessment

Learners judge their own work against explicit criteria or exemplars; without an anchor, self-scores inflate or deflate unreliably.

Progress monitoring log

A running record of milestones, strategies used, and obstacles, giving learners and educators evidence for adjusting plans during a project.

Authentic task

A task with a real audience, real constraints, and no single pre-known answer, requiring learners to apply knowledge beyond textbook exercises.

Problem framing

Restating a problem by identifying what is known, what is unknown, and what evidence would resolve it before proposing solutions.

Design cycle

Define, research, ideate, prototype, test, and iterate; each stage yields an artifact that can receive feedback before the next stage.

Ill-structured problem

A problem where learners must decide which information is relevant and which criteria define success; textbook problems are usually well-structured instead.

Innovation evidence

The solution is novel relative to the learner's prior work and is justified by user feedback or collected data, not only by effort.

Community-based problem

A local issue such as school energy use or water quality that supplies authentic data students can collect, analyze, and act on.

SAMR model

Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition; only modification and redefinition change the learning task rather than digitizing an existing one.

TPACK framework

Effective technology integration requires overlapping knowledge of content, pedagogy, and technology, not technological knowledge in isolation.

Digital citizenship strands

Safety, privacy, legal and ethical use, digital footprint management, and respectful online communication that learners must practice with ICT.

Accessibility baseline for ICT

Captions, alt text, sufficient contrast, keyboard navigation, and readable font size make digital materials usable by learners with disabilities.

Tool-fit decision rule

Shared documents suit co-authoring, wikis suit cumulative knowledge, forums suit reflective asynchronous discussion, and spreadsheets suit data modeling.

Formative data-use cycle

Collect evidence during learning, analyze it against the objective, adjust instruction, then re-assess to check whether the adjustment worked.

LMS analytics use

Learning management system data such as completion and attempt patterns inform instructional decisions only when mapped to a specific objective and action.