Authoring and delivering training courses

• US 20020061506A1
• Filed: 05/02/2001
• Published: 05/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AVALTUS, INC.
• Original Assignee: AVALTUS, INC.
• Inventors: Catten, J. Corey, Adams, Chad, Vo, Vinh, Hamilton, Ian, Chapman, Bryan, Echols, Grant, Jennings, Colleen, Capps, Eric R., Frazier, Todd, Bunderson, Bryant, Gray, Rob, Hall, Sue, Baird, Bill, Stokes, Cory, Minaga, Mark
• Application Number:
  US09/847,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20020061506A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/369
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

Systems and methods for delivering a training course whose content is independent of the delivery technology and whose content is deliverable in future delivery technologies without significantly rewriting or recoding the training course. For a training course, an XML version of the content of the training course is generated. The XML version of the content can be accessed through a content module which provides an interface to a viewer that corresponds to a selected delivery technology. The same content can be provided through different delivery technologies by using the appropriate viewer. This preserves the viability and life of the content because it is easily adapted to different delivery technologies. A graphic treatment for the content is also independent and separately changeable. Also, a instruction strategy for determining how to present the content is provided.

Claims

1. In a system wherein a training need has been identified and wherein a training course is needed to address the training need, a method for delivering content of a training course that is independent of a delivery technology, the method comprising steps for:

preparing content for the training course;

selecting a delivery technology for the content of the training course, wherein the delivery technology for the content is independent of the content; and

deploying the training course through the selected delivery technology, wherein a graphic treatment is applied to the content as the content is presented through the selected delivery technology.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of preparing content further comprises an act of developing a curriculum design for the content.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of preparing content further comprises an act of storing the content in a database.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the content of the training course is organized into one or more of blocks, segments, and modules.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein each of the one or more of blocks, segments and modules is a template, wherein each template is one of an information template, a question template or a container template.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of selecting a delivery further comprises an act of identifying the delivery technology after the training course is complete.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the delivery technology comprises one or more of a web based delivery technology, a stand alone delivery technology, a print delivery technology, and a wireless delivery technology.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of selecting a graphic treatment for the content further comprises:

an act of selecting a look for the content; and

an act of selecting a feel for the content.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of deploying the training course through the selected delivery further comprises:

an act of generating an XML version of the content; and

an act of identifying a delivery technology for the XML version, wherein the delivery technology comprises one or more of;

a print delivery technology, a web based delivery technology, a stand alone delivery technology, and a wireless delivery technology.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising an act of a user receiving the training course through the selected delivery technology.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising an act of identifying an instruction strategy for the training course, wherein the instruction strategy can be altered according to characteristics of the population and wherein the instruction strategy is independent of the content and the selected delivery technology.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising an act of selecting a graphic treatment for the content.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the graphic treatment is independent of both the content and the delivery technology;

15. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising an act of delivering the XML version of the content to a new viewer, wherein the new viewer corresponds to a delivery technology that was unknown when the training course was originally completed.

16. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising an act of creating the content from a curriculum design.

17. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising an act of organizing the content into a course, wherein the course comprises one or more modules, wherein each module has one or more segments and each segment has one or more blocks.

18. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising an act of modifying the content with a content manager through an author interface of the content module.

19. A method as defined in claim 18, further comprising an act or one or more content authors modifying the same content.

20. A computer program product having computer executable instructions for performing the acts recited in claim 14.

14. In a system wherein a training need has been identified for a population, a method for delivering a training course to the population such that the training course is not subject to changes in the delivery technology but can be used in future delivery technologies as well as current delivery technologies, the method comprising steps for:

from content for the training course that is stored in a database, extracting an XML version of the content; and

presenting the training course to the population through a content module by delivering the XML version of the content to a viewer through the content module, wherein the viewer corresponds to a delivery technology and wherein the XML version of the content is independent of both the viewer and the delivery technology that corresponds to the viewer, wherein a graphic treatment is applied to the XML version of the content.

21. In a system including a population, wherein a training need has been identified for the population, a training course for use in training the population to address the training need, wherein the training course is not limited to a particular delivery technology but can be deployed to multiple delivery technologies, the training course comprising:

a database having content, wherein the content contains information to be presented to the population during the training course;

a content module including a distributed named object system (DNOS), wherein the DNOS provides access to the content; and

a viewer for each delivery technology, wherein a graphic treatment is applied to the content as the content is delivered to the viewer through the content module.

22. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein the content includes one or more templates, wherein the each template is one of an information template, a question template, and a container template.

23. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein each container template contains one or more of an information template, a question template, and another container template.

24. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein the content is organized into one or more modules, wherein each module includes one or more segments, and wherein each segment includes one or more blocks.

25. A training course as defined in claim 24, wherein each block contains a portion of the information presented to the population in training course.

26. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein the content is independent of each delivery technology and of each viewer.

27. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein the content module comprises:

an author interface that provides a content manager with access to the content;

a viewer interface that connects the content module to the viewer; and

a deploy interface.

28. A training course as defined in claim 27, wherein the content includes XML content.

29. A training course as defined in claim 28, wherein the XML content is generated from the content through the deploy interface.

30. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein the graphic treatment can be changed without altering the content.

31. A training course as defined in claim 21, wherein the graphic treatment includes a look and a feel.

32. A training course as defined in claim 21, further comprising one or more content managers, wherein each content manager is able to modify the content at the same time.

33. A training course as defined in claim 21, further comprising an instruction strategy, wherein the instruction strategy is adaptable to different populations and wherein the instruction strategy determines how the content is presented to the population.

35. A method as defined in claim 34, further comprising an act of making the alias copies non-alias copies such that the non-alias copies are not updated automatically.

36. A computer program product having computer executable instructions for performing the acts recited in claim 34.

38. A system as defined in claim 37, wherein the viewer includes one or more of a web based viewer, a stand alone viewer, a print viewer and a wireless viewer.

39. A system as defined in claim 35, wherein the instruction strategy module provides navigation buttons for the content to the population.

40. A system as defined in claim 37, further comprising a content module for providing access to the course content, and wherein the content module deploys an XML version of the course content for use by the viewer.

41. A system as defined in claim 37, wherein the graphic treatment module applies the look and the feel to the course content as the course content is provided to the population.

34. In a system including one or more courses stored in a database, a method for updating a portion of a current course, the method comprising acts of:

in a current course, identifying one or more portions of the current course that correspond to one or more portions in another course;

marking the identified one or more portions of both the current course and the other course as alias copies; and

automatically updating other alias copies of the current course whenever the corresponding one or more portions in the other course are updated, whereby all updates to the alias copies occur at substantially the same time.

37. A system for delivering a training course to a population, the system comprising:

course content, wherein the course content includes information that is organized into modules, segments, and blocks;

an instruction strategy module, wherein the instruction strategy module determines how the course content of the training course is presented to the population according to one or more criteria;

a viewer that corresponds to a delivery technology, wherein the population receives the training course through the viewer; and

a graphic treatment module having a look and a feel, wherein the look and the feel of the graphic treatment module are applied to the course content as the course content is presented through the viewer to the population.

42. In a system wherein a training need has been identified and wherein a training course is needed to address the training need, a method for authoring content of a training course, the method comprising acts of:

accessing a first portion of the content by a first author, wherein the first author makes first edits to the first portion;

accessing a second portion of the content by a second author, wherein the second author makes second edits to the second portion;

notifying the second author that the second author is working with stale data if the first portion of the content is the same as the second portion of the content and wherein the first author commits the first edits to the first portion before the second author commits the second edits to the first portion; and

committing the second edits of the second author if the first portion of the content is not the same as the second portion of the content.

43. A method as defined in claim 42, wherein the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content is accessed through a first content manager and a second content manager.

44. A method as defined in claim 43, wherein the first content manager provides the first author with access to the first portion of the content through at least one of:

a content screen, an answer screen, a feedback screen, a remediation screen, and a summary screen.