This glossary provides clear definitions of key terms, acronyms, and concepts used throughout the Mapademics platform. Terms are organized alphabetically for easy reference.

A

Academic Program

A structured educational pathway consisting of multiple courses designed to prepare students for specific career outcomes. Programs are identified by CIP codes and contain course sequences that build toward learning objectives.

AI Processing Pipeline

The automated system that uses artificial intelligence models (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude) to analyze educational content and extract structured data, particularly skills and learning outcomes.

API Key

A unique authentication token that allows external systems to securely access organization data, commonly used for widget embedding and third-party integrations.

Assignment

A specific task or project within a course section that students complete to demonstrate learning, extracted from syllabi during AI processing.

Audit Trail

A chronological record of changes made to data entities, stored as JSON to track who made changes and when for accountability and compliance.

B

Batch Job

A background processing task that handles multiple related items simultaneously, such as analyzing several syllabi or job descriptions at once. Batch jobs run asynchronously and provide real-time progress updates.

Bulk Import

The process of uploading large amounts of organizational data (programs, courses, instructors) via Excel files, with built-in conflict resolution for handling duplicate or conflicting information.

C

Candidate Skill

A potential skill identified during AI processing that may be relevant to the content being analyzed, before final validation and grading.

CIP Code

Classification of Instructional Programs code - A standardized taxonomy used to classify academic programs by subject area, enabling consistent categorization across educational institutions.

Cognitive Skill

Fundamental mental abilities like critical thinking, problem-solving, and analysis that support learning and job performance across multiple domains.

Course

An individual class or subject within an academic program, such as “Introduction to Marketing” or “Calculus I.”

Course Section

A specific instance of a course with its own instructor, syllabus, and schedule. Multiple sections of the same course can exist with different instructors and content focus.

Custom Job

A job description created and managed within the platform, as opposed to standardized occupational data, allowing organizations to analyze specific employer requirements.

D

Default Section

The primary course section created automatically when a course is established, serving as the main section before additional sections are added.

E

Evidence Quality

A rating (STRONG, MODERATE, WEAK) that indicates how well the source content supports the identification of a particular skill, used in AI processing confidence scoring.

Employer

An organization or company that provides job opportunities, used to group related job descriptions and analyze workforce requirements.

F

Foundational Skills

Basic competencies that underpin more specific technical skills, often cognitive or interpersonal abilities that support learning in multiple contexts.

G

Graded Skill

A skill that has been assigned a proficiency level (typically 1-5) based on how extensively it is covered or required in the analyzed content.

I

Instructor

A faculty member or teacher who leads course sections and is associated with specific syllabi and learning outcomes.

Idempotency Key

A unique identifier that ensures duplicate processing requests produce the same result, preventing accidental re-processing of content.

J

Job Description Processing

The AI-powered analysis of job postings and descriptions to extract required skills, qualifications, and other structured information for workforce alignment studies.

L

Labor Market Intelligence

Real-time data about employment trends, wages, job openings, and skill demands used to inform educational program development and career guidance.

LangFuse

A monitoring and tracing system that tracks AI model usage, performance, and costs during content processing operations.

LLM (Large Language Model)

Artificial intelligence models like GPT-4 or Claude used to analyze text content and extract structured information about skills and learning outcomes.

M

Manual Review

A human-guided process for evaluating AI-generated classifications when confidence scores are low or results are uncertain, ensuring accuracy in skills mapping.

Metadata

Additional structured information stored with core data entities to provide context, configuration details, or processing history.

Multi-Tenant

An architecture where a single platform instance serves multiple organizations while keeping their data completely separate and secure.

N

Next.js App Router

The modern routing system used by the platform for organizing web pages and API endpoints, supporting server-side rendering and client-side navigation.

O

Organization

The top-level tenant entity that groups users, programs, courses, and all other data within a secure, isolated environment.

OST (Occupational Skills Taxonomy)

A standardized classification system for skills and competencies used to ensure consistent skills identification across different content sources.

P

Pipeline Configuration

Settings that control how AI processing works, including which models to use, confidence thresholds, and processing parameters for different types of content.

Parsed Skill

The final result of AI processing that includes the skill name, proficiency level, rationale for inclusion, and classification metadata.

Primary Skill

A core competency that is central to a course or job, used as context for identifying related foundational and cognitive skills.

Program Skills Analysis

A comprehensive report showing the distribution and coverage of skills across all courses within an educational program.

Prompt Template

Customizable instruction text that guides AI models during content processing, allowing organizations to tailor analysis to their specific needs.

Q

Queue

A system for managing the order and concurrency of background processing jobs to ensure efficient resource usage and prevent system overload.

R

Real-Time Updates

WebSocket-powered notifications that inform users immediately when background processing jobs complete or status changes occur.

Role-Based Access Control

A security system that grants different permissions (USER, ADMIN, MAPADEMICS_ADMIN) based on a user’s role within their organization.

S

Session

A secure user authentication state that maintains login status and organization context throughout platform usage.

Skills Extraction

The AI-powered process of identifying and categorizing competencies, abilities, and knowledge areas from educational content or job descriptions.

Skills Gap Analysis

A comparative analysis that identifies skills missing from educational programs when compared to job market requirements.

Skills Mapping

The process of connecting educational content with standardized skill taxonomies and job market requirements to show alignment and gaps.

SOC Code

Standard Occupational Classification code - A federal statistical standard used to classify workers and jobs by occupation, enabling consistent workforce analysis.

Stackable Credential

Industry certifications, licenses, or credentials that can be combined with academic programs to create complete career pathways.

Structured Information

Organized data extracted from unstructured content like syllabi, including course objectives, assignments, and learning outcomes.

Syllabus Processing

The AI-powered analysis of course syllabi to extract learning objectives, skills, assignments, and other structured educational information.

T

Trigger.dev

The background job processing system that handles AI analysis tasks asynchronously, providing reliability and scalability for content processing.

Tenant

An organization within the multi-tenant platform that has its own isolated data space and user access controls.

U

User Role

The permission level assigned to a platform user (USER, ADMIN, MAPADEMICS_ADMIN) that determines what actions they can perform within their organization.

V

An AI technique for finding similar content by comparing semantic meaning rather than exact text matches, used in skills identification.

W

WebSocket

A real-time communication protocol that enables instant updates about job processing status without requiring page refreshes.

Widget

An embeddable component that displays program and career information on external websites, allowing institutions to share insights with prospective students.

Workforce Alignment

The process of comparing educational program outcomes with job market requirements to ensure graduates are prepared for available career opportunities.

Common Acronyms

  • AI - Artificial Intelligence
  • API - Application Programming Interface
  • AWS - Amazon Web Services
  • CIP - Classification of Instructional Programs
  • CSV - Comma-Separated Values
  • LLM - Large Language Model
  • OST - Occupational Skills Taxonomy
  • PDF - Portable Document Format
  • ROI - Return on Investment
  • S3 - Simple Storage Service (AWS)
  • SaaS - Software as a Service
  • SOC - Standard Occupational Classification
  • UI - User Interface
  • URL - Uniform Resource Locator

Need Help?

If you encounter a term not defined in this glossary, please contact our support team at support@mapademics.com for clarification.