Glossary of AI simulation and Conversational Learning

An AI avatar is the animated face of a persona: real-time generated video that speaks with a synchronised voice and makes the simulation feel like a real face-to-face meeting. It complements voice when the situation takes place in person or on a video call.

AI coaching is an exchange between the learner and a coach driven by artificial intelligence, which asks questions, paraphrases and points to resources to review. It helps anchor what has been learned, between sessions or after a simulation.

An AI persona is the character the learner meets in a simulation: it has an identity, a personality, goals and objections, and the AI makes it speak and react consistently. It is what makes the conversation believable.

An AI role-play is a practice scenario in which the learner talks with a character driven by artificial intelligence (a customer, team member, candidate or patient) that reacts to what they say. At the end, the learner gets a debrief on strengths and areas to improve.

An assessment rubric lists the criteria used to judge a performance, with what is expected for each. In a simulation, it turns an impression (“that went well”) into precise feedback that can be compared from one session to the next.

An authoring tool is software that lets a trainer or instructional designer create training content themselves, without writing code. For AI simulations, it is the tool that builds the personas, scenarios and debriefs.

A cold debrief is a detailed analysis of a session, done afterwards from its recording. It goes back over the exchange moment by moment, verbal and non-verbal, to understand what made the difference.

Conversational Learning is a training approach in which people learn by talking: the learner practises with a counterpart, real or simulated by AI, then gets a debrief on what they said and did. Theory becomes repeated practice of real situations.

A conversational simulation recreates a realistic work conversation so people can practise it without risk: the learner speaks, the simulated counterpart answers and reacts. It prepares people for the conversations that matter before they happen for real.

A difficult conversation is a high-stakes exchange where emotions, disagreement or bad news make the discussion delicate: correcting an employee, handling an unhappy customer, announcing a refusal. It is better prepared by practising than by improvising.

The DISC model describes four behavioural styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Based on the work of psychologist William Moulton Marston (1928), it is widely used in training to adapt communication to the other person.

Since 2 February 2025, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act has banned AI systems that infer people’s emotions in the workplace and in educational institutions, except for medical or safety reasons. Training tools must therefore stick to observable signals.

Experiential learning means learning from an experience that is lived and then analysed. The best-known model, David Kolb’s cycle (1984), runs through four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation.

The forgetting curve describes how quickly we forget what we have learned when it is not reactivated. Identified by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885, it shows that forgetting is fast in the first few days.

A hot debrief is the feedback given right after a practice scenario, while the exchange is still fresh in the learner’s mind. It sums up what worked, what was missing and what to work on in the next attempt.

Job-specific actions are the concrete steps a professional carries out in their tools while working: logging a complaint in the CRM, opening a file, following a procedure. Practising them avoids mistakes on the day they have to be done during a real conversation.

LTI 1.3 (Learning Tools Interoperability) is a 1EdTech standard that securely connects an LMS to an external tool: the learner launches the tool from their course without logging in again, and the result flows back to the LMS. It is the current version of the standard.

Non-verbal communication covers everything conveyed without words: posture, gestures, gaze and facial expressions. It weighs heavily in how a message is received, especially face to face.

Objection handling is the sales skill of welcoming, understanding and answering a customer’s concerns (price, timing, competitor, need) without damaging the relationship. It is one of the most practised situations in sales simulations.

Paraverbal communication is the way things are said: tone, pace, volume, intonation and silences. Two identical sentences do not have the same effect depending on the voice that carries them.

Role-play is a training technique in which participants act out a work situation, one in their own role and another as the counterpart, before debriefing it. It is one of the most effective methods for building interpersonal skills.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a standard that lets you import training content into any compatible LMS and report the learner’s progress back to it. The most common versions are SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004.

Screen sharing in a simulation lets the learner show their screen during the conversation, to practise a demo or a presentation. The simulated counterpart sees what is shown, reacts and asks questions.

A simulation scenario describes the situation to be played: the context, the persona, the learner’s goal, the expected flow and the criteria used to assess them. It is the learning building block of a conversational simulation.

Soft skills are behavioural and interpersonal skills: listening, persuading, handling conflict, giving feedback, staying calm. They are mainly acquired through practice and feedback on that practice.

A timestamped replay is the recording of a session in which key moments are marked by their time. The learner or trainer can jump straight to the passage worth reviewing.