Patent Application
20060286536
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to educational programs and specifically to systems and methods facilitating collaborative authorship of online learning content.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the evolution of the Internet, teaching students through online teaching systems has become more popular. These online teaching systems provide electronic versions of curriculums, and tests to assess how well the students have mastered the information. These systems thereby provide the teacher with additional tools for teaching students a particular subject matter.
In one aspect, a system for managing content for a distributed learning system over an electronic network is provided, comprising one or more servers and a permissions module. The one or more servers store a plurality of educational courses configured to be delivered electronically to students over the network. At least some of the courses comprise one or more content objects also stored on the one or more servers. At least some of the content objects are reusable content objects configured to be used in more than one of the courses. The permissions module is configured to regulate whether users can use the reusable content objects in the courses, based upon permission settings stored in association with the reusable content objects.
In another aspect, a method is provided for regulating access to educational content objects over an electronic network, for a distributed learning system. The method includes storing a plurality of educational courses configured to be delivered electronically to students over the network. At least some of the courses comprise one or more content objects. At least some of the content objects are reusable content objects configured to be used in more than one of the courses. The method further includes receiving a user's request to add one of the reusable content objects to one of the courses, retrieving permissions information associated with the requested content object, and providing or not providing access to the requested content object, in accordance with the permissions information.
In another aspect, a method is provided for regulating permission settings of one or more content objects associated with a distributed learning system. The content objects are stored in association with a plurality of educational courses configured to be delivered electronically to students. The permission settings govern users' abilities to add selected ones of the content objects to the courses. The method comprises receiving a request from a user to modify permission settings for an identified one of the content objects, retrieving access information associated with the user, and allowing or not allowing the user to modify the permission settings for the identified content object and any content object below the identified content object in a hierarchical course outline of one of the courses, based on the access information.
In another aspect, a system is provided for controlling content styles for the presentation of educational courses over an electronic network. The system comprises one or more servers and a content style module. The one or more servers are configured to store content styles, each content style configured to be selectively applied to one of more of the courses. Each content style is also configured to control presentational formatting of an associated course delivered to students over the network. The content style module is configured to regulate a user's ability to apply a selected one of the content styles to a selected one of the courses based upon stored access information of the user.
In another aspect, a method is provided for controlling content styles for the presentation of educational courses over an electronic network. The method includes storing content styles configured to be selectively applied to one or more of the courses, each content style configured to control presentational formatting of an associated course delivered to students over the network. A request is received from a user's client computer to apply a selected one of the content styles to a selected one of the courses. Access information associated with the user is retrieved. The user is allowed or not allowed to apply the selected content style to the selected course, based upon the retrieved access information.
In another aspect, a method is provided for controlling content styles for the presentation of educational courses over an electronic network. The method comprises storing content styles configured to be selectively applied to one or more of the courses, each content style configured to control presentational formatting of an associated course delivered to students over the network; organizing the content styles within content theme directories; receiving a user's request to store a new content style within a selected one of the content theme directories; retrieving permissions information associated with the content theme directory; and permitting or not permitting the user to store the new content style within the selected content theme directory, based upon the retrieved permissions information.
In another aspect, a method of sharing content objects between project spaces is provided. In accordance with the method, a first project space associated with a first organization is provided, the first project space including educational course materials configured to be delivered electronically to students over a network. Access to the first project space is provided to a first plurality of authors associated with the first organization. A second project space associated with a second organization is also provided, the second project space including educational course materials configured to be delivered electronically to students over the network. Access to the second project space is provided to a second plurality of authors associated with the second organization. The first plurality of authors is prevented from accessing the second project space, and the second plurality of authors is prevented from accessing the first project space. A joint space accessible by the first and second pluralities of authors is provided. At least some of the first plurality of authors are permitted to transfer content objects from the first project space into the joint space.
For purposes of summarizing the invention and the advantages achieved over the prior art, certain objects and advantages of the invention have been described herein above. Of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such objects or advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
All of these embodiments are intended to be within the scope of the invention herein disclosed. These and other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular preferred embodiment(s) disclosed.
Certain embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals refer to like elements throughout. The terminology used in the description presented herein is not intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner, simply because it is being utilized in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may include several novel features, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes or which is essential to practicing the inventions described herein.
One embodiment of the invention relates to a distributed learning system that allows authors to collaborate as they develop course materials. In one embodiment, the distributed learning system, herein referred to as “the system,” includes a plurality of servers that store course material from multiple authors and a permissions module that regulates access to the course material. A delivery engine is configured to transfer the course material to one or more students.
The system allows authors to create content objects for use in educational courses. The system also preferably allows a first author to use content created by a second author in course materials developed by the first author. The course materials are preferably delivered to students in a seamless manner that does not reveal or suggest the fact that the various portions of the course may have been developed by different authors. An author can preferably regulate use of his or her original content in a variety of ways, including, for example, (1) allowing other authors to view the original content, (2) allowing other authors to insert a read-only copy of the original content into their own course materials (a “reference” to the original content), (3) allowing other authors to insert a hyperlink to the original content into their own course materials (a “link” to the original content), (4) allowing other authors to insert an editable copy of the original content into their own course materials (a “repurpose” of the original content), and (5) allowing other authors to edit the original content itself. It will be understood that any combination of these access levels can be provided, and any one or more of them can be affirmatively denied. Also, access to content can be set (e.g., by the original author) for each individual “content object” (as defined below) or related group of objects. Further, access levels can vary from user to user, with some users (e.g., super administrators or organizational/project administrators) having greater access levels to content than other users.
Another embodiment of the invention relates to a method by which the system permits authors (also referred to herein as “users”) to set permissions on one or more course materials or portions of course materials (collectively referred to as “content objects”). In one embodiment, an author logs into the system and sets edit and sharing permissions for a content object and all subservient content objects in a hierarchy of content objects. In another embodiment, an administrator (“project/organizational administrator” or a system's “super administrator”) logs into the system and sets edit, sharing and lockdown permissions for a content object and all subservient content objects. Under lockdown, authors are not permitted to modify a content object. The lockdown option is preferably only available to higher level administrators.
In a preferred embodiment, the author's role is essentially limited to developing content in accordance with desired instructional and/or learning strategies. The choice of instructional and/or learning strategies may require the author to apply appropriate formatting data (e.g., metadata) to the content objects (e.g., tagging a content object as “instructor's eyes only” or “student warning,” or the like). In the preferred embodiment, a content delivery engine delivers the authored materials to students in a presentation format dictated in-part by the formatting data, and in-part by the selection of a “visual style” and a “theme” (selected by, e.g., an administrator of an organization or university associated with the particular students that receive the course materials). A visual style governs the branding, logos, images, fonts, colors, and the like, associated with delivered course materials. A theme governs presentation structure based on the specific types of content delivered. A “content style” is the resultant effect of combining a specific visual style and a specific theme. Visual styles, themes, and content styles are described further below. The system preferably allows users with appropriate permissions to add or modify visual styles and/or themes.
In a preferred embodiment, users (e.g., authors, administrators) of different organizations have the ability to share content objects across organizational boundaries and to work collaboratively in developing course materials. In one embodiment, content objects developed by a first organization are transferred to a second organization and, upon combination with the second organization's themes and visual styles (i.e., content styles), are used to generate course material tailored to the second organization. In another embodiment, users are permitted to share content objects across project spaces within the same organization only.
Distributed Learning System
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a distributed learning system. The learning system allows for the dynamic creation of teaching materials personally tailored for the needs of the individual striving to learn the course material.
The preferred system allows for courses to be designed by content authors and then presented to students over a network, such as the Internet. Each course is composed from a set of learning objectives aimed at teaching the student a certain desired set of skills. One learning objective (LO), for example, might be to learn how to program a computer. This is an example of a very broad learning objective. Accordingly, each learning objective may include a defined set of target indicators (TI's). For example, the LO could be Visual Basic knowledge and the TI's might include command instructions in Visual Basic or display techniques of Visual Basic. Accordingly, each TI could include an indicator that the student has learned the learning objective. The overall course could be called “How to Program a Computer”.
In order to teach a student a TI, a series of content items (CI's) and content sections (CS's) can be provided. Each content item includes information that relates to its TI. For example, if the TI is Visual Basic knowledge, related content items might include text pages showing Visual Basic commands. Each page displays one or more content items. Preferably, content items can include child content items and content sections, and a content item or content section can serve a parent content item or content section. Alternatively, a set of related commands might also be a single content item. In addition, content items can be, e.g., image files, video files, text files or sound files that provide information for the particular target indicator. A content item can itself include one or more other content items and content sections.
Associated with the content items are one or more assessment items (AI's), which are typically examination questions that test the student's knowledge of the content item. For example, if the content item includes text that teaches how to use the command “PRINT” from Visual Basic, the assessment item might include a question such as “What command is used to print to the printer?” This allows assessment of the student's knowledge of the content item (or plurality of content items). Such a test would not necessarily have to be in written form, but could also be performed through image, video and/or sound files. Because of the relationship between content items and assessment items, the system can provide a very granular analysis of what a particular student has learned. By providing a set of assessment items that test for knowledge of particular content items, instructions within the system can determine which content items have been learned by the student, and which content items are not known. Additionally, AI's can be reused across multiple LO's and TI's. For example, an AI associated with an LO can be used with another LO. Further, a user (e.g., author, administrator, or super administrator) can declare relationships among AI's and any number of LO's, TI's, CO's and CS's.
There are typically two modes of AI usage, both of which include giving a student one or more questions to gauge the student's level of understanding of the course material. In one mode, herein referred to as “formative capacity,” a score relating to the student's performance is not calculated. In another mode, herein referred to as “summative capacity,” a score is calculated.
Once a determination is made of the content items that need to be learned, the system can provide varying types of content items (or personalized feedback) to teach the student. For example, if the student cannot answer the question “What command is used to print to the printer?”, the system can then display additional Visual Basic command text, play a video, or play a sound file that instructs the student on the use of the command “PRINT”.
As discussed below, a student can access the course through a computer system. In one embodiment, the course is presented within a browser software program such as Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corporation, or Netscape Navigator from Netscape Corporation. Once the student has requested the course, the course is presented to the student through the browser software executing on the student's computer system.
Embodiments of the system are configured to monitor and determine the student's learning preference as the student proceeds in the course and interacts with the curriculum. The system also is capable of testing the student to determine which portions of the curriculum the student has understood. Thus, the system is able to determine the student's progress in the course and the student's comprehension of the contents of the course.
If the system determines through testing that a student has not fully comprehended some aspect of the coursework, the system may provide additional information on the unlearned portions of the course. This additional information can be placed within a subsequent supplementary course to be presented to the student, or be part of the same curriculum. Moreover, the system can provide the supplementary information in a format most useful to the student. For example, if the student has been found to learn most effectively through visual teaching, a video on demand (VOD) can be presented to the student. Conversely, if the student has been found to learn most effectively through reading, the system can present the student with written information.
The learning system described herein also can utilize an external cache system for delivering content to the students through its Caching Application Programming Interface (API). In one embodiment, the Caching API interfaces with a controlled replication and content routing system, such as the Self-Organizing Distributed Architecture (SODA) developed by SitePath, Inc. (Waltham, Mass.). Of course, the Caching API is not limited to interface with only a specific type of caching scheme. Other schemes, such as the Digital Island system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,598, issued on Feb. 6, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, could also be used.
For example, a course delivery engine that stores the coursework to be presented is maintained centrally. However, copies of the course contents are transmitted and maintained at a location local to the student's computer system. For instance, a copy of the curriculum might be maintained on the student's local area network (LAN). However, because the system described herein is capable of connecting together many sites throughout the world, copies of the curriculum can be stored, for example, within a server in each country and within a server for each region of the world. By keeping copies of the course contents distributed onto multiple servers that are near the student's sites, the system is capable of delivering content to the student more efficiently.
Providing this caching mechanism allows an embodiment of the system to incorporate instructions for tracking when curriculum has been updated on the central server. Once a particular curriculum file is updated, a new copy of the updated curriculum is sent to each of the remotely cached sites so that the students may be provided with the most up-to-date information.
1. Application Programming Interface (API)
An API is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. An API facilitates the development of software programs or systems by providing the building blocks that may be utilized in building a software program or system. A programmer can then access and use the API to create or modify a software program or system.
2. Assessment Items
Assessment items are queries that may be posed to the student to indicate the student's comprehension of the course material. The assessment items can be content-related questions, such as, for example, true or false questions, multiple choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, point and click questions, drag-and-drop questions, free text questions, and the like.
3. Content Items
Content items refer to the presentation of educational material, including any tools that can deliver or contain educational content. Content items can be in many forms, such as, for example, image files, video files, sound files, Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, Flash animations, streaming video, collaborative work environments, or any tool that can deliver educational content. Content items can contain one or more content items (CI's) and content sections (CS's), which are preferably metadata tagged to reflect instructional design (e.g., learning styles or instructional strategies). One example of a section instructional design is a questions and answers (Q&A) format. Another example of a section instructional design is a computer-implemented guide or advisor (e.g., “guru”) to facilitate a student's learning experience. Content items can map to target indicators, which can in turn map to learning objectives.
4. Course
A course is a collection of learning objectives, TIs, CIs and CSs aimed at teaching a certain curriculum to a student. A course can be designed and presented to students over a network, such as the Internet. Each course may be composed of one or more learning objectives. A “course material” broadly refers to a course or a portion of a course.
5. Input Devices
Input devices are capable of transmitting information from a user to a computer, for example, a keyboard, rollerball, mouse, voice recognition system or other device. The input device may also be a touch screen associated with the display, in which case the user responds to prompts on the display by touching the screen. The user may enter textual information through the input device such as the keyboard or the touch-screen.
6. Instructions
Instructions refer to computer-implemented steps for processing information in the system. Instructions can be implemented in software, firmware or hardware and can include any type of programmed step undertaken by components of the system.
7. Local Area Network (LAN)
One example of the Local Area Network may be a corporate computing network, including access to the Internet, to which computers and computing devices comprising the system are connected. In one embodiment, the LAN conforms to the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) industry standard. In alternative embodiments, the LAN may conform to other network standards, including, but not limited to, the International Standards Organization's Open Systems Interconnection, IBM's SNA, Novell's Netware, and Banyan VINES.
8. Learning Objectives
Learning objectives refer to major topics, i.e. educational goals, which are typically not easily assessable. The learning objectives may include broad concepts, such as, for example, “Understanding the Use of a Web Browser”. A learning objective typically is separated into smaller conceptual units (target indicators) which can be more easily taught and tested. A learning objective is generally generated by a job task or skills analysis. One or more learning objectives normally form a complete course.
9. Media
Media refers to images, sounds, video or any other multimedia type data that is entered into the system.
10. Miciroprocessor
The microprocessor may be any conventional general purpose single- or multi-chip microprocessor, such as a Pentium® processor, a Pentium® Pro processor, a 8051 processor, a MIPS® processor, a Power PC® processor, an ALPHA® processor, or other general purpose microprocessor, including those yet to be developed. In addition, the microprocessor may be any conventional special purpose microprocessor, such as a digital signal processor or a graphics processor. The microprocessor typically has conventional address lines, conventional data lines, and one or more conventional control lines.
11. Modules
A system is comprised of various modules as discussed in detail below. As can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, each of the modules may comprise various sub-routines, procedures, definitional statements and macros. Each of the modules are typically separately compiled and linked into a single executable program. Therefore, a description of each of the modules is used for convenience to describe the functionality of certain embodiments of the system. Thus, the processes that are undergone by each of the modules may be arbitrarily redistributed to one of the other modules, combined together in a single module, or made available in, for example, a shareable dynamic link library.
12. Networks
The system may include any type of electronically connected group of computing systems (“electronic network”), including, for example, one or more of the networks from the following non-exhaustive list: Internet, Intranet, Local Area Networks (LAN) or Wide Area Networks (WAN). In addition, the connectivity to the network may be, for example, by way of remote modem, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Token Ring (IEEE 802.5), Fiber Distributed Datalink Interface (FDDI) or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Note that computing devices may be desktop, server, portable, hand-held, wireless, set-top, or any other desired type of configuration. As used herein, an Internet includes network variations such as public Internet, a private Internet, a secure Internet, a private network, a public network, a value-added network, an Intranet, and the like. In other words, as used herein, the term network refers to any type of connectivity between computing devices for the transfer of data.
13. Operating Systems
The system may be used in connection with various operating systems, such as those from the following non-exhaustive list: UNIX, Disk Operating System (DOS), OS/2, Windows 3.X, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, including other operating systems yet to be developed. New operating systems and revisions of existing operating systems are continually being developed, and these are also within the scope of the present invention.
14. Programming Languages
The system may be written in any programming language such as Java, C, C++, Visual Basic, Pascal, Java, and FORTRAN, and executed under one or more of the many well-known operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux and UNIX. C, C++, BASIC, Pascal, Java, and FORTRAN are industry standard programming languages for which many commercial compilers can be used to create executable code.
15. Target Indicators
Target indicators are assessable educational sub-topics that are portions of the broader learning objective. Each learning objective may be composed of one or more target indicators.
16. Transmission Control Protocol
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a transport layer protocol used to provide a reliable, connection-oriented, transport layer link among computer systems. The network layer provides services to the transport layer. Using a two-way handshaking scheme, TCP provides the mechanism for establishing, maintaining, and terminating logical connections among computer systems. TCP transport layer uses Internet Protocol (IP) as its network layer protocol. Additionally, TCP provides protocol ports to distinguish multiple programs executing on a single device by including the destination and source port number with each message. TCP performs functions such as transmission of byte streams, data flow definitions, data acknowledgments, lost or corrupt data re-transmissions and multiplexing multiple connections through a single network connection. Finally, TCP is responsible for encapsulating information into a datagram structure.
17. Web Browser
A web browser is a software or hardware device capable of displaying graphical and/or textual information from a web page on a computing device. For example, popular web browsers presently include those commercially available from companies such as Netscape, Microsoft Corporation, Mozilla Corporation and the like.
18. Object
An “object” (or “content object”) refers to a course material, such as an entire course or course portion. An object is preferably part of a hierarchy of objects. An object may be subservient to other objects in a hierarchy (i.e., an object may have a parent object). An object may have objects that serve it in the hierarchy (i.e., an object may have child objects). Additionally, multiple objects may be associated with the same parent object. An object may be an editable copy (“repurpose”), link, or a read-only copy (“reference”) of an object. Objects directly underneath the same parent object are herein referred to as “siblings.” As one example, an object may be a content item. As another example, an object may be a course selected from a plurality of courses within a particular project. In such a case, the course may contain one or more LO's, TI's, CI's and CS's.
Overview
In one embodiment, the delivery engine 105 includes a content delivery database server 205 that stores content objects from the authoring system 115. These content objects are developed for eventual delivery to the students as part of a curriculum. As discussed above, these content objects can include content items, such as text, video or sounds that are part of a particular curriculum being taught. The delivery engine 105 also includes a content delivery API system 215, a content delivery system 220 (preferably a web server), and an external content caching API system 225. The delivery engine 105 communicates with an authoring system server 210, which is also preferably a web server. It will be understood that the authoring system server 210 and the client authoring system 115 comprise at least a portion of a learning content management system, or LCMS.
In this embodiment, the content delivery database server 205 comprises a database server, such as a SQL server. However, any database system capable of storing and retrieving information, such as those commercially available from, for example, the Oracle Corporation or IBM, is within the scope of the present invention. The delivery engine 105 is capable of using the content delivery database server 205 for storing, accessing and retrieving a variety of information.
In one embodiment, the authoring system server 210 comprises a web server. Web servers, which are of widespread use in the technology, are capable of transmitting content over the Internet using one or several Internet language protocols, for example the Hypertext Mark Up Language (HTML) or the Extensible Mark Up Language (XML). A web server can be configured to accept requests from Internet web browsers and return the appropriate electronic documents pursuant to the request. A number of servers or client-side technologies can be used to increase the power of the web server beyond its ability to deliver standard electronic documents. For example, such technologies include Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security, and Access Server Pages (ASP's).
In one embodiment, the authoring system server 210 includes an API used to accept content from external authoring systems. This external content may be XML tagged by the authoring system server 210 in accordance with a predefined data type definition (DTD). The authoring system server 210 tags the incoming content in such a way that the intended target computer is able to identify the purpose of the data. For example, the content may be tagged differently depending on whether the incoming content is an LO, a TI or CI's associated with an LO or a TI, etc. The authoring system server 210 is capable of transferring information between the authoring system 115 (or a plurality of authoring systems 115) and the content delivery database server 205. The authoring system 115 and the authoring system server 210 can use an API that defines XML definitions of data and automatic content procedures. Using the API, the authoring system 115 can create and modify courses on the delivery engine 105. The content delivery database server 205 can be configured to use an import content service to receive information from the authoring system server 210. The content delivery database server 205 is capable of receiving requests from the authoring system server 210 for storing, accessing and retrieving a variety of information.
As disclosed in the foregoing,
As shown in
As shown in the embodiment of
The learning management system 120 also communicates with the student's browser 110. A student using the student's browser 110 may communicate with the learning management system 120 to gain access to the delivery engine 105. Once access is gained, the student's browser 110 may retrieve content, exams, and other services available through the delivery engine 105. The student's browser 110 and the learning management system 120 may communicate using a secured communications protocol, such as, for example, secured URL, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), or the like. Once authorized, the student's browser is preferably pointed to a secured URL to access requested materials.
The content objects in the learning system 100 may be stored in a database structure in the content delivery database server 205. In this way, the content in the system is reusable. The content objects in the database may be reused for placement in another target indicator. Thus, any content or course developer can use the database and utilize the content objects.
The authoring system server 210 preferably includes a permissions module 213. In various embodiments, the permissions module 213 is configured to regulate users' access to content objects stored in the database server 205, in accordance with permissions that are specified for each object and/or user. The permissions module 213 can be responsible for obtaining permissions information for each object and/or user (e.g., by providing a dialog form for the input of permission information). The module 213 can also be configured to prevent users from accessing objects for which the users do not have the requisite permission. Further permissions aspects of the invention are described below. With reference to
In one embodiment, there are actually two databases for storage of content: the content delivery database server 205 and a database within the authoring system server 210, both of which can store production copies of the LO's for use by students. The databases 205 and 210 preferably can store all successively made versions of the content and are preferably not directly accessible to students.
In preferred embodiments, the system is configured to provide users (e.g., students, authors, administrators) the capability to search content objects. In one embodiment, a user may search a repository of content objects (e.g., content items) in view of a particular keyword. This feature may enable a user to design a customized course. As an example, suppose a student has completed a “Learning Physics” course and desires to learn more about a particular physics principle, such as kinetic energy. The student may search the repository of content items with “kinetic energy” inputted into, e.g., a search field, and based on the search results, pick and choose certain content items to be included in the customized course. In another embodiment, the delivery engine 105 may be configured to automatically generate a course customized in view of a student's performance on particular assessment items. In an alternative embodiment, the student selects to have the delivery engine 105 build the customized course.
In one embodiment, content items may be delivered to a student in multiple formats, such as, e.g. PDF, Microsoft Word Document, Power point Presentation, etc. Additionally, a student may request that an entire course or a portion of a course be delivered to the student. In some embodiments, the system is configured to transmit the course material to the student via electronic mail (e-mail). In some embodiments, the system is configured to transmit the course material to a student's portable computer, such as, e.g., personal digital assistant (PDA).
In addition, the content page 340 can include other controls, such as a “MORE INFO” button 345 or a “NEXT” button 350. Selecting the button 345 can bring up additional curriculum relating to the target indicator being taught. Moreover, content items 315A-315N with varying levels of difficulty can be provided so that the students can challenge themselves with more difficult topics. The system thereafter is capable of tracking the progress and determining the level of the student's knowledge by analyzing the content items they viewed, and their score on assessment items associated with the content items.
It should be realized that the content page 340 has a particular visual style (see below). Thus, all of the content delivered and rendered within the content page 340 will have the same style. Because the content items are not bound to any particular style, they can be rendered into a plurality of differing styles. For example, multiple different styles of the content page 340 could be used to display the same content items. This will be understood more completely with reference to
While certain visual styles have been shown in the illustrated embodiments of
Thus, the same content can be rendered in two different ways, in this case for a computer display and for a PDA, by choosing a different content page. Each content page has a particular visual style that controls the way that content is displayed to a student user. Because the content items can be shared and displayed in different curricula and within different content pages, one embodiment of the invention allows authors to set permissions which control how and if particular content can be shared with other authors.
Allow object to be copied and referenced (preferred default setting)
Allow object to be referenced only
Allow object to be copied only
Do not allow object to be copied or referenced
Allow others to edit (preferred default setting)
Allow only owner to edit
Lockdown object
Apply the same permissions settings to child objects of the object
While for most of these options the owner and Project Administrator may be the only authors that can specify the sharing permissions, the system can be configured to allow only the Project Administrator to choose to “Lockdown” an object. When an object is locked down, it cannot be used and/or altered by any author. This allows the Project Administrator to freeze the work being done on any particular project if necessary. In one embodiment, the sharing permissions can only be set on an object if the user has the object “checked-out” of the server, i.e., downloaded the object for modifying it. In one embodiment, the permissions module 213 (
In one embodiment, the system provides a way to either set the permissions on just the content object or set the permissions on the content object and recursively on all the children content objects for which the user is the owner. It should be noted that permissions on objects that are merely referenced (e.g., a hyperlink to the object is provided) are preferably not changed. However, if a child content object is not owned by the author, then the permissions are typically not automatically changed by the system for that child content object. If the user has Project Administrator authority, then the system can preferably change the permissions on the content object and all child content objects regardless of the owner. When a new child content object is created, it should normally inherit the permissions set on its parent object.
With further reference to
In some embodiments, in steps 806 and 808 the author may choose to set or not set edit permissions and sharing permissions. Additionally, the author may choose to set or not set permissions for the children content objects once edit and/or sharing permissions have been set for the parent content object. As an example, the author may set edit permissions for the content object and not set edit permissions for the children
Visual Styles
In some embodiments, users have the ability to add new visual styles to an existing theme or modify an existing visual style via a web page. In either case, the system preferably allows the deployment of new visual styles or modifications to existing visual styles without the need for a restart of the system in order for the changes to be effective.
As used herein, a “theme” relates to the presentation structure of content. For example, the theme might dictate that content items of the type “main media” must display on the top-right portion of the client's display. A theme might require that content items of the type “instructor note” cannot be displayed to students. A theme might dictate that content items of the type “warning” must pop up into a small modal window in front of the rest of the material (i.e., a “pop-up window”). A theme might dictate that a link to navigate forward to the next content object must appear in the lower-right corner of the client's display. Themes can include a multitude of other structural requirements. As used herein, a “visual style” relates to aspects such as branding, logos, images, fonts, colors, and the like. A “content style” describes the resultant effect of applying both the theme and visual style to a set of content objects.
Each theme can include a number of default visual styles. In a preferred embodiment, users cannot modify or replace any of the default visual styles. The system can be configured to validate or confirm the workability of the newly-created and modified visual styles (e.g., by confirming that they conform to pre-selected standards).
The system can provide the ability for an organizational administrator to add new visual styles or modify existing visual styles for which the organizational administrator has permissions (e.g., granted by a super administrator). For example, the organizational administrator might only have permission to add or modify visual styles within certain themes. In one embodiment, a style workbook and/or a content style package can be associated with each organization. The style workbook and content style package preferably provide a selection of differing stylization options to assist the administrator in creating and/or modifying visual styles and/or themes. The process by which an organizational administrator would add or modify a visual style or theme is preferably similar to that shown in
Typically, super administrators will also have the ability to add or modify visual styles for all available themes. Super administrators will typically also have the ability to designate for each organization which visual styles can be modified by the organization administrators. In one embodiment, neither super administrators nor organization administrators have the ability to modify default visual styles.
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The system can also allow organization administrators to enable or disable content styles to control their availability to instructors of online learning programs. By default, all newly added content styles are preferably enabled. If a super administrator adds a new content style, by default it is preferably not assigned to any organization. If a super administrator assigns a content style to an organization, by default the organization preferably does not have permission to add new content styles to the theme or modify the existing visual style. If an organization administrator adds a new content style, the system preferably automatically assigns the content style (theme/visual style) to the administrator's organization. Preferably by default, the added content style is available for selection by instructors within the organization, and the organization administrator has permission to modify the content style. Themes may also have visual style workbooks, and the system can be configured to send the workbook as an accompaniment to each downloaded visual style. The system can be configured to prevent renaming of newly-created visual styles. In one embodiment, there is no functionality for deleting or deactivating a content style, since super administrators preferably have the ability to disassociate a content style from an organization and thereby remove it from end users' view. When a content style is disassociated from an organization, the system preferably provides an error message indicating the names of any classes currently using the content style, if any.
Shared Project Spaces
In a preferred embodiment, users are provided with the capability of sharing content objects between a plurality of project spaces, either within the same organization or different organizations. In one embodiment, a first organization can enable sharing of content objects between project spaces within an allocation controlled by the first organization, while a second organization is not permitted to access content objects of the first organization. In another embodiment, a first organization can share one or more content objects with a second organization. The second organization can dynamically render the first organization's content objects with the second organization's content style(s) to produce a course (or portion of a course) tailored to the second organization's theme(s) and visual style(s).
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In one embodiment, sharing of content objects between organizations enables use and reuse of content objects, thereby facilitating a customizable learning experience. As an example, suppose Organization A is a first university and Organization B is a second university. Dynamic rendering would enable a course (or a portion of a course) developed by the first university to be used by the second university with the second university's content style, thereby creating a course customized to the second university's themes and visual styles. As an example, a content item developed by the first university may be dynamically rendered with the second university's content style to display the second university's colors and mascot, in addition to the arrangement of subservient content items and content sections desired by the second university.
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Thus, a method is provided by which content developed by one organization can be used by another organization to generate (or publish) course material tailored to the other organization's themes and visual styles.
Although the invention has been disclosed in the context of certain embodiments and examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. Accordingly, the invention is not intended to be limited by the specific disclosures of preferred embodiments herein.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various other omissions, additions and modifications may be made to the methods and systems described above without departing from the scope of the invention. All such modifications and changes are intended to fall within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/667,583, filed Apr. 1, 2005, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. This application also incorporates by reference the full disclosures of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0138841 to Ward, published on Sep. 26, 2002 and entitled “System For Distributed Learning;” U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/603,004 filed Aug. 20, 2004, entitled “System And Method For Content Packaging In A Distributed Learning System;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/209,196 to Mohler et al., also entitled “System and Method For Content Packaging In A Distributed Learning System.”
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60667583 | Apr 2005 | US |
