The way a user can make progress against a competency. Some competencies may allow multiple paths to achieving the same level on the competency.

A learning item within a course such as a quiz, SCORM object, or forum which involves active participation from learners.

A multi-stage, multi-page performance, learning and development evaluation online form featuring a range of custom and/or predefined questions.

A piece of equipment, an individual (such as a trainer) or a service (such as IT Support) that can be linked to a Seminar event session.

The term Assignment can have multiple meanings depending on the context.

Assignment activity: An assignment activity in a course, in which learners are required to submit digital content based on the instructions provided. The submission is then assessed by a trainer. This content could be an essay in word-processed document, a spreadsheet, or multimedia files.

Task assignments: Users may be assigned to a task, such as completing a program or certification, or participating in a performance activity. In this case assignments are the users who are assigned to those items. These assignments don't necessarily relate to specify tasks, for example users may be associated with competencies relating to their role. 

Role assignments: Users on your site are also assigned to roles which provide different access rights and permissions. For example, a user could be assigned to the role of Site Administrator or Trainer.

A group of users which may be created manually (a set audience) or added and updated automatically when users meet predefined criteria (a dynamic audience). An Audience can be assigned access or visibility to specific courses, programs, and/or certifications as well as assigned to specific learning plans, appraisals, goals and/or roles.

A user who has logged into the system, causing their account to be recognised as activated, but who does not have a role within the system (such as learner, trainer, course creator). 

The mechanism by which a user is logged into the system. 

Indicates whether responses can be submitted and/or modified on a section or instance of a performance activity:

• Open: Responses can be submitted or resubmitted
• Closed: No response submissions allowed

A saved copy of all, or specific items within, a course, created and stored within a compressed (zipped) file.

A digital, verifiable recognition of learning and achievement that may be issued automatically based on predefined criteria. Badges are held in the platform but can also be shared outside (such as on a digital CV or badge ‘backpack’).

A plugin type within Totara Learn that provides functionality in a ‘widget’ type format. Blocks are usually located on the left or right side columns and can be moved, removed, or edited by Site Administrators.

An area within a course, front page or dashboard that can host a block. Block regions are only visible when editing has been turned on and are indicated by a rectangle with a dotted outline and the Add a Block icon ().

Within Totara Learn, capabilities are used to define what a particular role can do in the system. These are normally associated to roles by default but can be added or removed by a Site Administrator to customise a role or create a new one. Capabilities might include the ability to grade assignments, create courses or add new users.

Found under Find Learning, the catalogue is a searchable, filterable, customisable view of courses, programs, certifications, playlists and resources available on your Totara site. The catalogue can be displayed as a grid or list view.

A grouping or folder of similar or associated courses, programs and/or certifications. A category may have any number of sub-categories.

An activity type which is an electronic award of achievement based on a traditional paper-based certificate layout. Certificates can be branded, personalised and set to be automatically issued to individuals based on predefined criteria (most commonly on course completion).

A recurring training requirement where an initial certification and a re-certification learning path is defined, tracked, and managed to ensure completion and compliance. Certification pathways consist of one or more courses.

An image representing a certification within the Featured Links block and/or the Course Catalogue. A default image is displayed unless a custom image has been added via a certification's general settings.

A child item is an component within a hierarchical structure that sits under a top level item or a parent.

An achievement, skill, or knowledge a learner may or must obtain and/or demonstrate. Competencies can be tied to courses (where the course provides evidence of a competency).

The process of linking a user to a competency (either directly or via their position, organisation or audience membership). This assignment allows users and their managers to track their progress in achieving the competency.

Also known as restricted access. Restricts access to specific activities based on the user meeting (or failing to meet) predefined criteria.

The Content Marketplace allows you to access a range of free and paid-for learning content from trusted content partners, and integrate this SCORM based content into your course catalogue as one or many new courses.

The scope of the software that a user's role assignment affects i.e. a learner in a course, a site-wide administrator. There is a definition for Role Context, but it's not referred to as that in the LMS.

Help and additional information for a specific area or field identified by the (  ) icon.

A single learning environment for enrolled learners, containing content in the form of one or many activities and resources.

A small square image shown against a course name within course listings and custom reports. A default image is displayed unless a custom icon is selected within a course's settings.

An image representing a course within the Featured Links block and/or the Course Catalogue. A default image is displayed unless a custom image has been added via a course's settings.

A section of a program or certification comprised of a course, set of courses, or a competency. One program or certification may have multiple course sets.

A course setting indicating whether the course is offered as blended, e-learning or seminar based learning. While this field has no impact on the activities, resources or functionality available in the course, a filter and browse option for course type is available within the Course Catalogue.

The act of discovering, gathering and presenting content that surrounds specific subject matter. Curation is not limited to generating content, but is instead the practice of amassing content from a variety of sources and delivering it in an organised fashion.

A custom field allows for additional information to be captured within a form or activity.  Custom fields are created by site administrators and can include fields such as multi-choice select, short or long text, radio buttons, dropdown menus etc.  Custom fields can be created and applied to a range of areas within Totara such as Seminar Assets, Goal types, User Profiles, Courses, Programs and Certifications.

A customised and configurable homepage that can be assigned to specific audiences.

In Totara Engage, a discussion is an organised, asynchronous conversation started by a group member in a workspace. It consists of the master post and comments to the post. A comment can be saved as an item in a playlist. Discussions can be linked to topics and are searchable within the group (and more widely if not hidden).

A Report that is available within the LMS that has been created via the Reports. Embedded reports can be modified and customised as required by Site Administrators.

An alternative Course Catalogue based on an Embedded Report.

The mechanism which decides how learners can be  enrolled in a course.

A training event within a Seminar activity. A Seminar may have any number of Events which are in turn made up of one or many date- and time-based sessions.

Evergreen is an alternative, monthly release of Totara Learn which provides the same products but with different release cycles for accessing new features.

A description, URL, and/or file demonstrating or verifying the achievement or partial achievement of a competency.

A person who contributes to a performance activity but does not have a user account in your Totara site. They are invited by email and participate by entering or viewing responses on an external, secure page.

An activity that allows you to create surveys or evaluations. Not to be confused with 360 feedback which forms part of the performance management functionality.

A personal or company-wide objective assigned to an individual or group of individuals.

A collection of learners within a course which allows restriction of access to specified Activities and Resources.

A representation of a structure or framework which contains items linked in a parent/child relationship. Totara Learn supports hierarchies for positions, organisations, competencies and goals.

Functionality that allows the manual or automated import, update, and deletion of user, position and/or organisation information within the system, either via CSV file upload or direct external database connection. Previously known as Totara sync and HR sync.

The text formatting options available within a content input area. Users can apply heading styles, add images and embed links and media using the HTML editor.

The process of taking a copy of an activity, resource, block, group, calendar event and/or quiz question(s) from one course and adding it to another.

A collection of translated words and strings which are installed on Totara Learn to allow navigation, functionality, and contextual help to be displayed in non-UK English.

A personal and/or professional development plan composed of selected learning elements; including courses, competencies, objectives, and programs. The learning plan enables staff to see at a glance their progress against specific learning events and the whole plan.

The distinction between Courses, Programs and Certifications.

A personal space where all of a user’s informal learning items (playlists, resources and workspaces) are stored.

A participant in a performance activity who has not been automatically selected by the system. Subjects and their managers can manually select other users to participate in an activity.

Mobile browser authentication is one of the authentication methods available for the Totara mobile app. In this workflow, users are directed to a tab on their mobile web browser to complete authentication actions, then return to the mobile app without needing to reauthenticate.

Native authentication is one of the authentication methods available for the Totara mobile app. In the native workflow, users authenticate by logging in within the app itself.

A unique learning or development goal that is set via an individual’s learning plan.

A customisable rating-system which allows users to be rated against the achievement or partial achievement of a competency.

A team, section, or location that sits within an organisational hierarchy. Organisations may be linked to competencies and/or goals.

A Parent item is a component within a hierarchical structure that has sub-items or children.

A participant’s own copy of the subject instance activity. This may be different to the subject instance depending on their relationship to the subject in the context of the activity.

A user who is expected to engage in a performance activity. Participants are defined by their relationship to the subject of the activity, either automatically by job assignment (such as the user’s manager) or manually selected by the subject or their manager (such as the reviewer).

A template that defines the way a performance activity (such as an appraisal, check-in or 360 feedback) will be conducted, by defining the questions, structure, scheduling and participants.

Includes the Appraisals, 360 feedback and Goals functionality.

The settings which allow, prevent, or prohibit users from accessing elements in the system based on their role.

A collection of resources created by a user. Can be public, private or limited to specific people. Linked to a topic, playlists are searchable if not private. Playlists can be liked, shared or commented on.

A core or custom module or add-on within Totara Learn which provides specific features and functionality. Examples include activities, authentication, and enrolment plugins.

A job or role that sits within a positional hierarchy. Positions may be linked to competencies and/or goals.

Indicates that the user assigned to a competency in Totara Perform has fulfilled sufficient criteria to achieve a level at which they are considered competent.

A prescribed learning path made up of one or many courses with ‘and/then/or’ conditions between sets of courses.

An image representing a program within the Featured Links block and/or the Course Catalogue. A default image is displayed unless a custom image has been added via a program's general settings.

Indicates progression towards completion of a performance activity:

• Not started: The user has not engaged with the activity
• In progress: The user has accessed the activity and may have begun drafting responses
• Complete: The user has submitted responses to all required questions
• Not submitted: The item has the status of closed but the user has not submitted answers to all required questions

The Totara-powered machine learning engine responsible for crafting an individual discovery experience for every user, based on complex algorithms performing analysis on multiple levels of information about a user and their activity on the site.

In Totara Learn, a resource is a learning item within a course such as a page, label or file, which involves a read or view level of participation from learners.

In Totara Engage, a resource is a minimum discrete piece of user-generated content, including text, image, video, audio or a combination. Resources are linked to a topic and can be standalone or included in a playlist. Resources can be public, private or limited to specific people. They can be liked, shared and commented on.

A participant in a performance activity who can submit responses.

The process of replacing or adding a course within Totara Learn, with a previously backed up course.

Also known as conditional access. Restricts access to specific activities based on the user meeting (or failing to meet) predefined criteria.

The access rights and associated capabilities an individual has within the LMS.

The area of the LMS where a role may be assigned or overridden.

A system to accredit a learner’s previous training and experience towards the completion of activities, resources, and/or courses.

A standard for saving/packaging and launching e-learning content within Learning Management Systems and an activity type within Totara Learn. The standards allow for set information to be passed between the e-learning and the LMS (such as the user’s completion status or score). Stands for Shareable Content Object Reference Model.

A copy of a performance activity generated for the subject of the activity (the user being evaluated).

In Totara Perform, the subject is the user the performance activity is about (the user whose performance is being evaluated). They may or may not participate in the activity.

In Totara Engage, a survey is a quick, one-question poll with up to ten answer options, created by any user in Totara Engage.

In Totara Learn, the survey activity allows you to present a number of pre-set learning surveys to learners in a course.

The design, look, and feel of your site. A theme is usually based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and can be either custom-made or configured via the administraton interface.

In Totara Learn, a topic is a section of a course page (when the topics course format is selected).

Totara Engage is a learning experience platform (LXP) that engages, unites and upskills your workforce to deliver high performance and better results. Through peer-to-peer interaction and social learning, Totara Engage empowers your people to create and curate custom content and collaborate in private or public workspaces, all seamlessly integrated with tools like Microsoft Teams.

Totara Learn is a fully flexible learning management system (LMS) that empowers you to build customised learning environments that meet your unique requirements. It is a scalable way to bring learning to your users in their preferred language, on their preferred device, and personalised by audiences, roles and learning goals.

The Totara Mobile app, fully integrated with Totara Learn, provides learners with access to courses, programs and certifications in their current learning.

Totara Perform is a flexible performance management system which supports your business’ performance management model, however you want to work. It provides you with the flexibility to design your performance management schedules and processes, harnessing the power of continuous performance management to boost workplace productivity, anytime, anywhere.

A participant who can view responses to a performance activity but cannot submit their own.

Webview authentication is one of the authentication methods available for the Totara mobile app. In the webview workflow allows, users are able to complete most authentication actions in a browser window displayed within the app.

A space for a group of people to collaborate, social and share information around a chosen subject. Can be public, private or hidden. Can contain playlists, discussions and shared resources.