E-learning course editor

• US 7,029,280 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Issued: 04/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Krebs, Andreas S., Leidig, Torsten, Altenhofen, Michael, Gerteis, Wolfgang, Schaper, Joachim
• Primary Examiner(s): ADAMS, CHANDA L
• Application Number:
  US10/184,112
• Publication Number:
  US 20030151629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• Field of Search: 434/118, 434/362
• US Class Current: 434/118
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

A course editor includes an input to accept author commands. An interface processes and displays the author commands to facilitate the creation of a course. The interface may include a workspace to display and assemble the structural elements into the course. The workspace may include a menu of structural elements that may be added to the course. The workspace is configured to display a structural element in response to an author command selecting the structural element from the menu. The structural elements may be a sub-course, a learning unit, and/or a knowledge item.

Claims

1. One or more machine-readable media that store executable instructions which, when executed, generate a course editor for an electronic course, the course editor comprising:

an input to accept author commands; and

an interface to edit the electronic course in response to the author commands, the interface comprising;

a workspace to display structural elements that comprise the electronic course, the workspace displaying the structural elements graphically as the structural elements relate to one another in the electronic course, the workspace providing functionality that allows an author to edit, interactively on the workspace, content of the structural elements and relationships among the structural elements, the relationships among the structural elements defining a flow through the electronic course;

wherein display of the structural elements is dictated by a learning strategy that is applied to the structural elements to affect the flow through the electronic course, the structural elements storing attributes relating to the learning strategy, and the learning strategy altering at least one of the attributes when the learning strategy is applied to the structural elements.

2. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the workspace comprises a menu of structural elements that may be added to the electronic course.

3. The machine-readable media of claim 2, wherein the workspace displays a new structural element in response to an author command selecting the new structural element from the menu.

4. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the structural elements comprise at least one of a sub-course, a learning unit, and a knowledge item.

5. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the workspace comprises one or more tabs, each tab corresponding to a content aggregation level to display structural elements corresponding to the content aggregation level.

6. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the workspace provides a relation between at least two structural elements that is used to indicate a dependency between the at least two structural elements.

7. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the relation is true in one direction only.

8. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the relation is true in two directions.

9. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the relation comprises a subject taxonomic relation.

10. The machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the subject taxonomic relation comprises a hierarchical relation.

11. The machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein the hierarchical relation comprises one of a part/whole relation and an abstraction relation.

12. The machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the subject taxonomic relation comprises an associative relation.

13. The machine-readable media of claim 12, wherein the associative relation comprises one of determines, side-by-side, alternative to, opposite to, precedes, context of, process of, values, means of, and affinity.

14. The machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the relation comprises a non-subject taxonomic relation.

15. The machine-readable media of claim 14, wherein the non-subject taxonomic relation comprises a relation that indicates that a target structural element should be completed before proceeding to a related structural element.

16. The machine-readable media of claim 14, wherein the non-subject taxonomic relation comprises a relation that indicates that a target structural element belongs to another structural element.

17. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the workspace comprises a menu of relations that enable an author to select a relation from the menu and to insert the relation between a first structural element and a second structural element displayed in the workspace.

18. The machine-readable media of claim 17, wherein the interface inserts the relation into displayed structural elements in response to receiving author commands selecting the first structural element and dragging the relation from the first structural element to the second structural element.

19. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the interface comprises a dialog box displaying one or more fields corresponding to a structural element displayed in the workspace.

20. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise a name field.

21. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise a theme field.

22. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise a content field to assign content to a structural element displayed in the workspace.

23. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise a media type field.

24. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise a learning time field.

25. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise a thumbnail field.

26. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the one or more fields comprise an attribute field to assign a knowledge type to a structural element displayed in the workspace.

27. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein the dialog box comprises one or more tabs to select different fields.

28. The machine-readable media of claim 27, wherein the one or more tabs comprise a general tab having fields to receive information about content associated with structural elements.

29. The machine-readable media of claim 27, wherein the one or more tabs comprise an annotation tab having a field to receive notes regarding content associated with the structural elements.

30. The machine-readable media of claim 27, wherein the one or more tabs comprise a keyword tab having a field to receive a keyword for use in searching for a structural element that corresponds to the keyword.

31. The machine-readable media of claim 27, wherein the one or more tabs comprise a competency tab having fields to receive competencies gained from content associated with a structural element.

32. The machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the interface comprises a course overview to display constituent structural elements of the electronic course and relations among the constituent structural elements in the electronic course.

33. The machine-readable media of claim 32, wherein the interface receives an author command selecting a constituent structural element from the course overview and displays a selected constituent structural element in the workspace.

34. The machine-readable media of claim 33, wherein the interface automatically displays a dialog box corresponding to the selected constituent structural element.

35. The machine-readable media of claim 32, wherein the interface receives an author command selecting a relation from the course overview and displays a selected relation and associated structural elements in the workspace.

36. One or more machine-readable media that store executable instructions which, when executed, generate a graphical user interface of a course editor for an electronic course, the graphical user interface comprising:

a workspace window to edit and to display structural elements of the electronic course, the workspace window displaying the structural elements graphically as the structural elements relate to one another in the electronic course, the workspace window providing functionality that allows an author to edit, interactively on the workspace window, content of the structural elements and relationships among the structural elements, the relationships among the structural elements defining a flow through the electronic course, wherein display of the structural elements in the workspace window is dictated by a learning strategy that is applied to the structural elements to affect the flow through the electronic course, the structural elements storing attributes relating to the learning strategy, and the learning strategy altering at least one of the attributes when the learning strategy is applied to the structural elements;

an explorer window to display the structural elements as icons in explorer format; and

a dialog box window to display data fields corresponding to structural elements displayed in the workspace window.

37. The machine-readable media of claim 36, further comprising a menu bar to display course editor menus comprised of functions to control, and to interact with, the course editor.

38. The machine-readable media of claim 36, further comprising a button bar comprising one or more buttons to invoke course editor functions to interact with the workspace, explorer and dialog box windows and contents of the workspace, explorer and dialog box windows.

39. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein a structural element is displayed as a rectangle in the workspace window.

40. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the rectangle is color-coded, each type of structural element having a different color.

41. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the workspace window comprises a workspace menu of structural elements that may be added to the electronic course.

42. The machine-readable media of claim 41, wherein the workspace window displays a structural element selected from the workspace menu.

43. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the structural elements comprise at least one of a sub-course, a learning unit, and a knowledge item.

44. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the workspace window comprises one or more tabs, each tab corresponding to a content aggregation level to display structural elements corresponding to the content aggregation level.

45. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the workspace window displays a relation between two structural elements that indicates a dependency between the two structural elements.

46. The machine-readable media of claim 45, wherein the dependency between the two structural elements is indicated by an arrow, the arrow indicating that the dependency applies in one direction only.

47. The machine-readable media of claim 45, wherein the dependency between the two structural elements is indicated by a line, the line indicating that the dependency applies in two directions.

48. The machine-readable media of claim 45, wherein the dialog box specifies that the relation is subject taxonomic.

49. The machine-readable media of claim 48, wherein the dialog box specifies that the relation is hierarchical.

50. The machine-readable media of claim 49, wherein the dialog box specifies that the relation is one of a part/whole relation and an abstraction relation.

51. The machine-readable media of claim 48, wherein the dialog box specifies that the relation is one of determines, side-by-side, alternative to, opposite to, precedes, context of, process of, values, means of, and affinity.

52. The machine-readable media of claim 45, wherein the dialog box specifies that the relation comprises a non-subject taxonomic relation.

53. The machine-readable media of claim 52, wherein the dialog box specifies that the non-subject taxonomic relation comprises a relation that indicates a target structural element should be completed before proceeding to a related structural element.

54. The machine-readable media of claim 52, wherein the dialog box specifies that the non-subject taxonomic relation comprises a relation that indicates that a target structural element belongs to another structural element.

55. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the workspace window comprises a menu of relations and the workspace window displays a relation selected from the menu.

56. The machine-readable media of claim 55, wherein the relation selected from the menu is inserted between structural elements displayed in the workspace window by indicating a first structural element in the workspace window, displaying an indication of the relation extending from the first structural element, and connecting the relation to a second structural element displayed in the workspace window.

57. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the dialog box displays one or more fields corresponding to a structural element displayed in the workspace window.

58. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields receive data characterizing a structural element.

59. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise a name field.

60. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise a theme field.

61. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise a content field to assign content to a structural element.

62. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise a media type field.

63. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise a learning time field.

64. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise a thumbnail field.

65. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the one or more fields comprise an attribute field to assign a knowledge type to a structural element displayed in the workspace window.

66. The machine-readable media of claim 57, wherein the dialog box comprises one or more tabs each populated with one or more fields.

67. The machine-readable media of claim 66, wherein the one or more tabs comprise a general tab including fields to receive information about content associated with the structural elements.

68. The machine-readable media of claim 66, wherein the one or more tabs comprise an annotation tab that comprises a field to receive notes regarding content associated with the structural elements.

69. The machine-readable media of claim 66, wherein the one or more tabs comprise a keyword tab including a field to receive a keyword for use in searching for a structural element that corresponds to the keyword.

70. The machine-readable media of claim 66, wherein the one or more tabs comprise a competency tab comprising a field to receive competencies gained from the content associated with the structural elements.

71. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the explorer window displays an indication of a selected structural element and the workspace window displays the selected structural element.

72. The machine-readable media of claim 71, wherein the dialog box window automatically adjusts display in accordance with the selected structural element.

73. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the graphical user interface displays a learning strategy window to specify the learning strategy and to generate a navigation path window to display a suggested sequence of structural elements based on the learning strategy.

74. The machine-readable media of claim 36, wherein the workspace, explorer and dialog box windows are automatically sized to fit on a corresponding display.

75. The machine-readable media of claim 74, wherein one or more of the workspace, explorer and dialog box windows comprises a vertical scroll bar to access and to display window portions.

76. The machine-readable media of claim 74, wherein one or more of the workspace, explorer and dialog box windows comprises a horizontal scroll bar to access and to display window portions.