U.S. patent application number 13/956219 was filed with the patent office on 2014-02-06 for system and method for calendaring actual dates for learning activities based on a reference calendar.
This patent application is currently assigned to Laureate Education, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Laureate Education, Inc.. Invention is credited to Rissa Ellen Karpoff, Kenny Hugh Otwell.
Application Number | 20140038163 13/956219 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50025851 |
Filed Date | 2014-02-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140038163 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Karpoff; Rissa Ellen ; et
al. |
February 6, 2014 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CALENDARING ACTUAL DATES FOR LEARNING
ACTIVITIES BASED ON A REFERENCE CALENDAR
Abstract
A learning management system and method stores in a database a
framework for a set of learning activities. The set of learning
activities comprises a sequence of learning units that are
associated with a reference calendar for completion of the learning
activities relative to a reference date. The reference calendar
specifies a reference due date for completing a learning activity
associated with a learning unit of the sequence of learning units.
The reference due date is relative to the reference date. A
learning environment for delivery of instructional material
associated with the sequence of learning units is displayed on a
remote student workstation after the system authenticates a student
at the remote student workstation. The displayed learning
environment comprises a user interface that is displayed to the
student on the remote student workstation. The user interface
displays an actual due date, for example, in a calendar format, for
completing the learning activity. The actual due date is derived
from the reference due date.
Inventors: |
Karpoff; Rissa Ellen;
(Baltimore, MD) ; Otwell; Kenny Hugh; (Columbia,
MD) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Laureate Education, Inc. |
Baltimore |
MD |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Laureate Education, Inc.
Baltimore
MD
|
Family ID: |
50025851 |
Appl. No.: |
13/956219 |
Filed: |
July 31, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61677990 |
Jul 31, 2012 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
434/362 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20130101;
G06Q 10/06 20130101; G09B 5/125 20130101; G09B 5/08 20130101; G09B
5/00 20130101; G09B 5/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
434/362 |
International
Class: |
G09B 5/00 20060101
G09B005/00 |
Claims
1. A learning management system comprising: a database that stores
a framework for a set of learning activities comprising a sequence
of learning units that are associated with a reference calendar for
completion of the learning activities relative to a reference date,
wherein the reference calendar specifies a reference due date for
completing a learning activity associated with a learning unit of
the sequence of learning units, wherein the reference due date is
relative to the reference date; and a learning system configured to
display a learning environment for delivery of instructional
material associated with the sequence of learning units to a remote
student workstation after the learning system authenticates a
student at the remote student workstation, wherein the displayed
learning environment comprises a user interface displayed to the
student, wherein the user interface displays an actual due date for
completing the learning activity, wherein the actual due date is
derived from the reference due date.
2. The learning management system of claim 1 further comprising a
networking service configured to send a notification to the student
about a learning activity due date, said notification being sent
based on the student's notification preference.
3. The learning management system of claim 1, wherein the learning
activity comprises an assignment associated with a learning
unit.
4. The learning management system of claim 1, wherein the actual
due date is based on an adjustment date on an actual calendar.
5. The learning management system of claim 4, wherein the
adjustment date is based on at least one of a day of a week, a day
of a month or a day of the year.
6. The learning management system of claim 4, wherein the
adjustment date comprises a holiday on the actual calendar.
7. The learning management system of claim 4, wherein the
adjustment date comprises a weekend day.
8. The learning management system of claim 4, wherein the
adjustment date is specified by a system administrator.
9. The learning management system of claim 4, wherein the
adjustment date is specified by a instructor.
10. The learning management system of claim 1, wherein the actual
due date is displayed in a calendar format.
11. The learning management system of claim 1, wherein the actual
due date is stored in a calendar file.
12. The learning management system of claim 1, wherein the set of
learning activities are associated with a course, wherein the
reference calendar defines a reference course completion time
period, and wherein the user interface displays an actual course
completion time period derived from the reference course completion
time period.
13. The learning management system of claim 12, wherein the course
completion time period is between a reference course start date and
a reference course end date, wherein the user interface displays at
least one of an actual course start date or an actual course end
date derived from a respective one of the reference course start
date and the reference course end date.
14. The learning management system of claim 12, wherein the course
completion time period is divided into a temporal sequence of
reference learning unit completion sub-periods, wherein each
reference learning unit sub-period in the temporal sequence is
associated with a corresponding learning unit in the sequence of
learning units, wherein the user interface displays an actual
learning unit sub-period derived from a reference learning unit
sub-period.
15. A method of managing learning comprising: storing a framework
for a set of learning activities comprising a sequence of learning
units that are associated with a reference calendar for completion
of the learning activities relative to a reference date, wherein
the reference calendar specifies a reference due date for
completing a learning activity associated with a learning unit of
the sequence of learning units, wherein the reference due date is
relative to the reference date; and creating a learning environment
for delivery of instructional material associated to a remote
student workstation after authenticating a student at the remote
student workstation, wherein the created learning environment
displays a user interface on the remote student workstation to the
student, wherein the displayed user interface comprises an actual
due date for completing the assignment, wherein the actual due date
is derived from the reference due date.
16. The method of claim 15 further comprising a networking service
configured to send a notification to the student about a learning
activity due date, said notification being sent based on the
student's notification preference.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the learning activity comprises
an assignment associated with a learning unit.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein the actual due date is based on
an adjustment date on an actual calendar.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the adjustment date is based on
at least one of a day of a week, a day of a month or a day of the
year.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein the adjustment date comprises a
holiday on the actual calendar.
21. The method of claim 18, wherein the adjustment date comprises a
weekend day.
22. The method of claim 18, wherein the adjustment date is
specified by a system administrator.
23. The method of claim 18, wherein the adjustment date is
specified by a instructor.
24. The method of claim 15, wherein the actual due date is
displayed in a calendar format.
25. The method of claim 15, wherein the actual due date is stored
in a calendar file.
26. The method of claim 15, wherein the set of learning activities
are associated with a course, wherein the reference calendar
defines a reference course completion time period, and wherein the
user interface displays an actual course completion time period
derived from the reference course completion time period.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the course completion time
period is between a reference course start date and a reference
course end date, wherein the user interface displays at least one
of an actual course start date or an actual course end date derived
from a respective one of the reference course start date and the
reference course end date.
28. The method of claim 26, wherein the course completion time
period is divided into a temporal sequence of reference learning
unit completion sub-periods, wherein each reference learning unit
sub-period in the temporal sequence is associated with a
corresponding learning unit in the sequence of learning units,
wherein the user interface displays an actual learning unit
sub-period derived from a reference learning unit sub-period.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 61/677,990, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
INTERFACING WITH STUDENTS OVER A NETWORK", filed Jul. 31, 2012, the
contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in
their entirety.
FIELD
[0002] The present invention is generally directed to learning
systems and methods, and in particular, the present invention
relates to calendaring learning activities.
BACKGROUND
[0003] With developments in the education industry, students seek
access to course-related information and their own course work,
anywhere, anytime. Students want current, relevant, interesting and
engaging course materials and assignments taught by teachers,
instructors, counselors and advisors who are aware of student's
educational and professional path and goals based on a clear map of
course progress and degree program. Enabling and facilitating
students' online activities around their campus is a major
consideration in providing the desired student experience.
[0004] Online education now demands providing educational services
to a diverse global audience from different cultural backgrounds.
Education providers face the challenge of providing high quality
education across a diverse student population. Educational programs
must provide skills that students can apply in their lives and
professions to make a real difference in the real world. Educators
must strive to create a community of learners connected to one
another. A learning management system (LMS), as referred to in the
art, is software for delivering, tracking and managing training of
students. LMSs range from systems for managing student training
records to software for distributing courses over the Internet and
offering features for online collaboration. In many instances, LMSs
are used to automate record-keeping as well as to register students
for classroom and online courses. Self-registration, faculty-led
learning, learning workflow, the provision of on-line learning
(e.g., read and understand), on-line assessment, management of
continuous professional education (CPE), collaborative learning
(e.g., application sharing, discussion threads), and learning
resource management (e.g., instructors, facilities,
[0005] FIG. 1 depicts a known LMS 10, including one offered by
Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, eCollege and others, which allows a
faculty member to place his or her courses, in whole or in part,
online. As depicted, the faculty 12 plays a central role for
mediating between a student 13, presenting course content 15 and
assessing a student 14. LMSs 10 usually provide all-inclusive
learning environments for faculty and students, with the faculty 12
disseminating instructional material specific to a course of study
amongst students. As such, the faculty member serves as the
facilitator, assessor and content developer.
[0006] Conceptually, there is no difference between the role of a
teacher in conventional LMSs 10 and the role of a teacher in a
bricks and mortar classroom. In both cases, the students are
grouped and assigned a specific teacher. The teacher introduces all
course content and materials into the classroom and mediates and
assesses the learning process of the student. Thus, under LMS 10,
the web is a tool to replicate, as closely as possible, the
traditional classroom environment and the LMS 10 is limited by its
system boundaries, just as the physical classroom is limited by
four walls and doors.
[0007] With advances in content and media delivery technologies,
the LMS model has not fully taken advantage of the available
features for educating students. For example, such advances allow
students to access educational content not only via laptops and
desktops, but also smart phones, PDA's, iPods, Netbooks and eBooks.
It is, for example, estimated that the majority of prospective
student market has a smart phone or PDA, with advances content
delivery capabilities via downloadable applications or by content
streaming. These new devices have enabled users access to
podcasting, wikis, blogs, web cams, eBook readers, MP3 players,
social networks and virtual learning environments.
[0008] Conventional LMS developers' attempt in incorporating new
features into their existing systems in some cases can result in
significant developments cost in redesigning their content to
incorporate the functionality of these new technologies. In other
cases, the developers may have to open up their system platform
through application programming interfaces (API's) to "bolt on" new
technological capabilities. LMS redesign investment may be
expensive, especially when new development work may not be able to
keep up with the proliferation of ever advancing technologies and
features. Opening up platforms through APIs may present a
significant competitive disadvantage to LMS vendors and service
providers who have invested heavily in their proprietary
instructional material delivery systems.
[0009] Additionally, educational services are increasingly offered
over global networks of institutions and universities. For example,
Laureate Education Inc., the assignee of the present application,
currently offers accredited campus-based and online courses in a
wide variety of programs, including undergraduate and graduate
degree programs and specializations, to nearly a wide range of
students in numerous countries. Such a global educational network
requires supporting learning environments that are tailored to
bring to students a global perspective blended with a local point
of view, creating a truly multicultural, career-oriented
educational experience for students. For example, the educational
experience may be a career-focused or licensing program, a
multi-year undergraduate degree program, or master's and/or
doctorate degree program in any one of a number of fields including
engineering, education, business, health care, hospitality,
architecture, and information technology, etc.
[0010] The advent of social networking platforms is impacting the
way(s) in which learners engage with technology in general.
Curriculum uses of social networking services also can include
sharing curriculum-related resources. Educators tap into
user-generated content to find and discuss curriculum-related
content for students. Responding to the popularity of social
networking services among many students, teachers are increasingly
using social networks to supplement teaching and learning in
traditional classroom environments as they can provide new
opportunities for enriching existing curriculum through creative,
authentic and/or flexible, non-linear learning experiences. Some
social networks, such as English, baby! and LiveMocha, are
explicitly education-focused and couple instructional content with
an educational peer environment. The Web 2.0 technologies built
into most social networking services promote conferencing,
interaction, creation, research on a global scale, enabling
educators to share, remix, and repurpose curriculum resources. In
short, social networking services can become research networks as
well as learning network.
[0011] The use of online social networks by school libraries is
also increasingly prevalent, and they are being used to communicate
with potential library users, as well as extending the services
provided by individual school libraries. Educators and advocates of
new digital literacies are confident that social networking
encourages the development of transferable, technical, and social
skills of value in formal and informal learning. In a formal
learning environment, goals or objectives are determined by an
outside department or agency. Tweeting, instant messaging, or
blogging enhances student involvement. Students who would not
normally participate in class are more apt to partake through
social network services. Networking allows participants the
opportunity for just-in-time learning and higher levels of
engagement. The use of social networking allows educators to
enhance the prescribed curriculum. When learning experiences are
infused into a website that students utilize every day for fun,
students realize that learning can and should be a part of everyday
life.
[0012] Social networking services foster learning through what is
described as a "Participatory Culture." A participatory culture
consists of a space that allows engagement, sharing, mentoring, and
an opportunity for social interaction. Participants of social
network services may avail themselves of this opportunity. Informal
learning, in the forms of participatory and social learning online,
is an excellent tool for teachers to sneak in material and ideas
that students will identify with, and therefore, in a secondary
manner, students will learn skills that would normally be taught in
a formal setting in the more interesting and engaging environment
of social learning. Sites like Twitter provide students with the
opportunity to converse and collaborate with others in real time.
Social networking services provide a virtual "space" for
learners.
[0013] Social networks focused on supporting relationships between
teachers and their students are now used for learning, educator
professional development, and content sharing. Ning for teachers,
TermWiki, Learn Central, TeachStreet and other sites are being
built to foster relationships that include educational blogs,
eportfolios, formal and ad hoc communities, as well as
communication such as chats, discussion threads, and synchronous
forums. These sites also have content sharing and rating
features.
[0014] Laureate Education Inc.'s U.S. Patent Publication No.
2009-0311658 A1, the entire contents of which are hereby
incorporated by reference, discloses "System And Method For
Collaborative Development Of Online Courses And Programs Of Study"
over a social network. A database stores an initial framework that
defines a sequence of learning units for creating a desired
learning environment for students. The learning units are
identified by corresponding learning unit identifiers. A plurality
of workstations coupled to the network are used for entry of
reviewer information by the participants using the learning
environment created for the students. The reviewer information
comprise one or more comments entered by one participant about a
learning unit and a rank entered by another participant about the
comment, with the rank being correlated with a defined ranking
standard. A processor processes the rank according to a predefined
criteria to produce a ranking result that is associated with a
learning unit identifier. The ranking result is used for
associating learning content to the learning unit identified by the
learning unit identifier.
[0015] Laureate Education Inc.'s U.S. Patent Publication No. US
2009-0291426 A1, the entire contents of which are hereby
incorporated by reference, discloses an "Educational System For
Presenting One Or More Learning Units To Students In Different
Learning Environments", where each unit is associated with an
assessment information relating to students. A digital rights and
asset management application controls access to the content
associated with each one of said one or more units according to
corresponding unit identifiers. An assessment application, e.g., a
grade book application, stores assessment information derived from
presenting the content to said one or more users in the first and
second interactive environments, including social networks, with
the unit identifier correlating the assessment information with the
units.
[0016] Social networking sites share a variety of technical
features that allow individuals to: construct a public/semi-public
profile, articulate a list of other users that they share a
connection with, and view their list of connections within the
system. The most basic of these are visible profiles with a list of
"friends" who are also users of the site. A profile is generated
from answers to questions, such as age, location, interests, etc.
Some sites allow users to upload pictures, add multimedia content,
or modify the look and feel of the profile. Others, e.g., Facebook,
allow users to enhance their profile by adding modules or
"Applications." Many sites allow users to post blog entries, search
for others with similar interests and compile and share lists of
contacts. User profiles often have a section dedicated to comments
from friends and other users. To protect user privacy, social
networks typically have controls that allow users to choose who can
view their profile, contact them, add them to their list of
contacts, and so on. Some social networks have additional features,
such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or
affiliations, upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in
forums.
[0017] Companies have begun to merge business technologies and
solutions, such as cloud computing, with social networking
concepts. Instead of connecting individuals based on social
interest, companies are developing interactive communities that
connect individuals based on shared business needs or experiences.
Many provide specialized networking tools and applications that can
be accessed via their websites, such as LinkedIn. Others companies,
such as Monster.com, have been steadily developing a more
"socialized" feel to their career center sites to harness some of
the power of social networking sites. These more business related
sites have their own nomenclature for the most part but the most
common naming conventions are "Vocational Networking Sites" or
"Vocational Media Networks", with the former more closely tied to
individual networking relationships based on social networking
principles.
[0018] An activity stream is a list of recent activities performed
by an individual, typically on a single website. For example,
Facebook's News Feed is an activity stream. When users are logged
into Facebook, a News Feed presents constantly updated list of
their friends' Facebook activity. The News Feed highlights
information that includes profile changes, upcoming events, and
birthdays, among other updates. The News Feed also shows
conversations taking place between the walls of a user's friends.
An integral part of the News Feed interface is the Mini-Feed, a
news stream on the user's profile page that shows updates about
that user. Unlike in the News Feed, the user can delete events from
the Mini-Feed after they appear so that they are no longer visible
to profile visitors. News Feed shows top stories and most recent
stories in one feed, and the option to highlight stories to make
them top stories, as well as to un-highlight stories. The News Feed
allow users to view recent stories first.
[0019] Since the proliferation of activity streams on websites,
there have been calls to standardize the format so that websites
could interact with a stream provided by another website. The
Activity Streams project, for example, is an effort to develop an
activity stream protocol to syndicate activities across social Web
applications. Activity Streams is an open format specification for
activity stream protocols, which are used to syndicate activities
taken in social web applications and services, similar to those in
Facebook, Newsfeed, FriendFeed, the Movable Type Action Streams
plugin, etc. Several major websites with activity stream
implementations have already opened up their activity streams to
developers to use, including Facebook and MySpace. Facebook Desktop
for Adobe AIR lets users see a running timeline, or stream, of the
activities of their friends on a desktop computer or even on a cell
phone. Though activity stream arises from social networking,
nowadays it has become an essential part of business software.
Enterprise social software is used in different types of companies
to organize their internal communication and acts as an important
addition to traditional corporate intranet. Such major
collaboration software like Jive Software, Yammer, or Chatter offer
activity stream as a separate product. At the same time other major
software providers, such as tibbr, Central Desktop, and Wrike offer
activity stream as an integrated part of their collaboration
software solution.
[0020] When an individual instructor creates an online course,
he/she can specify exact dates when assignments are due. When
online courses are centrally created and repeatedly used, e.g. for
up to 5 years, during which those courses are re-used in multiple
classrooms over multiple terms, due-dates become far more
complicated. With advances in information technologies, there
exists a need for an educational system that allows for calendaring
reused courses.
SUMMARY
[0021] Briefly, according to the present invention, a learning
management system and method stores in a database a framework for a
set of learning activities. The set of learning activities
comprises a sequence of learning units that are associated with a
reference calendar for completion of the learning activities
relative to a reference date. The reference calendar specifies a
reference due date for completing a learning activity associated
with a learning unit of the sequence of learning units. The
reference due date is relative to the reference date. A learning
environment for delivery of instructional material associated with
the sequence of learning units is displayed on a remote student
workstation after the system authenticates a student at the remote
student workstation. The displayed learning environment comprises a
user interface that is displayed to the student on the remote
student workstation. The user interface displays an actual due
date, for example, in a calendar format, for completing the
learning activity. The actual due date is derived from the
reference due date.
[0022] According to some of the more detailed features of the
invention, the learning activity can comprise an assignment
associated with a learning unit, where a notification is sent to
the student about a learning activity due date based on the
student's notification preference. The actual due date, which can
be stored in a calendar file that is exportable to other calendar
formats, can be based on an adjustment date on an actual calendar
that can be based on at least one of a day of a week, a day of a
month or a day of the year. For example, the adjustment date can be
a holiday on the actual calendar, a weekend day or a date specified
by a system administrator or an instructor.
[0023] According to other more detailed features of the present
invention, the set of learning activities are associated with a
course and the reference calendar defines a reference course
completion time period. Under this arrangement, the user interface
displays an actual course completion time period derived from the
reference course completion time period.
[0024] According to still other more detailed features of the
present invention, the course completion time period is between a
reference course start date and a reference course end date. The
user interface displays at least one of an actual course start date
or an actual course end date derived from a respective one of the
reference course start date and the reference course end date.
[0025] According to yet other more detailed features of the present
invention, the course completion time period can be divided into a
temporal sequence of reference learning unit completion
sub-periods. Each reference learning unit sub-period in the
temporal sequence is associated with a corresponding learning unit
in the sequence of learning units. Under this embodiment. the user
interface displays an actual learning unit sub-period derived from
a reference learning unit sub-period.
[0026] These and other features and advantages will be apparent
from a reading of the following detailed description and a review
of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the
foregoing general description and the following detailed
description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of aspects
as claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] Embodiments will now be described in connection with the
associated drawings, in which:
[0028] FIG. 1 depicts a known LMS.
[0029] FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary educational system in accordance
with one or more embodiments.
[0030] FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary block diagram of a network
having a front-end system and a back-end system in accordance with
one or more embodiments.
[0031] FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary server in accordance with one or
more embodiments.
[0032] FIGS. 5-27 depict exemplary interfaces in accordance with
one or more embodiments.
[0033] FIG. 28 depicts exemplary calendars in accordance with one
or more embodiments.
[0034] FIGS. 29-33 depict an exemplary logic flows for managing
learning in accordance with one or more embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0035] Exemplary embodiments are discussed in detail below. While
specific exemplary embodiments are discussed, it should be
understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. In
describing and illustrating the exemplary embodiments, specific
terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the
embodiments are not intended to be limited to the specific
terminology so selected. A person skilled in the relevant art will
recognize that other components and configurations may be used
without parting from the spirit and scope of the embodiments. It is
to be understood that each specific element includes all technical
equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a
similar purpose. The examples and embodiments described herein are
non-limiting examples.
[0036] FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary educational system 200 in
accordance with one or more embodiments. In one embodiment, users
of devices 215-1 through 215-n may register within a particular
learning system or institution and may connect to a network 210
(e.g. the Internet). Each of devices 215-1 through 215-n may be a
computer, workstation, mobile device, a PDA, an iPad, or a laptop
computer. A server 205 may be maintained by the school/university
or a third party vendor. Education system 200 may also include a
server 260. Server 260 may include any combination of features of
server 205. Server 260 may also be connected to the other parts of
education system 200 through network 210. Server 260 may be located
on the same network as server 205 or on a different network as
server 205. Server 260 may run or operate other instances the
software used to provide the online education system. Server 260
may be run or operated by other institutions, either foreign or
domestic. Server 260 may be run or operated by the same institution
but in separate locations, either foreign or domestic. Education
system 200 may include any number of additional servers, user
devices, or network connections.
[0037] Server 205 may be connected to or include a number of
databases, including a course material database 220, a student
database 225, a portfolio database 230, a social network database
235, a security database 240, a course database 245, a teacher
database 250, or any combination thereof. The course material
database 220 may store any information about course materials. The
course material database 220 may store, for each course, weekly
schedules, syllabi, assignments, resources, due dates, discussions,
reflections, content summaries, content reviews, quizzes, tests,
midterms, finals, any other course material information, or any
combination thereof.
[0038] Student database 225 may store any information about
students using the system. Student database 225 may store an
inventory of all users that are affiliated with the particular
learning program or institution. In one embodiment, such users are
associated with network address, e.g., IP addresses, that may be
stored in a user's profile. Student database 225 may store
information about the students' names, class year, programs of
study, locations, addresses, information about the student entered
by the students, activities and interests of the students,
education of the students, work experiences of the students,
pictures of the users, or any combination thereof.
[0039] Portfolio database 230 may store information about student
portfolios. Student portfolios include information about student
progress in the courses. Portfolio database 230 may store
information about courses the students have completed, activities
the students have completed, examples of work products the students
have completed, grades, evalutations, rankings, or any combination
thereof.
[0040] Social network database 235 may store social networking
information about the users of the system. Social networking
information may include contacts of the users to which the students
are connected, circles of the users, chat connections of the users,
chat histories of the users, communities of the users, courses
associated with the users, or any combination thereof. As used
herein, a circle of a user means a set of other users associated
with a user in the system. In one embodiment, a user's circles may
be set by the user. As used herein, a community of the user may
include any group or association of which the user is a part as
identified by the system. Communities are different from contacts
and circles because communities cannot be directly modified by
users. Communities may be disbanded once a course ends, or past
communities may be maintained. Social network database 235 may also
store any other information related to the social networking
information.
[0041] Security database 240 may store security information for the
system. Security information may include usernames of the users,
passwords of the users, security questions used for verifying the
identity of the users, answers to security questions, which parts
of the system the users are able to access, or any combination
thereof.
[0042] Course database 245 may store any information about the
courses offered by educational system 200. Course database 245 may
store course names, course identifiers, course numbers, course
descriptions, course teachers, course teaching assistants, course
schedules, course enrollment including students enrolled in the
courses, past course offerings, future course offerings, number of
users allowed to enroll in a course, course structure, course
prerequisites, or any combination thereof.
[0043] Teacher database 250 may store any information about the
teachers using educational system 200. In one embodiment, teachers
are associated with network address, e.g., IP addresses, that may
be stored in a teacher's profile. Teacher database 250 may store
information about the teachers' names, years teaching, programs
involved with, locations, addresses, information about the teacher
entered by the users, activities and interests of the teachers,
education of the teachers, work experiences of the teachers,
pictures of the teachers, or any combination thereof.
[0044] FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary block diagram 300 of a network
having a front-end system and a back-end system in accordance with
one or more embodiments. The front-end system 330 includes a
firewall 332, which is coupled to one or more load balancers 334a,
334b. Load balancers 334a-b are in turn coupled to one or more web
servers 336a-b. To provide online learning sessions, the web
servers 336a-b are coupled to one or more application servers
338a-c, each of which includes and/or accesses one or more
front-end databases 340, 342, which may be central or distributed
databases. The application servers serve various modules used for
interaction between the different users and the learning system,
including instructional enrollment module, course registration
module, learning session management module, content delivery
module, proximity module, event module, a social networking tool,
connection layer module, external portfolio module, internal
portfolio module, a presentation module, or any combination
thereof. These modules may be run independently of each other based
on corresponding teacher, student, geolocation and event profiles,
as further described below.
[0045] Web servers 336a-b provide various user portals, including
student, teacher, and event portals. The user portals may include
various web interfaces. The servers 336a-b are coupled to load
balancers 334a-b, which perform load balancing functions for
providing optimum online session performance by transferring client
user requests to one or more of the application servers 338a-c
according to a series of semantics and/or rules. The application
servers 338a-c may include a database management system (DBMS) 346
and/or a file server 348, which manage access to one or more
databases 340, 342. In the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 4,
the application servers 338a and/or 338b provide instructional
content to the users 306, 310 which include electronic interfaces,
progress reports, student profiles, teacher profiles, event
profiles, as well as instructional content correlated with a
student, teacher, course, school, expressive avatar information or
event as processed by the server. Some of the instructional content
is generated via code stored either on the application servers 338a
and/or 338b, while some other information and content, such as
student profiles, instructional material, teacher schedule, or
other information, which is presented dynamically to the user, is
retrieved along with the necessary data from the databases 340, 342
via application server 338c. The application server 338b may also
provide users 306, 306 access to executable files which can be
downloaded and installed on user devices 304, 310 for creating an
appropriate learning environments and sessions, with branding and
or marketing features that are tailored for a particular
application, client or customer.
[0046] The central or distributed database 340, 342, stores, among
other things, the web content and instructional material
deliverable to the students. The central or distributed database
340, 342, may store information stored in course material database
220, student database 225, portfolio database 230, social network
database 235, security database 240, course database 245, teacher
database 250, or any combination thereof. The central or
distributed database 340, 342 may also store retrievable
information relating to or associated with students, teachers,
responsible authorities, parents, learning centers, profiles
(student, facilitator, teacher, faculty, course developer,
assessor, etc.), billing information, schedules, statistical data,
attendance data, enrollment data, teacher attributes, student
attributes, historical data, demographic data, compliance data,
certification data, billing rules, third party contract rules,
educational district requirements, expressive avatar information,
etc. Any or all of the foregoing data can be processed and
associated as necessary for achieving a desired learning objective
or a business objective associated with operating the system of the
disclosed embodiments.
[0047] Updated program code and data are transferred from the
back-end system 360 to the front-end system 330 to synchronize data
between databases 340, 342 of the front-end system and databases
340a, 342a of the back-end system. Further, web servers 336a, 336b,
which may be coupled to application servers 338a-c, may also be
updated periodically via the same process. The back-end system 360
interfaces with a user device 350 such as a workstation, enabling
interactive access for a system user 352, who may be, for example,
a developer or a system administrator. The workstation 350 may be
coupled to the back-end system 360 via a local network 328.
Alternatively, the workstation 350 may be coupled to the back-end
system 360 via the Internet 370 through the wired network 324
and/or the wireless network 326.
[0048] The back-end system 360 includes an application server 362,
which may also include a file server or a database management
system (DBMS). The application server 362 allows a user 352 to
develop or modify application code or update other data, e.g.,
electronic content and electronic instructional material, in
databases 340a, 342a. According to one embodiment, interactive
client-side applications on the internet execute on a variety of
internet delivery devices such as a web-browser, smart phones, and
tablet devices such as the iPad, to provide an improved core
student experience.
[0049] FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary server 410 in accordance with
one or more embodiments. Server 410 may include a social network
tool 415, a connection layer module 450, an external portfolio
module 455, an internal portfolio module 460, a presentation module
465, or any combination thereof. Social network tool 415 may
include a communities module 420, a chat module 425, a circles
module 430, a contacts module 435, an update stream module 440, a
policies module 445, or any combination thereof. The modules may
provide the functionalities as further described below.
[0050] Login Management
[0051] FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary login interface 510 in
accordance with one or more embodiments. Login interface 510, as
well as the other interfaces described herein, may be presented in
browser window 520. Login interface 510 may include an user ID
entry field 530, a password entry field 540, a login button 550, a
forgotten password link 560, or combinations thereof. The user may
enter a user ID into user ID entry field 530. The user ID may be an
email address or any other string used to identify users of
educational system 200. The user may also enter a password into the
password entry field 540. When the user enters a valid user ID and
password combination, activating login button 550 may allow the
user to gain entry to the course content provided by educational
system 200. A user may activate the forgotten password link 560,
which may provide the user with further instructions on how to
obtain a recovery password. Access to educational system 200 may be
control by policies module 445 based on system settings.
Educational system 200 may also have an auto-logout feature, in
which after a specified period of time or of inactive time, e.g. 30
minutes, a user is disconnected from the system and must login
again in order to access educational system 200.
[0052] Course Dashboard
[0053] FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary interface 600 in accordance with
one or more embodiments. Interface 600 may include dashboard button
605, current courses display 610, recent courses display 612,
upcoming courses display 614, announcements area 616, news area
618, close button 620, or any combination thereof. Dashboard button
605 may be present on any interface of educational system 200. When
a user activates dashboard button 605, the educational system 200
will display current courses display 610, recent courses display
612, upcoming courses display 614, announcements area 616, news
area 618, close button 620, or any combination thereof. The portion
of the browser window containing these elements may change while
the other portions of the browser window, for example, the contacts
display, may remain unaltered. Presentation module 465 may manage
the elements presented for display as described herein.
[0054] Current courses display 610 may display, in any format, a
list of courses in which a user in currently enrolled. The current
courses display 610 may include links that link to the course pages
and a place for obtaining course materials. Any number of currently
enrolled courses may be presented on current courses display 610.
Current courses display 610 may be hidden by recent courses display
612 or upcoming courses display 614 in a similar manner in which
dashboard interface 600 shows recent courses display 612 and
upcoming courses display 614 being hidden by current courses
display 610. In one embodiment, the currently selected course
panel, i.e., current courses display 610, recent courses display
612, or upcoming courses display 614, will hide all or portions of
the two non-selected course panels. Clicking or activating a hidden
course panel may cause that course panel to come to the foreground
and hide the other two course panels. Recent courses display 612
and upcoming courses display 614 may display the same types of
information as current courses display 610. However, recent courses
display 612 may any number of courses already completed by the
user. Upcoming courses display 614 may display courses that the
user has not yet started but in which the user may be enrolled.
Announcements area 616 may display announcements from the system or
other source. The announcements may be any type of content
including text, images, video, links, or any combination thereof.
News area 618 may display news from the system or other source. The
news may be any type of content including text, images, video,
links, or any combination thereof. When activated, close button 620
may hide the portion of the browser window containing current
courses display 610, recent courses display 612, upcoming courses
display 614, announcements area 616, news area 618, close button
620. The portion of the browser window may then display a default
page, a blank page, another portion of content presented by
educational system 200, for example, a page showing information
about a user, or content presented from another source.
[0055] Interface 600 may include availability indicator 625, user
status button 630, email button 635, or any combination thereof.
Availability indicator 625 may be a graphical or textual symbol
that represents the status of the user currently using the system.
Availability indicator 625 may be a colored light, with different
colors representing different statuses. In one embodiment, a green
light may indicate that the user is available, a red light may
indicate that the user is busy, and a grey light may indicate that
the user is invisible. User status button 630 may be a button that
displays identifying information about the user currently logged
in. User status button 630 may display the user's name, user ID,
email address, any information that identifies the user, or any
combination thereof. When a user activates email button 635, the
user may be redirected to an email program. The email program may
be integrated with educational system 200 or external to
educational system 200. The email program may start composing a new
email with some or all of the content currently being presented by
educational system 200 in the browser. Availability indicator 625,
user status button 630, and email button 635 may be present on any
or all of the other interfaces presented by educational system
200.
[0056] Social Pane
[0057] Interface 600 may include contacts button 640, search field
642, current courses section 644, course button 646, course button
648, circles section 650, add circles button 652, communities
section 655, hide social pane button 660, social pane adjustor 665,
stream button 670, or any combination thereof. Contacts button 640,
when activated, causes the social pane to be shown. The social pane
may include search field 642, current courses section 644, course
button 646, course button 648, circles section 650, add circles
button 652, communities section 655, hide social pane button 660,
and social pane adjustor 665. When a user enters a query into
search field 642, a search dialog may appear providing a real-time
list of results provided by the contacts module 435 that match the
user's query.
[0058] Current courses section 644 may list the current courses in
which a user is enrolled and the other users that may also be
enrolled in those courses. By activating the current courses
section 644, which may include clicking on current courses section
644, the user may toggle hiding the list of courses and users and
showing the list of courses and users. In one embodiment, the user
is enrolled in two courses, as shown by course button 646 and
course button 648. When the user toggles course button 646, the
list of users also enrolled in course may be displayed. For an
example of the expanded list of users, see FIG. 9. Contacts module
435 may provide educational system 200 with the list of contacts
currently enrolled in the course. The current courses section 644
may also display the instructors associated with each course. Any
number of courses may be presented in any order in the current
courses section 644.
[0059] Circles section 650 may list the current circles that a user
created and the other users that are a part of those circles. By
activating the circles section 650, which includes clicking on
circles section 650, the user may toggle hiding the list of circles
and users and showing the list of circles and users. A user's
circles may be presented logically by circle similar to how the
courses were presented logically by course in current courses
section 644. For an example of the expanded list of circles, see
FIG. 22. Add circles button 652 may be used by a user to add new
circles. Any number of circles may be presented in any order in the
circles section 650. Circles module 430 may provide educational
system 200 with the list of the user's circles and users associated
with the circles.
[0060] Communities section 655 may list the current communities
with which a user is associated and the other users that may also
be associated with those communities. By activating the communities
section 655, which includes clicking on communities section 655,
the user may toggle hiding the list of communities and users and
showing the list of communities and users. A user's communities may
be presented logically by community similar to how the courses were
presented logically by course in current courses section 644. For
an example of the expanded list of communities, see FIG. 22.
Communities module 420 may provide educational system 200 with the
list of the user's communities and users associated with the
communities.
[0061] Hide social pane button 660 may be used to hide the social
pane or resize the horizontal dimensions of the social pane. Social
pane adjustor 665 may be used to adjust the verticle size of the
social pane. Below the social pane adjustor 665 may be a space for
open chat sessions. In some embodiments, when a user hides the
social pane with hide social pane button 660, educational system
200 changes the user's status to busy. When the user unhides the
social pane with hide social pane button 660, educational system
200 changes the user's status to available. This technique allows
the user to simultaneously hide the social pane when wanting to
focus on course materials while indicating to contacts that the
user is busy and might not respond to chats. Hide social pane
button 660 may allow the user to hide the social pane with a single
click.
[0062] Interface 600 may include places button 680, tools button
682, course button 684, course button 686, or any combination
thereof. Places button 680, tools button 682, course button 684, or
course button 686 may displayed in the taskbar area of any page,
not only on the page displayed in interface 600. When activated by
the user, pages button 680 reveals a pop-up window that gives the
student the option to link to other parts of the application
provided by educational system 200. In some embodiments, the links
include a link to student services pages and a link to a
communities page. When activated by the user, tools button 682
reveals a pop-up window that gives the student the option to link
to other parts of the application provided by educational system
200. In some embodiments, the links include a link to an email
tool.
[0063] Course buttons 684 and 686 represent courses that a user is
associated with. When activated by the user, course button 684
opens a course page provided by educational system 200. There may
be any number of course buttons in the taskbar area. Educational
system 200 or a user may determine that a course should be placed
as a course button in the taskbar area, reordered in the taskbar
area, or removed from the taskbar area. In some embodiments, one or
more users may be prevented by educational system 200 from making
alterations to the course buttons in the taskbar area. Course
button 684 and 686 can be used to return to that course if the
student has been working in other areas and overlain the course in
the workspace.
[0064] Course button 686 may function in any of the ways course
button 684 functions for a separate course, the same course, or a
separate portion of the same course.
[0065] User Status Options Window
[0066] FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary interface 700 in accordance with
one or more embodiments. When user status button 630 is activated,
a user status options window 710 appears. User status options
window 710 may include user info button 715, status selection
options, language selection options, student information, a logout
button, or any combination thereof. Activating the user info button
715 will allow the user to edit the user's information as described
herein. The status selection options may allow the user to make
changes to the user's status. The language selection options may
allow the user to make changes to the preferred language for
receiving content. The logout button may allow the user to end the
session with educational system 200.
[0067] Updates Stream
[0068] Interface 700 may include stream button 720, filter bar 725,
and stream section 730. When a user activates the stream button
720, filter bar 725, stream section 730, or any combination thereof
may be displayed. Stream section 730 may display a stream of
updates associated with courses, communities, circles, or any
combination thereof. Updates may include updates on other users'
chat statuses or new information associated with other people.
Stream section 730 may display, for each update, the source of the
update, who posted the updated, the time of the update, a message,
a content item, or any combination thereof. Update stream module
440 may provide educational system 200 with updates and information
relating to the user's stream.
[0069] Filter bar 725 may provide a drop-down menu that may allow a
user to filter the user's stream by various options, including
filtering by community, a course, circle, contact, user, status,
location, any other filtering option described herein, or any
combination thereof. When a filtering option is chosen from the
filter bar 725, the stream section 730 may be updated to display
those stream items that met the filtering options. Education system
200 may detect that the user has selected a particular filter, and
then only push to the user updates that satisfy the filter. The
update viewing section may be a truncated area in a panel which can
be left open while the user browses the system, or may be a full
page area that may be navigated away from. Update stream module 440
may provide educational system 200 with updates and information
relating to the user's stream.
[0070] Education system 200 may filter updates based upon other
criteria. The system may filter updates based on those users
currently on-screen. Filtering may be based upon the focus of the
portal. For example, if a History course is selected, the user may
see a certain group of student status updates for the users in
History course. When the user switches to an English course, the
History course updates may be removed. The filtering described
herein allows educational system 200 to avoid sending updates or
buddy lists that are not being used because the updates or users
have been filtered out. As a result, the server may avoid sending
extraneous data regarding updates, e.g., updates about people, when
the user will not even see the updates. Update stream module 440
may provide educational system 200 with updates and information
relating to the user's stream.
[0071] Student-Selected Contacts and Mandatory Contacts
[0072] A networked computer system provides various services for
assisting users in locating, and establishing contact relationships
with, other users. For example, in one embodiment, users can
identify other users based on their affiliations with particular
schools or other organizations. The system also provides a
mechanism for a user to selectively establish contact relationships
or connections with other users, and to grant permissions for such
other users to view personal information of the user. The system
may also include features for enabling users to identify contacts
of their respective contacts. In addition, the system may
automatically notify users of personal information updates made by
their respective contacts.
[0073] A network service comprises a platform that builds a
plurality of networks of related users. Such network service
platform may be presented to the users via a website served by
servers, such as those disclosed in connection with FIGS. 2-4.
Network services allow for creation of user profile pages that may
include pictures and user information.
[0074] The users may be related based on shared interests in
learning a subject. For example, the related users can be students
taking the same course or classes. The related users can comprise
students and faculty responsible for mediating instructional
material for a course of study. The related users can be students
having shared interest in learning about a specific subject that is
offered by a learning institution, or various learning activities.
The related users can comprise students and other users that have
real-life connections with the students. Such real-life connections
can be based on friendship, ethnical backgrounds, etc.
[0075] A learning management system may comprise a database, a
learning system, and a networking service. The database, such as
any one or more of those depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 or otherwise
described herein, may store electronic addresses for a plurality of
contacts associated with the student. The student's contacts may be
any other system user that is associated with the user. As
discussed above, a user's contact may be in a community with the
user, a circle with the user, a course with the user, or any
combination thereof. A student may be associated with a set of
student's contacts, i.e. contacts of the student. The set of
student's contacts may comprise at least one student-selected
contact and at least one mandatory contact. The student-selected
contact may be a contact designated by the student to be in the set
of the student's contacts. For example, the student-selected
contact may a member of a circle of the student, another user added
by the student to the student's contact list, or any other contact
otherwise identified by the student as the student's contact. In
some embodiments, the student-selected contact may a member of a
contact group that is subject to a group approval, such as a
community.
[0076] The mandatory contact may be a contact that is not
designated by the student to be in the set of the student's
contacts, but is still one of the student's contacts. For example,
a mandatory contact may be a classmate that is enrolled in the same
course with the student, a course instructor assigned to the
course, an assessor of student performance of the course, a course
developer assigned to a course, a member of a contact group that is
subject to group approval (e.g. a member of a community), or any
other contact not selected, designated, and/or identified by the
student to be in the set of student's contacts. Courses, as a type
of association of contacts, may refer to groups of connected users
(e.g. students, teachers, teaching assistants) that are involved in
the same course. Membership in a course may be mandatory in that
any person involved with a course may automatically be included in
the course group, and the user may not have the ability to opt-out
of the course group. Similarly, a mandatory contact, or compulsory
contact, of the student may be automatically included in the
student's contacts, and the student may not be able to remove the
mandatory contact from the student's contacts. The identification,
selection, or assignment of mandatory contacts of a student, e.g.
members of a course group, may be provided by a registrar, another
source of course enrollment data, or any other source on the
system.
[0077] The learning system may be configured to deliver one or more
instructional materials to the student. The one or more
instructional materials may be any of those discussed herein.
[0078] The networking service may be in communication with the
learning management system, and the networking service may be
configured to provide a user interface that enables the student to
communicate messages with the student-selected contact and the
mandatory contact. The user interface may be any of those depicted
herein, e.g. interfaces provided for chatting, posting updates,
etc.
[0079] In some embodiments, the user interface may enable the
student to selectively communicate messages with the
student-selected contact and mandatory contact during a learning
session. For example, a user may send or receive messages, updates,
chats, feed information, status updates, presence updates, or any
other communication from the student-selected contact and/or the
mandatory contact during a learning session. For example, the
communications could be the updates depicted in FIG. 7.
[0080] In some embodiments, the one or more instructional materials
are associated with a course of study, and the mandatory contact is
associated with a course contact. For example, the mandatory
contact may be associated with another student taking the course, a
course instructor assigned to the course, an assessor of student
performance in the course, a course developer assigned to the
course, or any combination thereof.
[0081] Streams
[0082] A network computer system, such as the ones described
herein, may include social networking features that allow students,
faculty, or other users to communicate with one other while using
other features provided by the system. When using the social
networking services, a user may receive updates about social
networking contacts. Updates may include updates on other users'
chat statuses or new information associated with other people. The
updates may be displayed as a stream. In some embodiments, the
updates may appear as a live stream, i.e., in which new updates are
displayed as they occur on a real-time basis, or, where users'
activities are streamed as soon as they happen. A stream may
display, for each update, the source of the update, who posted the
updated, the time of the update, a message, a content item, or any
combination thereof. The stream may be displayed while users are
interacting with other parts of the system.
[0083] Because a stream may include an overwhelming amount of
information, the items of a stream may be filtered. As discussed
herein, a user may have the option of filtering updates in the
stream to include only those updates meeting specified criteria,
such as membership in one or more courses, circles,
communities.
[0084] Additionally or alternatively, smart filtering may also be
used, in which filtering is performed automatically by the system
based on a user's interactions.
[0085] In the learning management system, a server configured to
create a learning environment on a remote student workstation or
accessible by a remote workstation for delivery of instructional
material to a student after the server authenticates a student
log-in. The created learning environment displays a user interface
to the student on the remote student workstation, such as the
interfaces described herein. The user interface may also be used to
interact with an instructional material when the student enters
into a learning session associated with a course. The learning
session may refer to when a student interacts with an instructional
material. If the student does not interact with instructional
material, then there is no learning session. FIG. 14, which will be
described in more detail below, depicts an example of a learning
session in which instructional materials are presented to a student
and the student interacts with the instructional material.
[0086] A database, such as any of those discussed herein, may store
electronic addresses for a plurality of contacts associated with
the student. The plurality of contacts may comprise any of the
contact types disclosed herein. The student may be associated with
a set of student's contacts comprising a first contact associated
with the first course and a second contact.
[0087] A networking service in communication with the server may be
configured to display to the student, within the learning
environment, a first activity stream associated with the first
contact and a second activity stream associated with the second
contact, wherein upon detection of student's entry into the
learning session, the first activity stream is displayed without
displaying the second activity stream. For example, a user may be
enrolled in and receive activity stream updates from contacts in
four classes. The system may detect that a user is currently
working on a lessons for a first class, and based on that
information, remove from the activity stream updates from the other
three classes. When the user later switches to working on lessons
for a second class, updates from the first class may be removed
from being displayed, and the activity stream updates from the
second class may be displayed to the user. Although in this example
the second activity stream is associated with a second class, the
second activity stream may be any activity stream. For example, the
activity stream may correspond to updates from a community, a
circle, or any other organizational structure recognized by the
system.
[0088] Many possible configurations for displaying the activity
streams are possible. For example, upon detection of the student's
exit from the learning session (e.g. the student leaves the
instructional material to visit a different class or group), the
second activity stream may be displayed. The second activity stream
may be displayed concurrently with the displaying of the first
activity stream, e.g. after the user exited the learning session,
the user's contacts associated with learning session may be
displayed with all of the other contacts of the student.
Alternatively, the second activity stream may displayed without
displaying the first activity stream. The first activity stream may
comprises a first message from the first contact, the second
activity stream may comprises a second message from the second
contact, or any combination thereof. At least one of the first
activity stream or second activity stream may comprises a message
transmitted from the student. The first activity stream may
comprise a first status update from the first contact, the second
activity stream may comprise a second status update from the second
contact, or any combination thereof.
[0089] The instructional material may be concurrently displayed
with the first activity stream. For example, the user may view the
activity stream of updates from classmates displayed on an
interface while interacting with instructional materials, e.g. a
lecture, presentation, etc., that are also displayed on the
interface.
[0090] The first contact may be associated with another course
student, a course instructor, a course performance assessor, a
course developer, or a course administrator. The second contact may
be associated with a student-selected contact. At least one of the
first or second activity streams may comprise a live stream, in
which updates are received in a real-time basis as they occur. A
message corresponding to the second activity stream is transmitted
to the student upon detection of student's exit from the learning
session.
[0091] In some embodiments, a server, such as any of those
discussed herein, may be configured to create a first learning
environment on a remote student workstation or accessible by a
remote student workstation for delivery of a first instructional
material to a student after the server authenticates a student
log-in and a second learning environment on the remote student
workstation or accessible on the remote student workstation for
delivery of a second instructional material to the student after
the server authenticates the student log-in. The created first
learning environment may display a first user interface to the
student on the remote student workstation. The first user interface
may be used to interact with the first instructional material when
the student enters into a first learning session associated with
the first course. The created second learning environment may
display a second user interface to the student on the remote
student workstation. The second user interface may be used to
interact with the second instructional material when the student
enters into a second learning session associated with a second
course.
[0092] A database, such as any of those discussed herein, may store
electronic addresses for a plurality of contacts associated with
the student. The student may be associated with a set of student's
contacts comprising a first contact associated with the first
course and a second contact associated with the second course. For
example, the first contact may be a classmate of the student in the
first course, and the second contact may be an instructor of the
student in the second course. However, the first and second
contacts could be any type of contact associated with the first and
second courses, respectively.
[0093] A networking service in communication with the server may be
configured to display to the student, within the first learning
environment, a first activity stream associated with the first
contact, and configured to display to the student, within the
second learning environment, a second activity stream associated
with the second contact. Upon detection of student's entry into the
first learning session, the first activity stream may be displayed
without displaying the second activity stream, and upon detection
of student's entry into the second learning session, the second
activity stream may be displayed without displaying the first
activity stream.
[0094] This type of filtering may be implemented according to one
or more of the following configurations. In some embodiments, the
first activity stream may comprise a first message transmitted from
the first contact, the second activity streams comprises a second
message transmitted from the second contact, or any combination
thereof. The first message may be transmitted from the first
contact to the student, the second message may be transmitted from
the second contact to the student, or any combination thereof. A
message corresponding to the second activity stream may be
transmitted to the student upon detection of student's exit from
the learning session. At least one of the first activity stream or
second activity stream may comprise a message transmitted from the
student. The first activity stream may comprise a first status
update from the first contact, the second activity stream comprises
a second status update from the second contact, or any combination
thereof. The first instructional material may be concurrently
displayed with the first activity stream, the second instructional
material may be concurrently displayed with the second activity
stream, or any combination thereof. The first contact may be
associated with another first course student, a first course
instructor, a first course performance assessor, a first course
developer, or a first course administrator. The second contact may
be associated with a second course student, a second course
instructor, a second course performance assessor, a second course
developer, or a second course administrator. The first activity
stream may comprise a live stream, the second activity stream or
comprise a live stream, or any combination thereof.
[0095] Either type of filtering, i.e. filtering by the student or
filtering by the system, may allow the system to avoid sending
updates or buddy lists that are not being used because the updates
or users have been filtered out. As a result, the system may avoid
sending extraneous data regarding updates that the user will not
even see.
[0096] Editing User Information
[0097] FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary interface 800 in accordance with
one or more embodiments. Interface 800 may include a "My Info"
section, which includes content area 805, edit profile tab 810,
public profile tab 845, settings tab 850, or any combination
thereof. Content area 805 may change based on the current tabs
selected. Edit profile tab 810 may include general info tab 815,
activities tab 820, education/work tab 825, communities tab 830,
update record section 835, and opt-out button 840. When general
info tab 815 is selected, the user may be presented in content area
805 with options for changing information about the user's profile.
The user may change or add a profile picture, whether the user's
location is displayed on the user's public profile, whether an
"about me" section is displayed on the public profile, and the
information contained in an "about me" section. The user may also
have the options of saving changes, canceling the editing
operations, or undoing the latest changes. When activities tab 820
is selected, the user may be presented in content area 805 with
options for changing information about the user's activities and
interests. The user may edit a description about the user's
activities and interests, and whether or not to display this
information on the user's public profile. The user may also have
the options of saving changes, canceling the editing operations, or
undoing the latest changes. When education/work tab 825 is
selected, the user may be presented in content area 805 with
options for changing information about the user's educational
background and work experience. The user may edit a description
about the user's educational background, work experience, and
whether or not to display the educational background and work
history on the user's public profile. The user may also have the
options of saving changes, canceling the editing operations, or
undoing the latest changes. When communities tab 830 is selected,
the user may be presented in content area 805 with the option of
whether or not to display the user's communities on the user's
public profile. The user may also have the options of saving
changes, canceling the editing operations, or undoing the latest
changes. The user may also be presented in content area 805 with a
list of the communities to which the user belongs. The list may
include links to more specific information about the communities,
e.g., the official page for the community. When the public profile
tab 845 is selected, content area 805 may display the public
profile of the user. Displaying the public profile will be
discussed in conjunction with FIG. 9. When the settings tab 850 is
selected, content area 805 may display options for changing the
user's preferences and settings. Managing the user's preferences
and settings will be discussed in conjunction with FIGS. 10-13.
Interface 800 may include a taskbar item 855 and a window control
widget 860.
[0098] Taskbar item 855 may be displayed in the taskbar of
interface 800 and is a method for easily returning to the "My Info"
section. Window control widget 860 may be used to close the "My
Info" section, minimize the "My Info" section such that taskbar
item 855 is the only on-screen representation of the "My Info"
section, or scale the "My Info" section into a window size smaller
than the portion it is currently shown to occupy. Additional
taskbar items may be used for other interface elements of
educational system 200. For example, when a course is open, the
course may have a taskbar item associated with it. An example is
disclosed in FIG. 14, taskbar item 1415. As more content pages are
open, additional taskbar items may be added to the taskbar.
Similarly, window control widget 860 may be used with other content
pages in the manner disclosed herein.
[0099] Public Profile
[0100] FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary interface 900 in accordance with
one or more embodiments. Interface 900 may include content section
905 and contact widget 970. Content section 905 may display the
public profile for a user of the system. The public profile for a
user may include any combination information viewable by other
members of the system. In one embodiment, the public profile may
include a user's name, email address, track or tracks of study,
course year, location, description, "about me," activities,
interests, and communities. The public profile for a user may be
displayed when a user clicks on the user in the social pane or
update stream. For example, clicking on user 920 may cause that
user's public profile to be displayed in content section 905.
[0101] Contact widget 970 may provide links to different ways of
contacting the person associated with the contact widget 970.
Contact widget 970 may include links to initiate sending an email
to the user, starting a chat with the user, or adding the user to a
circle. Contact widget 970 may be associated with any user and may
appear alongside content of any page displayed by educational
system 200.
[0102] When a user hovers over an entry in the social pane or
update stream, a summary window 930 may be displayed. Summary
window 930 may display a user's picture, name, status, area of
study, any other information available to other users in the
system, or any combination thereof. Summary window 930 may also
display buttons that, when selected, enable a user to view the
user's profile, chat with the user, initiate sending an email to
the user, or adding the user to a circle. In some embodiments,
summary window 930 may be displayed anytime a user hovers over
another user's name anywhere on the site.
[0103] Simultaneous Add and Designate Contacts
[0104] Summary window 930 may include link for quickly adding a
contact to a particular circle. When the add to contact link is
selected, quick add window 935 may appear. Quick add window 935 may
be displayed as a pop-up or full-sized window. Quick add window 935
allows the user to check one or many boxes associated with one or
more circles. The user can create a new circle by clicking on the
"create new" link, entering the name of the new circle, and
clicking save. After the user chooses one or more circles, the user
selects save changes, and the contact is added to those circles of
the user. This mechanism for quickly and unobtrusively placing
contacts in circles allows users to update their circles without
having to change the underlying content windows. This allows users
to continue performing activities on educational system 200 with
only a minimal interruption of a few keystrokes to update their
circles. Circles module 430 may faciliate adding contacts to and
managing the user's circles.
[0105] Chat
[0106] Chat module 425 may faciliating users chatting via instant
messaging sessions on educational system 200. Chat may be enabled
by any chat protocol, including XMPP chat protocol. When a user
selects a link to chat with a contact, a chat window 940 may
appear. Chat window 940 may include chat history 945 and input
field 950. As the user chats with a contact, the record of the chat
may be displayed in chat history 945. The user enters text or chat
content into input field 950. When the user presses the return key
on the keyboard, the message entered into input field 950 is sent
to the contact.
[0107] Security Settings
[0108] FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary interface 1000 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 1000 may include a password
tab 1010, a content area 1015, a set of options 1020, a security
questions tab 1030, a virtual community tab 1040, or any
combination thereof. Selecting password tab 1010, security
questions tab 1030, or virtual community tab 1040 may change the
content displayed in content area 1015. When password tab 1010 is
selected, a manage password screen may be displayed in content area
1015. The manage password screen may include a field to enter a
current password, a new password, and a field to re-enter the
password. Content area 1015 may also include a set of password
options 1020, which may include the option to create the new
password or an option to cancel and clear the form. When a user
enters the current correct password, the new and re-entered
passwords match, and the create new password option is chosen,
policies module 445 will change the user's password to the new
password entered.
[0109] FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary interface 1100 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 1100 may include a security
questions tab 1105, a content area 1110, a set of options 1115, or
any combination thereof. Selecting security questions tab 1105 may
change the content displayed in content area 1110. When security
questions tab 1105 is selected, a manage security questions screen
may be displayed in content area 1110. The manage security
questions screen may include a field to enter a current password,
one or more drop down menus that enable a user to select different
security questions, and one or more fields to answer questions that
of the corresponding drop down menus. Content area 1110 may also
include a set of security question options 1115, which may include
the option to save changes or an option to cancel and clear the
form. When a user enters the current correct password and a set of
answers to the selected security questions, policies module 445
will store the user's answers to the security questions.
[0110] FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary interface 1200 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. FIG. 13 depicts exemplary interface
1300 in accordance with one or more embodiments. Interface 1200 may
include virtual community tab 1205, content area 1210, opt out
button 1220, or any combination thereof. When a user selects opt
out button 1220, the user may be presented with the opt out screen
1305 from interface 1300. Opt out screen 1305 may provide notice to
the user about the process of opting-out of the virtual
communities, and asks for a confirmation in order to opt out. If a
user opts out of the virtual communities, one or more of the
following may occur: the user may be automatically removed from any
of the communities that the user joined; or the user's name will be
listed as anonymous on any social stream communities, posts, and
activities. When the user confirms an opt out of the virtual
communities, communities module 420 sets the data in the social
network database 235 to reflect those changes.
[0111] Classroom Sites
[0112] FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary interface 1400 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 1400 depicts a classroom
site in accordance with one or more embodiments. Interface 1400 may
include a class identifier 1405, a content area 1410, a taskbar
item 1415, an overview tab 1420, a schedule tab 1422, a resources
tab 1424, a discussion tab 1426, an assignments tab 1428, a
reflection tab 1430, a content review tab 1432, a timeframe
selector 1440, a font scaler widget 1450, or any combination
thereof. Class identifier 1405 indicates the current course
selected. Content area 1410 displays the course materials
associated with the currently selected tab. Taskbar item 1415 may
be used to access the classroom site when the site is minimized or
hidden by other sites. Timeframe selector 1440 may be used to
indicate the current selected time frame. In some embodiments, the
timeframe is a week and timeframe selector 1440 will display the
number of weeks in the course with links to each week's materials.
The timeframe may be any measure of time, including days, weeks,
months, years, or semesters. The tabs may correspond to the
materials for a selected timeframe. In some embodiments, the
timeframe is a week and the tabs will show the materials limited to
the selected week. For example, interface 1400 shows tabs
corresponding to a weekly timeframe. Timeframe selector 1440 may
also be used to jump to a specific timeframe in the course. For
example, if a user selected the `2` in the timeframe indicator
1440, content area 1410 may display content associated with week 2.
Further, the tabs may display indicia representing week 2 instead
of week 8. Font scaler widget 1450 may be used to increase or
decrease the size of the font of the content displayed on the
classroom site.
[0113] When overview tab 1420 is selected, content area 1410
displays the course materials associated with an overview for the
timeframe, which may include an overview for the timeframe,
learning outcomes, any other information associated with an
overview for the timeframe, or any combination thereof. When
schedule tab 1422 is selected, content area 1410 displays the
course materials associated with a schedule for the timeframe,
which may include a schedule of classes, a schedule of assignments,
a schedule for resources, dues dates, any other information
associated with a schedule for the timeframe, or any combination
thereof. When resources tab 1424 is selected, content area 1410
displays the course materials associated with resources for the
timeframe, which may include readings, optional resources, any
other information associated with resources for the timeframe, or
any combination thereof. When discussion tab 1426 is selected,
content area 1410 displays the course materials associated with a
discussion for the timeframe, which may include an discussions
associated with the timeframe, any other information associated
with discussions for the course during the timeframe, or any
combination thereof. When assignments tab 1428 is selected, content
area 1410 displays the course materials associated with assignments
for the timeframe, which may include a list of assignments for the
timeframe, learning outcomes, any other information associated with
assignments for the timeframe, or any combination thereof. When
reflection tab 1430 is selected, content area 1410 displays the
course materials associated with reflections for the timeframe.
When content review tab 1432 is selected, content area 1410
displays the course materials associated with content reviews for
the timeframe, which may include tests, quizzes, reviews, any other
information associated with reviews for the timeframe, or any
combination thereof.
[0114] Student Services
[0115] FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary interface 1500 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. FIG. 16 depicts an exemplary
interface 1600 in accordance with one or more embodiments. FIG. 17
depicts an exemplary interface 1700 in accordance with one or more
embodiments. FIG. 18 depicts an exemplary interface 1800 in
accordance with one or more embodiments. Interfaces 1500, 1600,
1700, and 1800 depict various embodiments of a student services
site. Interface 1500 may include content area 1510. When resources
link 1505 is selected, content area 1510 may display information
about or links to student services. In some embodiments the student
services information includes links to the library, tutoring and
mentoring services, IT services, disability services, health
center, residence halls and dining, and campus safety
information.
[0116] Interface 1600 may include content area 1610. When
registration link 1605 is selected, content area 1610 may display
information about or links to registration services. In some
embodiments the registration services information includes links to
course registration, adding and dropping courses, academic
catalogs, academic calendars, class schedules, and course
materials.
[0117] Interface 1700 may include content area 1710. When finances
link 1705 is selected, content area 1710 may display information
about or links to financial services. In some embodiments the
financial services information includes links to tuition and fee
information, net price calculator, contact the financial aid
office, payment options, and scholarship information.
[0118] Interface 1800 may include content area 1810. When student
records link 1805 is selected, content area 1810 may display
information about or links to student records services. In some
embodiments the student records services information includes links
to change password or security questions, update addresses and
phone numbers, emergency contact, name changes, social security
number changes, view email address, grades and transcripts,
external portfolio settings or information, and internal portfolio
settings or information.
[0119] Community Searching and Creation
[0120] FIG. 19 depicts an exemplary interface 1900 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 1900 may include a
community list tab 1905, a create a community tab 1910, search
field 1915, content area 1920, or any combination thereof. When
community list tab 1905 is selected, content area 1920 may display
search field 1915 and a list of communities. The list of
communities may include the community names, descriptions,
pictures, any information associated with the community, or any
combination thereof. Clicking on one of the listed communities may
take the user to a community page. The details of the community
pages are detailed in the description of FIGS. 21-23. As a user
enters text into search field 1915, the list of communities
displayed in content area 1920 may be filtered to display only
those communities that meet the search criteria.
[0121] FIG. 20 depicts an exemplary interface 2000 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2000 may include content
area 2010, create a community tab 2015, button 2020, or
combinations thereof. When create a community tab 2015 is selected,
content area 2010 may display a set of input fields with
descriptions for creating a new community. The user may have the
option to enter a name for the community, add a picture for the
community, add a description for the community in the input fields
displayed in content area 2010. The user may select the button
2020, which may instruct educational system 200 to create a
community based on the information entered into the input fields
displayed in content area 2010.
[0122] Community Sites
[0123] FIG. 21 depicts an exemplary interface 2100 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2100 may include content
area 2105, community picture 2110, social learn tab 2115, about tab
2120, members tab 2125, leave/join community button 2130, or
combinations thereof. When social learn tab 2115 is selected,
content area 2105 may display social learning content. The social
learning content are posts specific to the community. The posts may
be created by the entering information into a text field in content
area 2105 and either entering a keyboard return or selecting a post
button in the content area 2105. A list of previous posts may be
displayed in content area 2105.
[0124] The functionality of the leave/join community button 2130
may depend on the user's status. If a user is already a member of
the community, leave/join community button 2130 will display text
or a graphic indicating that the button may be used to leave the
community. In this case, when the user selects the leave/join
community button 2130, a request is sent to the educational system
200 and communities module 420 to remove the user from the
community. Educational system 200 or an administrator may decide
whether to allow the user to be removed from the community and
whether to remove the user from the community. If a user is not a
member of the community, leave/join community button 2130 will
display text or a graphic indicating that the button may be used to
join the community. In this case, when the user selects the
leave/join community button 2130, a request is sent to the
educational system 200 and communities module 420 to add the user
to the community. Educational system 200 or an administrator may
decide whether to allow the user to join the community and whether
to add the user to the community.
[0125] Interface 2100 may include scroll buttons 2140 and 2145.
Scrollbars may always be displayed or may only be displayed when
there are too many taskbar items displayed in the taskbar to be
viewed at the same time. Scroll buttons 2140 and 2145 may be used
on any of the sites described herein in the same manner as
described regarding interface 2100.
[0126] FIG. 22 depicts an exemplary interface 2200 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2200 may include content
area 2205, about tab 2210, or combinations thereof. When about tab
2210 is selected, content area 2205 may display information about
the community. Information about the club may include the name of
the community, a picture symbolizing the community, information
about the owner assigned to the community, or combinations
thereof.
[0127] FIG. 23 depicts an exemplary interface 2300 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2300 may include content
area 2305, members tab 2310, chat icon 2320, email icon 2330,
circles icon 2340, quick add window 2350, or combinations thereof.
When members tab 2310 is selected, content area 2305 may display
information about the members of the group. In some embodiments, a
roster of the members of the group is displayed. The roster
includes pictures of each of the group members, names of the group
members, descriptions of the group members, chat icon 2320, email
icon 2330, and circles icon 2340. Selecting chat icon 2320 may
start a chat associated with chat icon 2320. Selecting email icon
2330 may initiate the process of sending an email to the user
associated with email icon 2330. Selecting circle icon 2340 may
cause a quick add window 2350 to appear. Quick add window 2350 may
function identically to quick add window 935 as previously
described herein.
[0128] Course Navigator
[0129] FIG. 24 depicts an exemplary interface 2400 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2400 may include course
navigator window 2405, slider 2410, numbered links 2415, thumbnails
2420, or any combination thereof. Thumbnails 2420 may include one
or more thumbnail images or video that each represent a unit of a
timeframe for the course. For example, as shown in interface 2400,
each image of thumbnails 2420 may represent a week in a course. The
unit of a timeframe may be any measure of time. Clicking on or
selecting any of the images of thumbnails 2420 may redirect the
user to a course page associated with the unit of time of the
course associated with the image.
[0130] When slider 2410 is moved by the user, thumbnails 2420
changes to reflect the movement of slider 2410. For example, when
slider 2410 is moved one increment to the right, the next image of
thumbnails 2420 may move to the foreground of course navigator
window 2405 and may increase in size. The previous foreground image
may decrease in size to reflect that it is not the focus designated
by slider 2410.
[0131] Numbered links 2415 may allow a user to navigate to a to a
course page associated with the point in time of the course
associated with item selected. For example, as shown in interface
2400, the number of weeks of the course are displayed in numbered
links 2415. If the user were to click on or select 8, the user
would be redirected to the portion of the course page containing
materials for week 8. Numbered links 2415 may allow students that
are unable to interact with slider 2410 or thumbnails 2420, such as
students with disabilities, to easily and directly access course
materials for a given timeframe.
[0132] Calendar Dashboard
[0133] FIG. 25 depicts an exemplary interface 2500 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2500 may include calendar
dashboard 2510, calendar icon 2520, details window 2522, status bar
2525, progress bar 2530, download button 2535, help button 2550,
video display 2560, or any combination thereof. Calendar dashboard
2510 may display a calendar. The calendar may display items using
any timeframe with any number of subdivisions, including but not
limited to showing a week divided by days, a month divided by days,
a day divided by hours, or any number of days divided by days,
e.g., 3 days shown in day segments. For example, interface 2500
displays a week 3 of a course divided by days. Presenting course
materials in a calendar format helps students to manage their
assigned work throughout each week of the course.
[0134] Calendar dashboard 2510 may display one or more calendar
icons, of which calendar icon 2520 is an example. Each calendar
icon may include the properties or features discussed herein
regarding calendar icon 2520. Calendar icon 2520 may have a graphic
that indicates the type of content associated with calendar icon
2520. For example, interface 2500 depicts three types of graphics:
a book, a video screen, and a paper and pencil. Each of these
graphics may correspond to an activity. For example, the book may
correspond to a reading, the video screen may correspond to a
video, and the paper and pencil may correspond to an assignment or
exercise. The graphic displayed by calendar icon 2520 may include
these graphics or any other graphics that correspond activities
associated with the course materials.
[0135] Calendar icon 2520 may include a badge. A badge may be an
indicator attached to calendar icon 2520 that displays additional
information, including a number, text, an icon, or any combination
thereof. For example, in interface 2500 calendar icon 2520 includes
a badge with the number `2` therein. A number within the badge may
indicate the number of items of the type of course material
associated with calendar icon 2520 that have yet to be completed,
that have yet to be started, or any combination thereof. For
example, in interface 2500 the badge on calendar icon 2520 may
indicate that there are two assignments due and that have not been
completed on Wednesday of week 3. Information about the status of
course materials, including the amount of interaction a user has
had with the course materials, may be stored in course material
database 220, student database 225, portfolio database 230, or any
combination thereof. Educational system 200 may update a user's
status regarding course materials as the user interacts with or
makes changes to the course materials. Because progress information
is stored by educational system 200, users can work on multiple
computers and in multiple browsers and receive accurate and
up-to-date information about their progress.
[0136] Selecting or clicking calendar icon 2520 may cause details
window 2522 to be displayed. Details window 2522 may contain a
checklist of the activities associated with calendar icon 2520. For
example, in interface 2500 details window 2522 may display the two
assignments associated with calendar icon 2520. If the user clicks
on the box containing the activity, a check may appear in the box
associated with the activity, the badge on calendar icon 2520 may
be decremented to reflect the change in the number of outstanding
items or disappear complete if all the items associated with
calendar icon 2520 have been completed, progress bar 2530 may be
updated to reflect the change in status of the activity,
educational system 200 may store the status in one of the
databases, or any combination thereof. Selecting an already
completed activity may have the reverse effect of incrementing the
number on the badge, updating progress bar 2530 to reflect the
change in status of the activity, educational system 200 may store
the status in one of the databases, or any combination thereof.
Additionally or alternatively, clicking on calendar icon 2520 may
cause the user to open the related content in a new window or
tab.
[0137] Status bar 2525 may include a set of calendar icons that
represent types of activities that are associated with the
timeframe. For example, in interface 2500 there are two calendar
icons representing two types of activities associated with week 3.
Progress bar 2530 may indicate a user's progress in completing
activities. Progress bar 2530 may indicate the user's progress with
activities associated with the currently selected timeframe,
another timeframe, progress in the course, or any combination
thereof. As a user interacts with educational system 200, including
interacting with the elements described in interface 2500, progress
bar 2530 may change to reflect the corresponding change in
progress.
[0138] Download button 2535 may be displayed anywhere on calendar
dashboard 2510. When download button 2535 is selected, educational
system 200 may provide the user with a set of materials for the
selected timeframe to download. For example, in interface 2500 the
user may receive a download of all the course materials associated
with week 3. The download may include a checklist that lists all of
the assignments or activities associated with the timeframe, a
zipped file of all of the available course materials associated
with the timeframe, or any combination thereof. The ability to
easily and quickly download course materials with as little as one
click is particularly useful for users that may have limited access
to the network or lack reliable network access. The ability to
efficiently download course materials for a given timeframe also
allows the user to utilize the materials without having to be
connected to educational system 200.
[0139] When help button 2550 is selected, educational system 200
may provide the user with access to tutorials about the interface.
The tutorials may take the form of videos, web pages, documents, or
any combination thereof. The tutorials may be accessible to users
anytime throughout the academic program, not only during the
student orientation.
[0140] Video display 2560 may provide the user access to featured
videos. Featured videos may be videos or content that are
particularly relevant to the material associated with the selected
timeframe displayed in calendar dashboard 2510. Educational system
200 may change the featured videos shown in video display 2560
based on the user's progress, changes in course materials, the
user's interactions with elements in interface 2500, or any
combination thereof.
[0141] A link may be present on any of the pages described herein
that allows the user to toggle between two or more of the course
home panel, calendar dashboard, course list view, any other course
viewing page described herein, or any combination thereof.
[0142] Calendar icon 2520 may be moveable by the user anywhere in
interface 2500 by the user. For example, in interface 2500 the user
may click on calendar icon 2520 and use a mouse or any other input
device or technique to move calendar icon 2520 to another day. The
user may move calendar icon 2520 so that the user can schedule
course activities at a time more conducive to the user's wants or
needs. A user may move calendar icon 2520 to any day, the user may
be limited to moving calendar icon 2520 to a time earlier than the
previously scheduled time, or any combination thereof.
[0143] The user may create one or more additional calendar items to
the schedule displayed in interface 2500. For example, the user may
have an important event, like the user's mother's birthday, on
Saturday. The user may press a button to start the creation of
another calendar item. The user may then specify a date, time,
name, location, any other event or activity information, or any
combination thereof. The system will then create a calendar icon
corresponding to the entered information. The user may create
additional calendar items event so that the user has a better idea
of how to schedule course events, and how to manage the user's time
to best meet the course objectives as well as personal
commitments.
[0144] Course Home Panel
[0145] FIG. 26 depicts an exemplary interface 2600 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2600 may include content
display 2610, navigation bar 2620, progress display 2630, or
combinations thereof. Navigation bar 2620 may provide a set of
links representing a home link to content overview, links to each
unit, or any combination thereof. A unit may represent a portion or
a segment of a timeframe Content display 2610 may display content
associated with the unit or timeframe selected in navigation bar
2620. Progress display 2630 may display a user's progress in
completing activities associated with a unit or all of the units.
Progress display 2630 may indicate the user's progress with
activities associated with the currently selected unit, another
unit, progress in the course, or any combination thereof. As a user
interacts with educational system 200, including interacting with
the elements described in interface 2600, progress display 2630 may
change to reflect the corresponding change in progress.
[0146] Course List View
[0147] FIG. 27 depicts an exemplary interface 2700 in accordance
with one or more embodiments. Interface 2700 includes progress
display 2710, activity summary display 2720, badge 2730, pop-out
button 2740, or any combination thereof. Progress display 2710 may
display a user's progress in completing activities associated with
a unit or all of the units. Progress display 2710 may indicate the
user's progress with activities associated with the currently
selected unit, another unit, progress in the course, or any
combination thereof. As a user interacts with educational system
200, including interacting with the elements described in interface
2700, progress display 2710 may change to reflect the corresponding
change in progress.
[0148] Activity summary display 2720 may display a number of types
of activities. The types of activities may include any
instructional content or activity offered by educational system
200. Examples of activities include viewing an introduction,
readings, media, check your knowledge exercises, shared activities,
and individual assignments. Selecting a type activity displayed in
activity summary display 2720 may cause the user to be directed to
a page that includes the materials associated with the activity
type.
[0149] Each type of activity displayed may include a badge 2730.
Badge 2730 may display additional information, including a number,
text, an icon, or any combination thereof. For example, in
interface 2700 badge 2730 has a number `3` within it. A number
within the badge may indicate the number of items of the type of
course material associated activity type that have yet to be
completed, that have yet to be started, or any combination thereof.
For example, in interface 2700 badge 2730 may indicate that there
are three individual assignments due and that have not been
completed for Unit 1. Information about the status of course
materials, including the amount of interaction a user has had with
the course materials, may be stored in course material database
220, student database 225, portfolio database 230, or any
combination thereof. Educational system 200 may update a user's
status regarding course materials as the user interacts with or
makes changes to the course materials. Because progress information
is stored by educational system 200, users can work on multiple
computers and in multiple browsers and receive accurate and
up-to-date information about their progress.
[0150] When selected, pop-out button 2740 may cause the content
currently being viewed in the pane associated with the pop-out
button 2740 to be displayed in a new browser window or tab. Pop-out
button 2740 may be present on and used with any of the pages
described herein.
[0151] In some embodiments, the calendar dashboard, course home
panel, and course list view may include any combination of features
described in section entitled "Laureate Classroom Navigator and
Weekly Dashboard Functional Specifications."
[0152] Many of the techniques described herein have focused on
displaying information specific to a particular course. In some
embodiments, the information displayed using any of the display
formats described herein may display any other logical grouping of
information. For example, a student may view a number of courses
and course activities when using the calendar dashboard, course
home panel, course list view, any other interface described herein,
or any combination thereof.
[0153] Portfolios
[0154] Educational system 200 may allow an entity access to
portions of a student's educational history. The portfolio may be a
collection or summary of a student's work or educational history.
In some embodiments, the portfolio would not include all aspects of
a student's history, but only a summary of the student's
history.
[0155] Educational system 200 may provide an external portfolio web
site having a URL or other form of internet address. The URL or
internet address may be specific to a student or provide general
access to student portfolios. A student could use the external
portfolio web site to share the student's portfolio with an entity.
In some embodiments, the entity could be an employer, a potential
employer, another learning institution, alumni, friends, family,
any party interested in learning about the student's achievements,
or combinations thereof. An entity may use the URL or internet
address to access the external portfolio web site. The entity may
need to supply credentials, including a username, password, PKI, or
combination thereof to access the portfolio associated with the URL
or internet address. The credentials may be associated with a
particular student. The student may supply the credentials to the
entity. Policies module 445 may compare the entered credentials
associated with the URL, internet address, or student with
credentials associated with the URL, internet address, or student
in security database 240. If the credentials match, the entity may
be provided access to an web site displaying the student's
portfolio. External portfolio module 455 may manage the aspects
related to providing an external portfolio as described herein.
[0156] Several benefits are provided by providing access to a
portfolio to an entity. First, the entity would not have to rely on
a student-supplied resume but could instead access a
institution-supplied record of student work and progress. Second,
because the information would be managed by the institution, the
site and portfolio would not be subject to falsification and would
provide an authoritative record to the entity about the
student.
[0157] Educational system 200 may provide an internal portfolio web
site having a URL to users of the system. An internal portfolio may
store all of the materials a user has worked on for courses.
Through the internal portfolio web site, a user can share portions
of the portfolios with other users. A user may be presented with an
interface that allows the user to select, for each potential
portfolio element, whether the item is included or excluded from
the portfolio to share. Each user may create any number of
portfolios to share. A user, community, or circle may create
portfolios to share. A user, community, or circle may share
portfolios with another user, community, circle, or combinations
thereof. The same techniques for ranking, commenting on, and
distributing educational content described in Laureate Education
Inc.'s U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009-0311658 A1 may be used to
rank, comment on, and distribute portfolios. Users may rank or
comment on the usefulness of shared portfolio material, which
provides the benefit of allowing users to quickly identify the most
useful or most relevant shared portfolio material.
[0158] Worldwide Integration
[0159] Connection layer module 450 may manage the connection
between a network of institutions. As discussed above in the
context of educational system 200, the network of institutions may
include foreign and domestic institutions. Connection layer module
450 may manage the interactions of users in different institutions
or countries based on rules stored in student database 225, social
network database 235, or security database 240. In one embodiment,
all users may freely communicate with all other users.
[0160] In other embodiments, a user may be restricted in a manner
from communicating with another user. The restrictions may be based
on rules or flags set store in student database 225, social network
database 235, or security database 240. The rules or flags may
include prohibiting interactions, chatting, viewing profiles,
viewing stream updates, any other interaction made possible by
education system 200, or any combination thereof. The restriction
may be based on a user's age, location, nationality, course of
study, progress, institutional policy, any information stored in
the databases of the system, or any combination thereof. For
example, connection layer module 450 may prevent users from two
separate countries from seeing each other's' presence on
educational system 200. In another example, the connection layer
module 450 may prevent users over a certain age from chatting with
users under the certain age.
[0161] Connection layer module 450 may translate communications
from a first user in a first language into second language for a
second user. Connection layer module 450 may review any or all of
the communications in educational system 200. Connection layer
module 450 may determine that the first user is communicating in a
first language based on the communications coming from the first
user or from language settings associated with the second user.
Connection layer module 450 may determine that the second user is
communicating in a second language based on the communications
coming from the second user or from language settings associated
with the second user. If the connection layer module 450 determines
that the first and second languages are different, the connection
layer module 450 may use machine translation techniques to transfer
messages from the first user into the second language for the
second user, to transfer messages from the second user into the
first language for the first user, or any combination thereof.
[0162] An online learning management system, such as any of those
described herein, may provide courses to users that speak different
languages or are located in different countries around the world.
Based on differences between laws in different regions, business
reasons, or other considerations, a user may be restricted in a
manner from communicating with another user. The restrictions may
be based on rules or flags stored by the system. The rules or flags
may include prohibiting interactions, chatting, viewing profiles,
viewing stream updates, any other interaction made possible by the
system. The restriction may be based on a user's age, location,
nationality, course of study, progress, institutional policy, or
any other information stored in the databases of the system. For
example, the system may prevent users from two separate countries
from seeing each other's presence on the educational system. In
another example, the system may prevent users over a certain age
from chatting with users under the certain age.
[0163] The educational system may also translate course materials
or communications from a first user in a first language into second
language for a second user. The system may review any or all of the
communications in system and may determine that the first user is
communicating in a first language based on the communications
coming from the first user or from language settings associated
with the first user. The system may also determine that the second
user is communicating in a second language based on the
communications coming from the second user or from language
settings associated with the second user. If the system determines
that the first and second languages are different, the system may
use machine translation techniques to translate messages from the
first user into the second language for the second user, to
translate messages from the second user into the first language for
the first user, or any combination thereof.
[0164] The education system may comprise a server, a database, and
a networking service. The server may be configured to create
corresponding learning environments on a plurality of
geographically dispersed remote student workstations located in a
plurality of regions for delivery of instructional material from
the server to a corresponding plurality of students after the
server authenticates student log-ins. For example, a first student
may be located in a first region, e.g. USA, a second student may be
located in a second region, e.g. Russia, a third student may be
located in a third region, e.g. Chile, and so on. The region may be
any of a country, nation, state, region, province, any
geographically identifiable area, or any combination thereof. A
region may also be an area defined by a language spoken in the
region, by religion, by ethnicity, etc. Each of the created
learning environments may display a user interface on a remote
student workstation located in a region of the plurality of
regions.
[0165] The database may store a plurality of region profiles. Each
region profile may contain information specifying rules associated
with communication of information between a first region and
another second region.
[0166] The networking service may be in communication with the
server and may be configured to communicate messages amongst the
geographically dispersed remote student workstations located in the
plurality of regions in accordance with the plurality of region
profiles. The message may be any type of message or communication,
including any of those discussed herein. For example, the messages
may include at least one of a message from a student, a message to
a student, a student profile, a status of a student, a stream
update, or an instructional material.
[0167] The profiles provide flexibility in being able to craft
policies specific to various regions, and several possible
configurations are possible. A rule of at least one region profile
may prevent communication of messages between a first student in a
first course and a second student in a second course. A rules of at
least one region profile may prevent communication of messages
between a first student in a first region and a second student in a
second region. A rule of at least one region profile may prevent
communication of messages between a first student of a first
educational institution and a second student of a second
educational institution. For example, students from a first college
may be prevented from interacting with students in a second
college. A rule of at least one region profile may prevent
communication of messages between a student over a certain age and
a student under the certain age. A rule of at least one region
profile may prevent communication of messages between a first
country and a second country.
[0168] A rule of at least one region profile may cause a message in
a first language of a first region to be translated into a second
language of a second region. The message may be translated using a
machine translation technique, and may occur in real-time. For
example, messages of a chat session between two users speaking
different languages may be translated by the system during the chat
session. Similarly, updates to a stream or activity stream may be
translated so that the stream displays the translated messages.
Language settings for the user may be set in the user profile.
[0169] Policies for Filtering or Analyzing Communications
[0170] Policies module 445 may implement policies to filter
information that is posted or groups that are created for
inappropriate content. Policies module 445 may receive a policy
that is stored in student database 225, social network database
235, or security database 240. The policy may specify topics or
words that are inappropriate content. Policies module 445 may
review any or all of the communications in educational system 200,
and if the communication contains inappropriate content as defined
by the policy, policies module 445 may alter, redact, remove,
replace, or delete the communication.
[0171] Policies module 445 may analyze communications to identify
topics that students are confused out. In some embodiments,
policies module 445 may receive a topic that is stored in student
database 225, social network database 235, or security database
240. Policies module 445 may review any or all of the
communications in educational system 200, and if a number of
communications exceeds a threshold, the policies module 445 may
identify the topic as a topic of confusion.
[0172] In other embodiments, policies module may determine topics
by summarizing content provided one or more users. If a number of
instances of topics exceeds a threshold, the policies module 445
may identify the topic as a topic of confusion. Alternatively, the
content of the system may also be analyzed by using the
summarization techniques described herein. All or portions of the
content of educational system 200, including but not limited to
course materials, posts, contacts, and emails, may be summarized to
provide a number of instances of topics of the educational system
200. If the number of topics exceeds a threshold, and the threshold
is given as a different between the number of instances of a topic
detected content provided by one or more users and the number of
instances of a topic detected when summarizing content of the
system, the policies module 445 may identify the topic as a topic
of confusion.
[0173] If a topic of confusion is identified, policies module 445
my send a communication through educational system 200. The
communication may include an email, a post to a stream, a post to a
community, a chat with a user, any communication type available for
users of the system, or any combination thereof. The communication
may be received by a user, an instructor, or educational system
200.
[0174] Policies module 445 may discover unauthorized communication
between students. The unauthorized communication may include
cheating, sharing answers, sharing assignments, sharing other
course materials, or any combination thereof. Policies module 445
may receive a policy that is stored in student database 225, social
network database 235, or security database 240. The policy may
specify objects that are unauthorized content. Unauthorized content
may include test answers, tests, course materials, assignments, or
any combination thereof. Policies module 445 may review any or all
of the communications in educational system 200, and if the
communication contains objects that are unauthorized content,
policies module 445 may alter, redact, remove, replace, or delete
the communication. Further, policies module 445 may send a
communication to an instructor or user that the unauthorized
communication has been detected. The sent communication may also
include an indication of the unauthorized object that had been
shared.
[0175] Cheating Prevention
[0176] An online learning management system, such as any of those
described herein, may include social networking features that allow
students, faculty, or other users to communicate with one other
while using other features provided by the system. The system may
include a policy that specifies objects that are unauthorized
content. Unauthorized content may include test answers, tests,
course materials, or assignments. The system may monitor any or all
of the communications in the system, and if the communication
contains objects that are unauthorized content, the system may
alter, redact, remove, replace, or delete the communication.
Further, the system may send a communication to an instructor or
user that the unauthorized communication has been detected. The
sent communication may also include an indication of the
unauthorized object that had been shared.
[0177] The learning management system may comprise a server, such
as any of those described herein, configured to create a learning
environment on a remote student workstation or accessible by a
remote station for delivery of instructional material to a student
after the server authenticates a student log-in. The created
learning environment may display a user interface, such as any of
those described herein, to the student on the remote student
workstation. The user interface may be used to interact with an
instructional material when the student enters into a learning
session associated with a course.
[0178] A networking service in communication with the server may
communicate messages to or from the student from within the
learning environment. The messages may comprise any type of
communication or message, include any of those or any combination
of those described herein. The communication of messages with the
student may be monitored to determine whether a message contains an
unauthorized content. Unauthorized content may be any item
specified by the system as content that is not authorized to be
transmitted. Not being authorized may be depended on the content
itself, the potential recipient of the content or message, the
transmitter of the content or message, or any combination
thereof.
[0179] Several possible actions may be taken by the system after
detecting unauthorized content in messages. The message containing
the unauthorized content may be deleted, the message containing the
unauthorized content may be redacted, the unauthorized content may
be deleted from the message prior to being received by the
recipient, the unauthorized content may be redacted from the
message prior to being received by the recipient, or any
combination thereof.
[0180] Upon detection of an unauthorized content, an alert message
may be transmitted. For example, an alert message may be
transmitted to an instructor associated with the course, an
assessor associated with the course, a faculty member associated
with the course, a course developer associated with the course, a
or any combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the
alert may be transmitted to the student.
[0181] The alert may contain one or more of the following: the
unauthorized content, the identity of the sender, the identity of
the intended recipient, the identity of any user that may have been
exposed to the message and/or unauthorized content, or time and/or
date of the communication.
[0182] Calendaring Based on Reference Date
[0183] An online learning management system, such as any of those
described herein, may provide courses to users. The courses may be
structured to have particular learning activities performed by the
users by particular deadlines, e.g. turning in homework by a
certain time, taking a test before a certain date, completing
reading assignments, etc. In order to provide flexibility in
implementing courses with potentially varying start dates, the
system may include a course framework that includes relative
deadlines for when tasks are due. The course frameworks may
resemble those used in the master course model of developing
courses. For example, a relative deadline may specify that a
particular homework assignment is due on the third day of the
second week of the course. When a user begins a course or a course
start date is otherwise determined, the system may transform the
relative dates into specific dates. For example, given a course
start date of Jan. 6, 2013, the system may translate the relative
date mentioned above into Jan. 15, 2013. The system may then
provide the course using the specific dates. Course materials with
specific dates may also be provided to users as a calendar, e.g. an
.ics calendar file. When transforming relative dates into specific
dates, the system may schedule around potential conflicts, such as
holidays, weekends, breaks, designated reading periods, or any
other date specified. For example, the framework may recognize that
certain dates fall on or after July 4, and then move each of those
dates on or after July 4 ahead one day.
[0184] For example, when an individual instructor creates an online
course, he/she can specify exact dates when assignments are due.
When online courses are centrally created and used for up to 5
years, and when those courses are re-used in multiple classrooms
over multiple terms, due-dates become far more complicated. The
system may be able to calculate learning activity due dates based
on the following values: term-start date, the number of weeks after
term-start on which the learning activity is due, the number of
days after the beginning of the week on which the learning activity
is due, or any combination thereof.
[0185] The system may be capable of displaying the learning
activity-due dates in a calendar format within the Learning
Management System. This system may also be capable of generating
calendar files that could be exported to the student's preferred
calendaring system, such as Microsoft Outlook or Google
Calendar.
[0186] When an individual instructor creates an online course,
he/she can specify exact dates when learning activities are due.
When online courses are centrally created and used for up to 5
years, and when those courses are re-used in multiple classrooms
over multiple terms, due-dates become far more complicated. The
system is be able to calculate learning activity due dates, e.g.
based on the following values: term-start date, the number of weeks
after term-start on which the assignment is due, the number of days
after the beginning of the week on which the assignment is due, or
any combination thereof.
[0187] This system would be capable of displaying the learning
activity due dates in a calendar format within the Learning
Management System. This system would also be capable of generating
calendar files that could be exported to the student's preferred
calendaring system such as Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar
[0188] In some embodiments, a learning management system may
comprise a database and a learning system, such as those discussed
herein. The database may store a framework, e.g. a course
framework. The framework may comprise a sequence of learning units
that are associated with a reference calendar for completion of the
learning activity relative to a reference date. The reference
calendar may specify a reference due date for completing a learning
activity associated with a learning unit of the sequence of
learning units, in which the reference due date is relative to the
reference date. For example, as discussed above, a learning
activity may be associated with a reference due date of the second
week of a course. A learning activity may be an assignment
associated with a learning unit.
[0189] FIG. 28 depicts exemplary calendars in accordance with one
or more embodiments. FIG. 28 may include reference calendar 2810
and actual calendar 2830. Reference calendar may include a
plurality of dates, including reference date 2815, reference due
date 2820, reference due date 2825, and reference date 2830.
Reference date 2815 may provide a frame of reference from which
other dates, e.g. reference due dates 2820 and 2825 may be
measured. Reference due dates 2820 and 2825 may be dates on which a
learning activity is associated. For example, a quiz may be due on
reference due date 2820, and an assignment may be due on reference
due date 2825. For example, reference due date 2820 may be 8 days
after reference due date 2815.
[0190] The learning system may be configured to display a learning
environment for delivery of instructional material associated with
the sequence of learning units to a remote student workstation
after the learning system authenticates a student at the remote
student workstation. The displayed learning environment comprises a
user interface displayed to the student, e.g. any of the user
interfaces described herein. The user interface may display an
actual due date for completing the learning activity, in which the
actual due date is derived from the reference due date.
[0191] Deriving the actual due date from the reference due date may
be determined in various ways. The actual due date may be
determined by adding or subtracting the period of time between the
reference due date from the reference date of the reference
calendar to the reference date of the actual calendar to arrive at
the actual date. Referring to FIG. 28, actual calendar 2830 may
include a plurality of dates, including reference date 2815, actual
due date 2840, date 2845, actual due date 2850, and date 2855. The
dates of actual calendar 2830 may be real calendar dates. For
example, date 2845 may correspond to Jul. 4, 2013, date 2850 may
correspond to Jul. 5, 2013, and so on. Reference date 2835 may
correspond to the beginning of reference calendar 2810, i.e. 2815.
Actual due date 2840 may be determined to be the date that is the
same amount of time from reference date 2815 as reference due date
2820 is away from date 2815.
[0192] In some embodiments, the determined actual due date may be
modified based on a an adjustment date. The actual due date may be
based on an adjustment date on an actual calendar. For example, the
adjustment date may be based on a least one of a day of a week, a
day of a month, or a day of the year. For example, the day of a
week may be the fifth day of the week, a Tuesday, etc. A day of a
month may be the fifth day of the month, the second Tuesday of the
month, the first day of the second week of the month, etc.
Similarly, a day of the year may be specified using any technique
for identifying a day during the year.
[0193] The adjustment date may be used in various ways. An
adjustment date may specify that a particular day is not to
available for scheduling an actual due date. For example, if a
relative due date, after being paired with a starting date, would
result in the actual due date landing on a holiday, e.g. July 4,
then specifying July 4 as an adjustment date may result in the
actual date being scheduled on a different day, e.g. July 3 or July
5. In one or more embodiments, an adjustment date may be removed
consideration as an actual due date when determining the actual due
date.
[0194] Referring again to FIG. 28, date 2845 may be an adjustment
date. Adjustment date 2845 may be a holiday, e.g. July 4.
Adjustment date 2845 may be determined to be the date that is the
same amount of time from reference date 2815 as reference due date
2825 is away from date 2815. However, because adjustment date 2845
is a holiday, and is specified as an adjustment date, the
assignment corresponding to reference due date 2825 will not be
assigned to 2845. Instead, the learning activity corresponding to
reference due date 2825 may be mapped to actual due date 2850.
[0195] The adjustment date may comprise a holiday on the actual
calendar, a weekend day, or any other date specified as such. The
adjustment date may be based on at least one of a day of a week, a
day of a month or a day of the year. The adjustment date may be
specified by a system administrator, a course instructor, a course
developer, or any combination thereof.
[0196] FIG. 25 depicts an exemplary user interface displaying an
actual due date for completing the learning activity, wherein the
actual due date is derived from the reference due date. For
example, the actual due date may be displayed as the date on which
assignment icon 2520 is displayed. Alternatively or additionally,
the actual due date may be stored in a calendar file.
[0197] In the learning management system, the set of learning
activities may be associated with a course, in which the reference
calendar defines a reference course completion time period, and in
which the user interface displays an actual course completion time
period derived from the reference course completion time period.
For example, the reference course completion period may be the
period on reference calendar 2810 from reference date 2815 to
reference due date 2820, and the actual course completion time
period may be the period on actual calendar 2830 from reference
date 2815 to actual due date 2840.
[0198] Further, the course completion time period may be between a
reference course start date and a reference course end date, in
which the user interface displays at least one of an actual course
start date or an actual course end date derived from a respective
one of the reference course start date and the reference course end
date. For example, the reference course start date may be 2815, the
reference course end date may be reference date 2830, the actual
course start date may be reference date 2815 on actual calendar
2830, and the actual course completion end date may be date
2855.
[0199] Moreover, the course completion time period may be divided
into a temporal sequence of reference learning unit completion
sub-periods. Each reference learning unit sub-period in the
temporal sequence may be associated with a corresponding learning
unit in the sequence of learning units. The user interface may
display an actual learning unit sub-period derived from a reference
learning unit sub-period. For example, the period from reference
due date 2825 to reference date 2830 may be reference learning unit
sub-period. The period from actual due date 2850 to date 2855 of
actual calendar 2830 may be an actual learning unit sub-period
derived from the reference learning unit sub-period.
[0200] Deriving the actual learning unit sub-period from the
reference learning unit sub-period or the actual course completion
time period from the reference course completion time period may be
performed in various ways, including any of the techniques
discussed herein, such as those discussed in reference to deriving
an actual due date from a reference due date.
[0201] FIG. 29 depicts an exemplary logic flow for a method of
managing learning in accordance with one or more embodiments. In
block 2910, electronic addresses for a plurality of contacts
associated with a student may be stored. In block 2920, the student
may be associated with a set of student's contacts comprising at
least one student-selected contact and at least one mandatory
contact, wherein a student-selected contact comprises a contact
designated by the student to be in the set of student's contacts
and a mandatory contact comprises a contact that is not designated
by the student to be in the set of student's contacts. In block
2930, one or more instructional materials may be delivered to the
student. In block 2940, a user interface that enables the student
to communicate messages with the student-selected contact and the
mandatory contact may be provided.
[0202] FIG. 30A depicts an exemplary logic flow for a method of
managing learning in accordance with one or more embodiments. In
block 3010, an instructional material may be delivered to a student
workstation after authenticating an student's entry into a learning
session at the student workstation, in which the learning session
may be associated with a plurality of contacts. In block 3020,
electronic addresses may be stored. A first electronic address may
be associated with a first contact, and a second electronic address
may be associated with a second contact. The first contact may be
associated with the learning session and the second contact may not
be associated with the learning session. In block 3030, a first
activity stream associated with the first contact and a second
activity stream associated with the second contact may be displayed
to the student. Upon detection of student's entry into the learning
session, the first activity stream may be displayed without
displaying the second activity stream. Upon detection of student's
exit from the learning session, the second activity stream may be
displayed either with displaying the first activity stream or
without displaying the first activity stream.
[0203] FIG. 30B depicts an exemplary logic flow for a method of
managing learning in accordance with one or more embodiments. In
block 3040, a first instructional material may be delivered to a
student when the student enters into a first learning session
associated with a first course. In block 3050, a second
instructional material may be delivered to the student when the
student enters a second learning session associated with a second
course. In block 3060, electronic addresses for a plurality of
contacts associated with the student may be stored. The student may
be associated with a set of student's contacts comprising a first
contact associated with the first course and a second contact
associated with the second course. In block 3070, a first activity
stream associated with the first contact and a second activity
stream associated with the second contact may be displayed to the
student. Upon detection of student's entry into the first learning
session, the first activity stream may be displayed without
displaying the second activity stream. Upon detection of student's
entry into the second learning session, the second activity stream
may be displayed without displaying the first activity stream.
[0204] FIG. 31 depicts an exemplary logic flow for a method of
managing learning in accordance with one or more embodiments. In
block 3110, a learning environment for delivery of instructional
material may be displayed to a remote student workstation student
after authenticating a student at the remote student workstation.
The learning environment may display a user interface to the
student on the remote student workstation, in which the user
interface may be used to interact with an instructional material
when the student enters into a learning session associated with a
course. In block 3120, messages may be communicated to or from the
student during the learning session. In block 3130, the
communication of messages with the student may be monitored to
determine whether a message contains an unauthorized content. In
block 3140, an alert message may be transmitted upon detection of
an unauthorized content.
[0205] FIG. 32 depicts an exemplary logic flow for a method of
managing learning in accordance with one or more embodiments. In
block 3210, corresponding learning environments for delivery of
instructional material may be displayed to a plurality of
geographically dispersed remote student workstations located in a
plurality of regions after the learning system authenticates a
corresponding plurality of students at the plurality of
geographically dispersed remote student workstations. Each learning
environment may display a user interface on a remote student
workstation located in one region of the plurality of regions. In
block 3220, a plurality of region profiles may be stored, in which
each region profile contains information specifying rules
associated with communication of information between a first region
and another second region. In block 3230, messages may be
communicated amongst the geographically dispersed remote student
workstations located in the plurality of regions in accordance with
the plurality of region profiles.
[0206] FIG. 33 depicts an exemplary logic flow for a method of
managing learning in accordance with one or more embodiments. In
block 3310, a framework for a set of learning activities may be
stored comprising a sequence of learning units that are associated
with a reference calendar for completion of the learning activities
relative to a reference date. The reference calendar may specify a
reference due date for completing a learning activity associated
with a learning unit of the sequence of learning units. The
reference due date may be relative to the reference date. In block
3320, a learning environment may be created for delivery of
instructional material associated to a remote student workstation
after authenticating a student at the remote student workstation.
The created learning environment may display a user interface on
the remote student workstation to the student. The displayed user
interface may comprise an actual due date for completing the
assignment, in which the actual due date is derived from the
reference due date.
[0207] Attached to this specification is an Appendix that contains
the functional specification of some aspects of the present
invention specifying certain requirements for implementation of the
present invention over a computer network, including depictions of
various relevant user interfaces.
CONCLUSION
[0208] Numerous specific details have been set forth to provide a
thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be understood,
however, that the embodiments may be practiced without these
specific details. In other instances, well-known operations,
components and circuits have not been described in detail so as not
to obscure the embodiments. It can be appreciated that the specific
structural and functional details are representative and do not
necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments.
[0209] Various embodiments may comprise one or more elements. An
element may comprise any structure arranged to perform certain
operations. Each element may be implemented as hardware, software,
or any combination thereof, as desired for a given set of design
and/or performance constraints. Although an embodiment may be
described with a limited number of elements in a certain topology
by way of example, the embodiment may include more or less elements
in alternate topologies as desired for a given implementation.
[0210] It is worthy to note that any reference to "one embodiment"
or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or
characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is
included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase
"in one embodiment" in the specification are not necessarily all
referring to the same embodiment.
[0211] Although some embodiments may be illustrated and described
as comprising exemplary functional components or modules performing
various operations, it can be appreciated that such components or
modules may be implemented by one or more hardware components,
software components, and/or combination thereof. The functional
components and/or modules may be implemented, for example, by logic
(e.g., instructions, data, and/or code) to be executed by a logic
device (e.g., processor). Such logic may be stored internally or
externally to a logic device on one or more types of
computer-readable storage media.
[0212] Some embodiments may comprise an article of manufacture. An
article of manufacture may comprise a storage medium to store
logic. Examples of a storage medium may include one or more types
of computer-readable storage media capable of storing electronic
data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable
or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable
or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of storage media
include hard drives, disk drives, solid state drives, and any other
tangible storage media.
[0213] It also is to be appreciated that the described embodiments
illustrate exemplary implementations, and that the functional
components and/or modules may be implemented in various other ways
which are consistent with the described embodiments. Furthermore,
the operations performed by such components or modules may be
combined and/or separated for a given implementation and may be
performed by a greater number or fewer number of components or
modules.
[0214] Some of the figures may include a flow diagram. Although
such figures may include a particular logic flow, it can be
appreciated that the logic flow merely provides an exemplary
implementation of the general functionality. Further, the logic
flow does not necessarily have to be executed in the order
presented unless otherwise indicated. In addition, the logic flow
may be implemented by a hardware element, a software element
executed by a processor, or any combination thereof.
[0215] While certain features of the embodiments have been
illustrated as described above, many modifications, substitutions,
changes and equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art.
Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be
limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but
should instead be defined only in accordance with the claims and
their equivalents.
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