This documentation describes the basic organization and terminology for the Ed-Fi training program. 

Taxonomy

The following is a conceptual taxonomy for the training material, building on what exists today.

Ed-Fi Training

The general and overarching term for any Ed-Fi learning material, labs, courses, programs, and the resources contained.

The term “Ed-Fi training” is defined here to include the universe of concepts and things that includes the Ed-Fi Quick Start documentation and resources, the Ed-Fi Quick Launch training, and future adjacent efforts to expand on this existing material. It’s primarily for internal use, but may be used externally.^[1]

A quick disclaimer for those who recall the past effort dubbed the Ed-Fi Academy: This is (at the moment, at least) a placeholder term. We’re simply giving a name to the Quick Launch material and the additional yet-to-be-developed advanced training material that isn’t correctly described as being a “Quick Launch.”

The learning program encompassing the Quick Launch material and modules.

…the Ed-Fi Academy Training contains multiple Series.

Series

An indicator of the course level. Generally:

• Series 000. Technology Basics. Foundational information and technical skills.
• Series 100. Basics and Overview. (Where all existing material would be placed today.) The material forms the foundation of general knowledge about Ed-Fi, plus the programmatic and technical basics. Some material is presented to all students, while some is separated into Technical and Program Tracks.
• Series 200. Core Advanced Topics. Introduces advanced topics. Courses in this Series assume that students have all the knowledge from the 100 Series for their particular Tracks. While there may be some introductory material suitable for a combination Technical and Program Tracks, it is assumed that much of the material will be Track-specific.
• Series 300. Specialized Advanced Topics. Assumes knowledge of advanced topics. Not necessarily more difficult than 200-series topics, the differentiator is that the topics are deeper dives into specific technologies. For example, the 300 series Technical Track might have a Course for Postgres-specific implementations, AWS deployments, Power BI, and similar.

…a series contains courses. Most of these courses are part of one or more tracks.

Track

A high-level indicator of the audience for a particular course.

Currently defined Tracks include:

• Technical Track. For developers, architects, devops, and similar audiences. Technical Track courses often contain nontechnical context — but will assume some level of multidisciplinary technical knowledge. 
• Program Track. For analysts, technical project managers, instructors, researchers, and consumers of educational data. Program Track courses can cover technical topics, but only with some introduction and conceptual overview provided.
• Data Engineering Track. For system integrators, data wranglers, technical analysts, researchers, and advanced consumers of data. Data Engineering Track courses bridge the gap between technical and program topics — and can be of interest to those audiences.

...a track contains courses.

Pathways

A specific sequence of courses that meets some larger instructional objective. For example, there are pathways that cover knowledge areas for an Ed-Fi Badge or Ed-Fi Certification.

Other pathways cover instruction laser-focused on a particular role in a project or organization. For example, there are tracks for data engineers containing just a few courses in each series, while a track for a commercial client system vendor may consist of several courses.

...a pathway contains a sequence of courses.

Course

A complete and contained set of learning objectives, analogous to a class or a textbook.

• The course numbering within a series starts at x01.
  • So, the first course in series 100 is 101.
  • Saying it a different way, there is no course 100, 200, or similar round hundred.

...a course contains modules.

Course Prerequisites

Courses may have prerequisites. 

• Series 000 Courses:
  • Have no formal prerequisites.
  • By definition, Series 000 covers conceptual technology basics, so no Ed-Fi-specific knowledge is required.
• Series 100 Courses:
  • Assume any knowledge conveyed in Series 000.
  • Require knowledge conveyed in Course 101, Introduction to Ed-Fi (i.e., every 100 Series course has Course 101 as a prerequisite).
  • May have prerequisites of other Series 100 Courses, but no higher Series number.
• Series 200 Courses:
  • Have a prerequisite all Core Courses in Series 100. Students must have attended the Series 100 Core Courses for their particular Track, or clearly demonstrate the knowledge and experience.
  • May have prerequisites of specific Series 100 Courses, or other 200 Courses, but no higher Series number.
• Series 300 Courses:
  • Are specialized, and typically for experts in the topic.
  • May have prerequisites to knowledge in any other Course, or may refer to an external course, certification, technology tutorial, or other required expertise.

…a Course contains Units.

Unit

A segmentation within a Course that covers a related set of topics. Analogous to Units in a textbook. Often contains an introduction to and a review of the learning objectives related to individual Lessons within.

…a Unit contains Lessons.

Lesson

A discrete set of information, exercises, and activities, typically done in one sitting. For example, may consist of an online video, workbook activity, and short quiz to test understanding. A training seminar may conduct several Lessons in a single day.

…a Lesson contains Resources.

Resources

Finally, after all the above, the actual learning content! Resources are the media, lab, and test material that inform a lesson. Although Lessons “contain” Resources, the Resources may be used in multiple Lessons (and, ideally, outside of a Course context altogether, as in the case of the Ed-Fi Starter Kits).

Module

A presentation of the learning objective knowledge provided via text, video, or live instruction.

Lab

A hands-on activity. Typically contains or packages additional resources. Resources may be technical (e.g., source code, machine images, installer scripts) or nontechnical (e.g., worksheets, project templates, videos of humans walking through the lab exercise).

Starter Kit

A Starter Kit is a self-contained set of instructions and resources published by the Ed-Fi Alliance (here). These are lessons in and of themselves, but the resources can (and often are) used for Labs, because they contain detailed setup instructions, links to technical resources, and similar.

Categorizations

Project Phase (New 5/9)

The project lifecycle phase to which a training component applies.

For example (from ICF Knowledge Store Index):

• Phase 1. Prepare
• Phase 2. Implement
• Phase 3. Improve

Alternatively, consider a DevOps-type lifecycle & concepts? An example might look more like, e.g.:

• Plan
• Code
• Build
• Test
• Deploy
• Operate
• Monitor

   ...on one hand, this model is somewhat standard and fine-grained (which is good), but it assumes that "Improve" is continuous, not a separate subject.

Focus Area (New 5/9)

For example (from ICF Knowledge Store Index):

• Organizational Management
• Technology Systems
• Teaching & Learning

Lesson Forum

For example:

• Instructor-Led Lesson
• Instructor-Led Workshop
• Self-Guided Lesson
• Self-Guided Activity

Lesson Type

For example:

• E-Learning. Online module or content delivery. Includes many of the Sessions from the Quick Launch series.
  • Self-Guided.
• Training Session. In-person training session. Includes “Deep Dive” sessions typically held with the Ed-Fi Technical Congress or the Ed-Fi Summit.
• Web Meeting. Instructor-led online session. Includes introductory and wrap-up Sessions from the Quick Launch series.
• Hands-on activity.
  • Self-Guided.
• Applied learning, in a production or simulated production environment.
  • Field Application.
  • Mock Application.

Resource Type (Updated 5/9)

An indicator of file type. During production, used to communicate the planned deliverable(s). After publication, used in the content inventory for categorization and searching.

Often multiple when used to describe a job, especially where an "original" such as a PowerPoint is delivered alongside a final product such as a PDF.

AKA: File Type

For example (updated with more examples from ICF Knowledge Store Index):

• PDF
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• MPEG
• JPEG

Publication Platform (New 5/9)

The method of hosting or disbursing the file. During production, helps content developers and production teams understand the target. After publication, documents "where" a piece of content lives.

For example:

• LMS
• Vimeo
• YouTube
• Google Drive
• Dropbox

Content Author (New 5/9)

The entity that produced and owns the content, typically an organization name or type.

AKA: Content Owner, Content Organization

For example (from ICF Knowledge Store Index):

• APQC
• Ed-Fi Alliance
• INsite
• LEA
• NCES
• SEA
• U.S. DoE
• Other [i.e., Organization Name]

^[1] Externally, we would use this in the same manner as the closest analogue we have today: “Ed-Fi technology,” which is a generic term describing all the code, scripts, project templates, and other supporting technical resources produced by the Ed-Fi Alliance.