✨ Updated November 2025: Enhanced with AI and modern digital learning terms
The ultimate glossary of ICT terms and their definitions – critical for teachers starting on their digital education journey!
As educational technology evolves, modern ICT literacy now encompasses understanding artificial intelligence and its applications in teaching and learning. This updated glossary includes essential AI concepts alongside traditional ICT terms. For a comprehensive introduction to AI and machine learning, explore our dedicated guide.
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Essential AI & Modern Digital Terms
Today’s educators need to understand AI-related terminology as these technologies become integral to educational practice. From fundamentals of prompting to understanding large language models, AI literacy is now a core component of ICT competency. Professional development programmes, such as those offered through AI teacher training initiatives, are helping educators worldwide develop these essential skills.
| Term | Definition |
| 21st Century skills | skills needed to live in the digitised 21st Century, e.g. information technology and media skills; learning and innovation skills such as collaboration, critical thinking and creativity |
| adaptive learning tools/systems | programs that adapt (change) the content and process of learning offered to learners on the basis of their response to questions and tasks |
| analytics | data generated by user engagement with content and assessment that can provide insight and guidance for intervention if required |
| animations | a series of slightly different pictures, photos or illustrations that are viewed rapidly in succession to create the illusion of movement similar to that of a video or film. |
| Android | Android is an operating system developed by Google for smartphone |
| artificial intelligence (AI) | computer systems able to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, including visual perception, decision-making, and language understanding. See our introduction to AI and machine learning for more details. |
| asynchronously | not occurring at the same time |
| augmentation | digital technology that directly substitutes print, for example, and improves either the quality or variety of the content that is made available for teaching and learning purposes |
| bandwidth | the rate at which an internet connection can send and receive a volume of information |
| broadband | always-on internet access |
| blogging | a personal journal/record of events captured on a website |
| central processing unit (CPU) | a component of a device that provides processing power, necessary for the running of programs or applications |
| chatbot | an AI-powered conversational agent that can interact with users through text or voice, increasingly used in educational settings for tutoring and support |
| collaborative learning | the practice of learners working together to complete a task or solve a problem |
| collaborative tools | digital tools that allow learners to work together in online environments |
| computing-based tools | tools that require a computer |
| connectivity | the ability to connect with other computer devices via the internet |
| content delivery systems | computing-based systems that structure and manage the delivery of content and assessment to learners |
| desktop computers | (also known as personal computers (PCs): designed to fit onto a desk top |
| digital education | the use of electronic tools that create, store and process information to deliver and enhance teaching and learning |
| digital learning programs | computer programs that teach content and test learners’ understanding of the content |
| e-learning | another term for digital education |
| embedded | placed in a computer file or program |
| enhancements | additions that improve the quality of something |
| ePDF | a digital document that is formatted as an embedded portable document (PDF stands for portable document format; commonly referred to as books behind glass, ePDFs are simply digitised versions of paper books |
| ePUB | an electronic publication that can be used across devices and operating systems; it allows text to reflow and resize in order to fit the type of device on which it is viewed |
| formats | arrangements of data in a file or program that allows it to perform certain unique functions |
| functionality | the ability to do something |
| gamification | turning an experience into a game-like process by using elements of game design |
| generative AI | artificial intelligence systems that can create new content including text, images, code, and more, based on patterns learned from training data |
| hardware | computer equipment such as monitor, mouse, keyboard and CPU |
| hyperlinks | links in a digitised document that, when clicked on, take the user to another part of the document or to an external location, such as a website |
| information and communication technologies (ICTs) | information and communication technologies |
| interactive whiteboards | electronic whiteboards that are connected to a computer and can perform the same functions as the computer to which they are connected |
| internet | a global network of computers that connects them to one another |
| iOS | iOS is an operating system developed by Apple for smartphones |
| laptop computers | computers that are small enough to fit on the user’s lap and can perform all the same functions as desktop computers |
| large language model (LLM) | advanced AI systems trained on vast amounts of text data to understand and generate human-like language. Learn more about understanding large language models. |
| learner management system | another term for content delivery system |
| machine learning | a subset of AI where computer systems learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed for every task |
| mobile learning | the use of mobile devices and/or mobile networks to deliver teaching and learning |
| modification | the degree to which something is changed; in the context of SAMR, the learning tasks that are set are substantially different from those that are set without the benefit of digital tools |
| offline | not connected to the internet |
| online | connected to the internet |
| online discussion forums | online websites that allow users to engage with one another usually from remote locations |
| Open Educational Resources (OERs) | educational material – typically electronic or digital – available at little to no cost and can be used, shared and/or adapted |
| operating systems | the software program that enables a computer or other digital device to perform certain functions |
| platforms | the software or hardware used to host a particular website or other type of digital tool |
| podcasts | a popular form of audio broadcasting on the internet |
| prompt | an instruction or question given to an AI system to generate a specific response or output. Master the fundamentals of prompting for effective AI interaction. |
| prompt engineering | the skill of crafting effective instructions for AI systems to achieve desired outcomes, increasingly important for educators working with AI tools |
| redefinition | to change the definition of something; in the context of SAMR, to allow learners to perform tasks that were not previously possible |
| SAMR | (substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition): a framework for understanding the impact of digital tools on education |
| simulations | virtual representations of real-world scenarios and tasks |
| smartphones | mobile phones that are connected to the internet |
| software | computer programs |
| substitution | replacement; in the context of SAMR, learners use digital platforms as a direct replacement of other forms of content delivery without any change in the nature of the task or the teaching and learning method |
| synchronously | occurring at the same time |
| tablets | handheld computers that have flat screens and can connect to the internet |
| touch screens | a computer display screen where the user interacts with the computer by touching pictures or words on the screen; this includes the keyboard which exists as software in a tablet |
| training data | the information used to teach AI systems patterns and relationships, forming the foundation of machine learning models |
| USB disk | a portable storage device for digital files |
| virtual | not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so |
| website(s) | a set of pages on the World Wide Web published by a single person or organisation about a particular subject or closely related topics |
| widget(s) | interactive component that responds to user input |
Further Resources
For educators looking to expand their ICT competencies into the AI era, explore our comprehensive guide on introduction to AI and machine learning, or learn practical skills through our fundamentals of prompting resource.