Technology in Your Classroom : How To... :

How To... Teach Tech Terminology
By Linda Lindroth

Use these resources to build a word wall of current technology vocabulary

For Reproducible click here. PDF 84KB

crystal ball for tech words of the future

New technology has brought with it the necessity of learning a wide range of technology vocabulary. Keeping up is hard to do if you and your students do not have a plan for updating your class list of technology terms. Every classroom needs a tech word wall, with time set aside for weekly updates.

The Internet words of the mid-1990s like "telnet" and "FTP" have given way to a new compilation of tech terms. Here are a couple basic terms to get you started (from Webguest Web Glossary):

  • SSL – Secure Sockets Layer. Protocol which lets encrypted messages be sent securely across the Internet. An example is a credit card. The URL for a SSL begins with "https" versus "http."

  • Daemon. This is a common term for a process that is already set up on a web server, just waiting for the user to require the technology task. An example is the send-mail daemon.

Resources for new terms
There are many different resources for filling in your own classroom tech glossary. I have a few favorites that I always go to first. These work best if you set up a tech glossary folder on your students' desktops and add shortcuts so students can look up words that are unfamiliar.

  1. ISTE Glossary of Technology Terms. http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/t_glossary.html This comprehensive, easy-to-use technology glossary supports the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS) and is updated by International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Students simply click on the letter of the alphabet for the term they are looking up and the concise definition is available. This text-only glossary helps define the terms needed to master an understanding of technology.

  2. Learn the Net Glossary. www.learnthenet.com/english/glossary/glossary.htm This is a cross-referenced glossary with definitions and hyperlinks to related tech terms within the definitions. Click on "The Animated Internet" for more in-depth definitions with interactive tutorials for e-mail, media streaming, etc.

Tech word bank resources
There are a number of resources to help you set up and organize a word wall for tech terms – or to just look up the latest buzzword like "phishing" or "submarining." See the definitions by clicking on the Answer button in the online version of this column at www.TeachingK-8.com

  • 4Teachers Technology Glossary www.4teachers.org/techalong Add new technology skills to your "tech toolbox" or explore the world of words in the "Technology Glossary" at this rich site for educators.

  • Technology Applications Vocabulary www.tcet.unt.edu/START/instruct/archive/glossary This site features the Technology Applications – Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology (TATAKS) for each term.

  • TechEncyclopedia www.techweb.com/encyclopedia Detailed definitions of more than 20,000 terms with a printable diagram page for many of the terms. Top-10 requests are listed on the search page.

  • Technology Buzzwords for Students www.tekmom.com/buzzwords/index.html Click on a buzzword to get a definition or play the word games to test your tech-term knowledge.


  • TECHtionary www.techtionary.com Media animations and interactive glossary with easy-to-access tech vocabulary, tech tutorials and daily TECH-Tips, all with animations.

For Reproducible click here. PDF 84KB

Linda K. Lindroth is Teaching K-8's technology editor and website coordinator, and a technology resource teacher at Russell Cave Elementary School in Lexington, KY.

Updated November 2007
November/December, 2006 Vol. 37, No. 3