WO2013188913A1

WO2013188913A1 - Educational content management and administration system

Info

Publication number: WO2013188913A1
Application number: PCT/AU2013/000652
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marten KOOMEN
Original assignee: Tulip Test Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2012-06-20
Filing date: 2013-06-20
Publication date: 2013-12-27
Also published as: WO2013188913A8; AU2013277930A1

Abstract

An educational content management system including: a database configured to contain educational content data records and education content element manager records, wherein each content data record is associated with a content data type, each content element manager record is associated with a manager type, and each content data type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content element manager types; means for authorising a manager associated with a particular manager type to interact with content data associated with the corresponding content data type; and means for presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with a first content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a second content data type.

Description

EDUCATIONAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to educational systems, specifically computer implemented system for sharing educational information between educational providers.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It is common educational practice for educational systems to have two sub-systems that are related but operationally separated for providing educational instruction and for assessing student achievement with respect to that educational system. Generally, materials used for educational instruction have consisted of text books with instruction and activities designed to support a specified curriculum which is supplemented to lesser or greater degree by materials sourced by a teacher such as reproduced handouts, teacher created handouts, online materials or similar. As part of an educational instruction program teachers have generally assessed students using such supplemented material to provided feedback to the student and/or their parents or guardians and for the teacher's self reflection. In general, the instruction system has little if any direct connection to the student assessment carried out by the educational system. Student assessment by educational systems have generally been for the purpose of providing a credential such as an education certificate or for providing access to educational opportunities such as access to a select school, a university or similar institution.

In recent years educational systems have shown an increasing desire to not only use student assessment for the purpose of credentialing and determining student access to resources but also to measure the performance of educational systems as a whole as well as the performance of its sub-systems such as schools and class cohorts led by teachers. However, there currently exists no mechanism other than to conduct a system wide student assessment program that is isolated from the instructional system for measuring school system performance and to provide feedback to educational sub-systems for the purpose of improving performance with respect to the whole system.

Further, there currently exists no readily accessible system for individual teachers to use their expertise to develop and create educational instruction and

Substitute Sheet

(Rule 26) RO/AU assessment materials for subsequent use by the educational system as a whole for instruction or for assessment. This means that the knowledge and productive effort of individual teachers is largely inaccessible to the system as a whole for increasing performance of that educational system. There also currently exists minimal opportunity for integrated quality control of text books, supplemented materials and assessment materials and minimal opportunity to harmonise these materials with respect to the goals of the educational system.

Further, as mathematical algorithms have continued to evolve for ordering the difficulty of questions presented based on student results to those questions, and for ordering student the ability of students based on question difficulty, the notion of 'item banks' has recently developed. These item banks are a collection of student question related to an educational domain where the questions have properties associated with them to assist in determining a student's ability when presented by a subset of those questions. Currently, systems of creating and building item banks have generally been structurally isolated from the educational subsystem that provides educational instruction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an educational content management system including:

a database configured to contain educational content data records and education content element manager records, wherein each content data record is associated with a content data type, each content element manager record is associated with a manager type, and each content data type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content element manager types;

means for authorising a manager associated with a particular manager type to interact with content data associated with the corresponding content data type; and

means for presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with a first content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a second content data type.

Preferably, the first content data type corresponds to educational material. The educational material may be selected from: individual educational questions; and individual educational presentations. Preferably, the educational content management system further includes: means for presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the second content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a third content data type. The content data of the third content data type may be configured for presentation to one or more students. The first content data type may correspond to a content element data type, the second content data type may correspond to an educational content data type, and the third content data type may correspond to an educational activity data type.

Preferably, the ordered selection includes: sequential ordering; and presentation ordering.

Preferably, the educational content management system further includes: means for authorising a manager administrator for authorising one or more managers.

Preferably, the educational content management system includes means for associating classification data with a manager. The classification data may be selected from one or both of: compulsory classification data; and optional classification data.

Preferably, the educational content management system includes means for associating tag data with a content data record. The tag data may be compulsory tag data and/or optional tag data

Preferably, the database is configured to contain education publisher records, wherein each publisher record is associated with a publisher type, and wherein each publisher type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content data types, and the educational content management system further includes:

means for allowing a publisher associated with a particular publisher type to control access to one or more corresponding content data types by one or more managers associated with a corresponding manager type.

Preferably, the educational content management system includes:

means for presenting to a student an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the first content data type; and means for recording a response from the student to the ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the first content data type.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an educational content management server including:

a processor;

a database accessible via the processor, which is configured to store educational content data records and education content element manager records, wherein each content data record is associated with a content data type, each content element manager record is associated with a manager type, and each content data type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content element manager types;

at least one computer readable storage medium, operatively associated with the processor; and

a network interface, operatively associated with the processor, providing access to a data network,

wherein the computer readable storage medium contains executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the server to implement a method including:

i) authorising a manager associated with a particular manager type to access the server via the data network, and to interact with content data in the database which is associated with the content data type corresponding with the particular manager type; and

ii) presenting to a user via the data network an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with a first content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a second content data type.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing educational content, including the steps of:

providing a database configured to contain educational content data records and education content element manager records, wherein each content data record is associated with a content data type, each content element manager record is associated with a manager type, and each content data type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content element manager types;

authorising a manager associated with a particular manager type to interact with content data associated with the corresponding content data type; and

presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with a first content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a second content data type.

Preferably, the first content data type corresponds to educational material. The educational material may be selected from: individual educational questions; and individual educational presentations.

Preferably, the method includes the step of presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the second content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a third content data type. The content data of the third content data type may be configured for presentation to one or more students. The first content data type may correspond to a content element data type, the second content data type may correspond to an educational content data type, and the third content data type may correspond to an educational activity data type.

Preferably the method includes the step of authorising a manager administrator for authorising one or more managers.

Preferably the method includes the step of associating classification data with a manager. The classification data may be selected from one or both of: compulsory classification data; and optional classification data.

Preferably the method includes the step of associating tag data with a content data record. The tag data may be compulsory tag data and/or optional tag data.

Preferably, the database is configured to contain education publisher records, wherein each publisher record is associated with a publisher type, and wherein each publisher type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content data types, and the method including the step of: allowing a publisher associated with a particular publisher type to control access to one or more corresponding content data types by one or more managers associated with a corresponding manager type.

Preferably the method includes the steps of:

presenting to a student an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the first content data type; and

recording a response from the student to the ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the first content data type.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tangible computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method for providing educational content, including the steps of:

authorising a manager associated with a particular manager type to interact using a terminal connected to the tangible computer-readable medium over a network with content data associated with the corresponding content data type; and

presenting to a terminal connected to the tangible computer-readable medium over a network an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with a first content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a second content data type.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be appreciated that the embodiments are given by way of illustration only and the invention is not limited by this illustration. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows an educational programme including educational data and educational participants; Figure 2 shows content element data and a content element manager; Figure 3 shows an educational content data and an associated educational content manager;

Figure 4 shows an educational activity data and an associated educational activity manager;

Figure 5 shows a manager group and an associated manager administrator;

Figure 6 shows content data with associated tag data;

Figure 7 shows managers with associated classification data;

Figure 8 shows the role of publishers;

Figure 9 shows a programme administrator, a plurality of programme sub- administrators, and an educational programme;

Figure 10 shows an implementation of an educational programme; and Figure 1 1 shows an example of an educational programme.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring to Figure 1 , an educational programme 2 is shown including educational participants 4 and educational data 6. The educational participants 4 include one or more managers 8, wherein each manager 8 is authorised as one or more manager types 9, and students 1 0, and the educational data 6 includes one or more content data 12, wherein each content data 12 corresponds to a content data type 13, and response data 14. The educational participants 4 are able to interact with the educational data 6; however the nature of the interaction is dictated by the properties of the educational participants 4.

A manager type 9 corresponds to a particular content data type 1 3, and a manager 8 authorised as a manager type 9 can interact with content data 12 of the corresponding content data type 13, where interacting includes creating, deleting, editing, and other activities related to the content data 12, as is described herein. Students 10 are presented with the content data 12, and are able to create response data 14 in response to the presented content data 12. The response data 14 can then be interacted with by one or more managers 8, or one or more third parties 16. Response data 14 can further be analysed to identify particular content data 12 more suitable to students 1 0 or a subset of students 10 or to provide feedback to the educational program 2, manager 8 or student 10.

The content data 1 2 includes content data 12 of the following content data types 13: content element data 20; educational content data 24; and educational activity data 28.

Referring now to Figure 2, content element data 20 correspond to basic units of content data 12. Content element data 20 can be created, deleted, or otherwise interacted with by a manager 8 authorised as a content element manager 22. For example, content element data 20 can correspond to: individual educational presentations (e.g. a multimedia presentation or a reading); and individual educational questions (e.g. questions relating to a specific subject or educational material).

Referring now to Figure 3, content data 12 corresponding to educational content data 24 can be created from one or more content element data 20. Educational content data 24 is configured to allow for presentation of the selected content element data 20 to one or more students 1 0. Each educational content data 24 further includes an ordering property, such that the educational content data 24 corresponds to an ordering of one or more content element data 20. The ordering property can be, for example, a sequence ordering such that each content element data 20 is displayed in a particular sequence (where the sequence may include portions including more than one content element data 20 displayed at the same time), and/or a layout ordering such that each content element data 20 is positioned in a particular region of a presentation. In this way, individual content element data 20 that may be incomplete for presentation on their own can be combined into an educational content data 24 for presentation. The educational content data 24 is configured to be controlled by an educational content manager 26. An educational content manager 26 can create, delete, and otherwise interact with the educational content data 24, and for this purpose each education content manager 26 has access to one or more content element data 20.

Referring to Figure 4, content data 1 2 corresponding to educational activity data 28 can be created from one or more educational content data 24. The educational activity data 28 is configured to be controlled by an educational activity manager 30. An educational activity manager 30 can create, delete, or otherwise interact with the educational activity data 28, and for this purpose each education activity manager 26 has access to one or more educational content data 24. An educator 32 can be configured for controlling the presentation of the educational activity data 28 to the students 10. The students 10 create response data 14 in response to the educational activity data 28, which is stored for later use by managers 8 and/or third parties 16.

Figure 5 shows a manager group 38 including managers 8 selected from a manager set 34, wherein each manager 8 can be an individual or organisation. Each manager 8 is authorised to act as one or more of the manager types 9. The manager group 38 can be configured for control by a manager administrator 40. A manager administrator 40 can also act as a manager 8, and can therefore a manager administrator 40 can be included within the manager set 34. A manager administrator 40 can act to interact with the manager group 38, for example by adding or removing managers 8 from the manager group 38, and by changing the authorisation of managers 8 already within the manager group 38.

Referring to Figure 6, each manager 8 can be associated with classification data 56. Classification data 56 can be used to provide information about the associated manager 8. Classification data 56 can include compulsory classification data 58 and optional classification data 60. In general, classification data 56 can allow for assignment of the roles and/or privileges of particular managers 8. For example, a content element manager 22 can be classed according to the subject matter of the content element data 20 that the particular content element manager 22 is authorised to create or edit. In another example, a content element manager 22 can be classed according to what activity or activities the content element manager 22 can perform on the content element data 20 (e.g. create, edit, and/or delete).

Compulsory classification data 58 corresponds to classification data 56 that is required to be associated with each manager 8. Compulsory classification data 58 can apply to every manager 8, every manager 8 associated with a particular manager type 9, or another subset of the managers 8. An example of compulsory classification data 58 for content element managers 22 is the subject matter of the content element data 22 that each content element manager 22 is authorised to create, edit, etc (for example, the subject matter relates to the school subject "history").

Optional classification data 60 corresponds to classification data 56 that can optionally be associated with each manager 8. There can be fixed optional classification data 60, for example it may be optional as to whether to associate a particular property with a particular manager 8; however the choices as to what properties are available for association may be predetermined. There can also or instead be variable optional classification data 60, for example classification data 60 that is customised for each manager 8. An example of fixed optional classification data 60 for content element managers 22 is the speciality area that a particular content element manager 22 wishes to be associated with, where the speciality areas are predetermined but a particular content element manager 22 is not required to select a speciality area. An example of variable optional classification data 60 for content element managers 22 is a brief description of the particular content element manager 22 that is optional to enter and not preselected from a predetermined list.

Which classification data 56 corresponds to compulsory classification data 58 and which corresponds to optional classification data 60 can be determined by an authorised classification data manager 62 determined by the programme administrator 54. Compulsory classification data 58 can be changed to optional classification data 60 and vice versa after the educational programme 2 is created.

Referring to Figure 7, content data 12 can be associated with one or more tag data 64. Tag data 64 can be used to provide information about an associated content data 12, for example tag data 64 can be associated with a content element data 20, and can provide information about the difficulty or level of the content element data 20. In another example, tag data 64 can provide information as to the type of student 10 that the content element data 20 is appropriate for presentation to. Analogously to classification data 56, tag data 64 can either be compulsory tag data 66 or optional tag data 68.

Compulsory tag data 66 corresponds to tag data 64 that is required to be associated with a particular type of content data 12. The tag data 64 may be selected when the content data 12 is created, and may be modified after the content data 12 is created. An example of compulsory tag data 66 for a content element data 20 is the difficulty level of the content element data 20.

Optional tag data 68 corresponds to tag data 64 that can optionally be applied to a particular type of content data 12. The optional tag data 68 may be selected from a predetermined set of properties, or the property of the optional tag data 68 is not determined from a predetermined set of properties. An example of optional tag data 68 for a content element data 20 is tag data 64 indicating the particular type of student 10 that the content element data 20 is appropriate for presentation to.

Which tag data 64 corresponds to compulsory tag data 66 and which corresponds to optional tag data 68 can be determined by an authorised tag data manager 70 determined by the programme administrator 54. Compulsory tag data 66 can be changed to optional tag data 68 and vice versa after the educational programme 2 is created.

Tag data 64 can be used to assist in identifying content data 12, for example to assist an educational content manager 26 in identifying appropriate content element data 20 to combine into an educational content data 24. Alternatively, tag data 64 can be used to restrict access to particular content data 12, for example, restricting access for junior level educational content managers 26 to particular content element data 20.

Tag data 64 can also provide information about the appearance of content data 12 (for example, the appearance of an educational activity data 28). In an example, reference to a livery for presentation of the content data 12 is stored in a tag data 64 of the content data 12.

Another use for tag data 64 is to identify a language to which a particular content data 12 is associated (e.g. French or English). This can be used, for example, where multiple versions of a content data 12 exist that differ only in the language associated with the multiple versions. In this way, for example, substantially the same educational activity data 28 can be created for presentation to a group of students 10 who speak different languages.

It may be advantageous to not physically delete content data 12 after creation. In such a case, tag data 64 can be used to identify content data 12 that has been marked as deleted and is no longer available, but is still contained within the educational programme 2. An undelete operation may exist in order to undelete such content data 12 by removing the deleted reference from the associated tag data 64. In some instances, only the deleting manager 8 or a manager 8 with particular authority is entitled to undelete deleted content data 12.

A manager 8 may decide to remove a particular content data 12 from the content data 12 available to them or other managers 8, without deleting the content data 1 2. There may therefore exist functionality to mark a particular content data 12 as being unavailable by including tag data 64 to this effect.

Tag data 64 and classification data 56 can be used in conjunction, for example in the previous example an educational content manager 8 includes classification data 56 classifying the educational content manager 26 as a junior level educational content manager 26, and the content element data 20 available to the so classified educational content manager 26 are restricted to those including tag data 64 deeming the content element data 20 as available to junior level educational content managers 26. However, the role of tag data 64 and classification data 56 is not, in general, limited to the examples given.

One example of the interaction of classification data 56, preferably compulsory classification data 58 though possibly optional classification data 60, and tag data 64, preferably compulsory tag data 66 but possibly optional tag data 68, is an assignment of each manager 8 to one or more institutions. In a particular example, an educational activity manager 30 includes classification data 56 associating the educational activity manager 30 with a particular institution (e.g. school). Content data 12 also includes tag data 64 associating the content data 12 with a plurality of institutions (such that one content data 1 2 is associated with one or more institutions). The educational activity manager 30 is only authorised to create educational activity data 28 from the content data 12 associated with the same institution as the educational activity manager 30.

In a particular usage of classification data 56 and tag data 64, the educational system 2 includes one or more publishers 43, as shown in Figure 8. Each publisher 43 corresponds to both a classification data manager and tag data manager 70, and is associated with a publisher type. The publisher types include: content element data publishers 44; educational content data publishers 46; and educational activity data publishers 50. A content element data publisher 44 is configured for controlling access (for example, allowing or restricting access) to one or more content element data 20 from use by one or more content element managers 22. An educational content data publisher 46 is configured for controlling access (for example, allowing or restricting access) to one or more educational content data 24 from use by one or more educational content managers 26. An educational activity data publisher 50 is configured for controlling access (for example, allowing or restricting access) to one or more educational activity data 28 from use by one or more educational activity manager 30. Access to a particular content data 12 can be determined based on a property of the manager 8 in question, and/or a property of the content data 12 in question.

For example, there may be junior content element managers and senior content element managers, wherein each content element manager 22 is assigned to be either a junior content element manager or senior content element manager by a content element data publisher 44 (so that each content element manager 22 is assigned classification data 56 corresponding to the level of content element manager that they have been assigned). Junior content element managers may be restricted to only creating content element data 20 for particular students 1 0, whereas senior content element managers may be authorised to create content element data 20 for all students 10. In this example, each content element data 20 created by a junior content element manager includes tag data 64 indicating that the content element data 20 is only suitable for the particular student type 10, whereas each content element data 20 created by a senior content element manager includes tag data 64 indicating that the content element data 20 is suitable for any student 10. In another example, a content element data publisher 44 may restrict access by a particular manager 8 to content data 12 authorised for use by the particular manager 8 by an institution to which the particular manager 8 is a part of.

Publishers 43 can also allow for grouping of managers 8 by institution. An institution represents an organisation or operation to which managers 8 can belong. The educational programme 2 can require that each manager either belong to an institution or be an institution (e.g. managers 8 that are teachers may belong to different schools, and the schools can also operate as managers 8). Therefore, each manager 8 can be entitled to access content data 12 made available managers 8 of an institution that the manager 8 is a member. Therefore, each manager 8 can include classification data 56 indicating which institution(s) that the manager 8 belongs to, and each content data 12 can include tag data 64 indicating for which institution(s) it is available to.

Referring to Figure 9, a programme administrator 54 is configured for creating and managing the educational programme 2. A programme administrator 54 can optionally authorise one or more programme sub-administrators 55, where the programme sub-administrators 55 may be assigned some or all of the responsibilities of a programme administrator 54. A programme administrator 54 can also optionally remove the programme administrator 54 after the educational programme 2 is created. This may be useful where different authorities oversee different aspects of the educational programme 2. An example usage of programme sub-administrators 55 is, where managers 8 are members of particular institutions, each institution is associated with a programme sub- administrator 55 authorised to manage aspects of the educational programme 2 related to the institution. A programme administrator 54 can apply restrictions to any aspect of the educational programme 2. For example, the programme administrator 54 may require that each manager 8 include a particular qualification. The restrictions put in place by a programme administrator 54 cannot, in general, circumvented by a manager 8 or publisher 43. Programme sub-administrators 55 may be authorised, for example, to alter the restrictions in place for a particular institution. The programme sub-administrators 55 may also operate under restrictions put in place by a programme administrator 54.

Figure 1 0 illustrates an implementation of the educational system 2. The implementation includes a server 74 and at least one client 76, each of which is connected to a network 78, which may be, for example, the Internet. It will be appreciated that Figure 10 depicts the implementation schematically only, and is not intended to limit the technology employed in the server 74 or the one or more clients 76. The clients 76 in particular may be wired or wireless devices, and their connections to the network 78 may utilise various technologies and bandwidths. For example, a client 76 can be selected from (without limitation): PC's with wired (eg LAN, cable, ADSL, dial-up) or wireless (eg WLAN, cellular) connections; and wireless portable/handheld devices such as PDA's or mobile/cellular telephones. The protocols and interfaces between the client 76 and the server 74 may also vary according to available technologies, and include (again without limitation): wired TCP/IP (Internet) protocols; GPRS, WAP and/or 3G protocols (for handheld/cellular devices); Short Message Service (SMS) messaging for digital mobile/cellular devices; and/or proprietary communications protocols.

The server 74 includes at least one processor 80 as well as a database 82, which would typically be stored on a secondary storage device of the server 74, such as one or more hard disk drives. The server 74 further includes at least one storage medium 84, typically being a suitable type of memory, such as random access memory, for containing program instructions and transient data related to the operation of the educational programme 2 as well as other necessary functions of the server 74.

It should be appreciated that the hardware may be conventional in nature or specifically designed for the purpose. The hardware structure shown in Figure 10 is merely one possible embodiment and any other suitable structure may be utilised.

The server 74 is configured for maintaining information regarding managers 8, students 10, content data 12, and optionally response data 14. Each client 76 is configured for interaction with the server 74 by users 86, wherein each user 86 can be a manager 8 or a student 10, over the network 78.

Typically, a user 86 initiates an interaction with the server 74 via a client 76. The user 86 is then prompted to input one or more identifying information. The identifying information can include, for example, an identification number or username, and a password. The server 74 then compares the identifying information to a database of known users within the database 82. If there is a correspondence between the identifying information and a known user within the database of known users, then the records of the known user are used to identify the user 86. If there is not a correspondence between the identifying information and a known user within the database of known users, then the user 86 can be prompted to register with the server 74. Registration with the server 74 includes at least the steps of identifying the user 86 as a manager 8 or a student 10, and recording identifying information associated with the user 86 into the database of known users.

If the user 86 is identified as a manager 8, manager administrator 40, a publisher, and/or a programme administrator 54 or programme sub-administrator 55, the user 86 is then presented with a manager graphical user interface (manager GUI). The manager GUI may be particularly configured based on type or types of manager 8 the user 86 is (for example, the user 86 may be a content element manager 22, or the user 86 may be both a content element manager 22 and an educational content manager 26). Furthermore, the manager GUI may be particularly configured based on classification data 56 associated with the user 86. The manager GUI may be particularly configured based on limitations as to the information displayed to the user 78 via the manager GUI, limitations as to the possible interactions of the user 86 with the manager GUI, or any other suitable constraints. For example, a user 86 that is a content element manager 22 and no other manager 22 may be limited to viewing, editing, creating etc only content element data 20, or alternatively the content element manager 22 may be limited to only being able to view non-content element data, while being entitled to view, create, edit, and etc content element data 20. The manager GUI may be further particularly configured based on classification data 56, optionally in cooperation with one or more tag data 64. For example, a content element manager 22 associated with a junior level classification data 56 may be limited to only creating, editing, or otherwise interacting with junior level content element data 22.

In an example implementation of the manager GUI, the manager GUI can include a particular livery associated with an institution to which a user 86 belongs. Such livery is typically independent of any content data 1 2 to be displayed to the user 86. Once a user 86 has access to the manager GUI 86, the user can perform actions to which the user 86 has authorisation (e.g. content data 12 or the managers 8 of the educational system 2). For example, a user 86 corresponding to a content manger 22 has access to content element data 20 to which the user 86 is entitled to (i.e. not restricted from accessing, for example by a content element data publisher 44). In another example, a user 86 corresponding to an educational content manager 26 may select one or more content element data 20 to which the user 86 has access, in order to create an educational content data 24. The manager GUI can allow for arrangement on content element data 20 when creating an educational content data 24, for example resizing and repositioning (each content element data 20 is positioned on a page).

Furthermore, the manager GUI can allow for a user 86 to edit tag data 64 or classification data 56, depending on the authorisation of the user 86. For example, a content element manager 22 can apply certain properties to a content element data (e.g. subject, difficulty, preferred student type, etc).

If the user 86 is identified as a student 10, the user 86 is then presented with a student graphical user interface (student GUI). The student GUI can include one or more educational activity data 28 that have been assigned to the particular user 86 (for example, by an educator 32). The user 86 can then interact with one or more of the educational activity data 28 and produce response data 14 that is stored in a response database 98 that is included within the server 74. As for the manager GUI, the student GUI may include a livery which is independent on the educational activity data 28 presented to the user 86.

The following is an example implementation of an educational programme 2. The purpose of the example is to illustrate the flexibility of the present system, and it is accepted that many variations to the scenario described can be created using the present system. It should therefore be noted that the example implementation is merely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure or to define exclusively the invention.

In the example, as outlined in Figure 1 1 , an education programme 2 corresponds to a centrally controlled education system, for example a nationwide or state-wide public education system. In this example, there are a number of institutions 100, 102, 104. There is a governing authority 100, as well as a number of schools 102 which interact directly with students 10. There are also one or more specialist organisations 104, which do not interact directly with students 10. Each school 102 includes one or more teachers 106, and each specialist organisation 104 can include one or more specialists 108 (note, for the purposes of this disclosure, a specialist organisation 104 may correspond to a single specialist 108, rather than containing a plurality of specialists 108). For the purposes of the examples, with reference to the figures, numbering including a lowercase letter is used to distinguish between entities of the same type (for example, with reference to Figure 1 1 , there are three schools 102: school A 102a, school B 102b, and school C 102c).

Each institution 100, 102, 1 04 has a role to play within the educational programme 2. The governing authority 100 is responsible for maintaining the educational programme 2, including ensuring a high standard of teaching and assessment. The governing authority 100 can be, for example, one of: national or local government body; a research organisation for example a university or other non government organisation; and any other suitable entity. In some related examples, the governing authority 100 can be a school 1 02 or department of a school 102, and the educational programme 2 simply corresponds to the activities of the school 102 or department. In still further related examples, the governing authority 100 can be a specialist organisation 104 or a collection of specialist organisations 104. The schools 102 are responsible for delivering education to students 10. Each school 102 may go about this differently within the bounds set by the governing authority 100. Schools 102 can include such organisations as: HR departments; universities; homework clubs; tutors; and other education providers. The specialist organisations 104 can specialise in particular aspects of the education programme 2 that do not include teaching of students 10. For example, specialist organisations 104 may specialise in one or more of: developing multimedia presentations for delivering educational material; preparing examinations and other testing materials; analysing examination data; and/or any other specialist activity. Example specialist organisations 104 include: test development companies; training specialists; academic publishers; independent producers; etc.

It is understood that the specialist organisations 104 can be external specialist organisations not under direct control of the governing authority 100. The governing authority 100 authorises the external specialist organisations to act as specialist organisations 104 within the educational programme 2. Such external specialist organisations 104 can include schools 1 02 located within different educational programmes. For the purposes of this example, an educational activity data 28 will be assumed to be an internal examination on a particular subject (e.g. English), each educational activity data 28 including a plurality of examination questions (each examination question corresponds to an educational content data 24), and such that each examination question includes one or more content element data 20 selected from: one or more materials (for example, a reading or multimedia presentation); and one or more questions (for example, short answer questions). In general, the educational activity data 28 can include any educational content data 24 as required. It may be required that at least one content element data 20 per educational content data 24 includes a facility for response by a student 10.

The governing authority 100 in this instance is the programme administrator 54 of the educational programme 56. Therefore, the governing authority 1 00 is ultimately responsible for authorising each school 1 02 and specialist organisation 104, as well as itself, with the capabilities of the educational programme 2 required by each institution 100, 102, 104.

Firstly, in the present example, the governing authority 100 authorises itself to be: a content element manager 22; an educational content manager 26; a manager administrator 40; a content element data publisher 44; an educational content data publisher 46; and an educational activity data publisher 50. This means that the governing authority 100 is authorised to create, edit, delete, or otherwise manage each of: materials and questions (content element data 20); and examination questions (educational content data 24). However, as the examinations are internal examinations set by the schools 102, the governing authority 100 is not authorised to create educational activity data 28. In another version of this example, the governing authority 100 is also an educational activity manager 30, and can create educational activity data 28 for optional use by the schools 102.

When the educational programme 2 is created, the governing authority 100 may provide one or more content element data 20 and one or more educational content data 24 (wherein each educational content data 24 includes only content element data 20 provided by the governing authority 100). Content data 12 can be published, corresponding to tag data 64 indicating a published state associated with the content data 1 2. Each school 102 in the example is made a programme sub-administrator 55 by the governing authority 1 00, with restrictions including that each school 102 is only authorised to manage features of the educational programme 2 within the school 102, and that the educational programme 2 within the school must conform to a curriculum set by the governing authority 100. Each school 102 designates one teacher 106 to be a head of department 1 10 for the relevant subject. Each head of department 1 10 is authorised as a content element manager 22; an educational content manager 26; an educational activity manager 30; a manager administrator 40; a content element data publisher 44; an educational content data publisher 46; and an educational activity data publisher 50. Each other teacher 1 06 is authorised as a content element manager 22; an educational content manager 26; and an educational activity manager 30. In this way, each head of department 1 1 0 acts as a teacher with extra authority. All content data 12 created by each school 102 (via a teacher 1 06a or other individual) or institution 104 automatically includes tag data 64 indicating the creating school 102 or institution 104 and, if applicable, the creating teacher 106 or individual.

Each teacher 106 of each school 102 is entitled to access content data 12 authorised for use by teachers 106 of the school 102 by the head of department 1 10 of the school 102. This can include some or all of the content data 12 provided by the governing authority 100.

The head of department 1 10a of school A 102a authorises each teacher 106a of the school A 102a to create any content data 12 that they wish, and the content data 12 is automatically published for all teachers 106a of school A 102a to use, and includes tag data 64 indicating this. The head of department 1 10a of school A 102a further allows each teacher 106a of school A 102a to access content data 12 created by any other school 102 or institution 104.

The head of department 1 10b of school B 102b requires that content data 12 created by each teacher 106b of the school B 102b to be vetted by the head of department 1 10b of school B 102b. Therefore, the content data 1 2 is not automatically published for all teachers 106b of school B 102b to use, and therefore includes tag data 64 indicating this. Once the head of department 1 10b has reviewed the content data 12, the content data 12 may be modified to include tag data 64 indicating that the content data 12 has been published. The head of department 1 1 0b of school B 102b is also required to authorise each content data 12 created by each other school 102 and institution 104, as well as the content data 1 2 originally supplied by the governing authority 100.

The head of department 1 10c of school C 102c takes an approach between the head of department 1 10a of school A 102a and the head of department 1 10b of school B 1 02b. Some teachers 106c of school C 102c, as well as some teachers 106a, 106b of schools A 102a and B 102b are considered trustworthy and therefore entitled to create content data 12 without vetting, whereas other teachers are not. Therefore, each teacher 106 includes classification data 56 indicating their level of trust. The head of department 1 10c of school C 102c further allows all content data 12 created by institution A 104a to be published automatically, while requiring that each content data 12 created by institution B 104b be reviewed before publication by the head of department 1 1 0c of school C 102c.

It is envisaged that content data 12 can be made available by institutions 100, 1 02, 104 for purchase by other institutions 100, 102, 104. For example, for a school 102 to utilise content data 1 2 created by a particular specialist organisation 104, the school 102 or a representative of the school 1 02 (such as a head of department) must pay a fee to the specialist organisation 104. Similarly, it is envisaged that the response data 14 produced by students 14 can be made available for purchase by institutions 100, 102, 104, preferably in a non-identifying format such that student identity remain confidential. The response data 14 can also be made available to institutions 100, 102, 1 04 which have provided content data 1 2 associated with the response data 14.

Further modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 . An educational content management system including:

a database configured to contain educational content data records and education content element manager records, wherein each content data record is associated with a content data type, each content element manager record is associated with a manager type, and each content data type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content element manager types; means for authorising a manager associated with a particular manager type to interact with content data associated with the corresponding content data type; and

2. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first content data type corresponds to educational material.

3. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the educational material is selected from: individual educational questions; and individual educational presentations.

4. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , further including:

means for presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the second content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a third content data type.

5. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein content data of the third content data type is configured for presentation to one or more students.

6. An educational content management system as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 5, wherein the first content data type corresponds to a content element data type, the second content data type corresponds to an educational content data type, and the third content data type corresponds to an educational activity data type.

7. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ordered selection includes: sequential ordering; and presentation ordering.

8. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , further including:

means for authorising a manager administrator for authorising one or more managers.

9. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , including: means for associating classification data with a manager.

10. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the classification data is selected from one or both of: compulsory classification data; and optional classification data.

1 1 . An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , including: means for associating tag data with a content data record.

12. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein tag data is compulsory tag data and/or optional tag data.

13. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the database is configured to contain education publisher records, wherein each publisher record is associated with a publisher type, and wherein each publisher type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content data types, and further including:

14. An educational content management system as claimed in claim 1 , including: means for presenting to a student an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the first content data type; and

means for recording a response from the student to the ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the first content data type.

15. An educational content management server including:

a processor;

16. A method for providing educational content, including the steps of:

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the first content data type corresponds to educational material.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the educational material is selected from: individual educational questions; and individual educational presentations.

19. A method as claimed in claim 16, including the step of presenting an ordered selection of one or more content data types associated with the second content data type, wherein the ordered selection is stored with a content data record of a third content data type.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein content data of the third content data type is configured for presentation to one or more students.

21 . A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 9 to 20, wherein the first content data type corresponds to a content element data type, the second content data type corresponds to an educational content data type, and the third content data type corresponds to an educational activity data type.

22. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the ordered selection includes: sequential ordering; and presentation ordering.

23. A method as claimed in claim 16, including the step of authorising a manager administrator for authorising one or more managers.

24. A method as claimed in claim 16, including the step of associating classification data with a manager.

25. A method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the classification data is selected from one or both of: compulsory classification data; and optional classification data.

26. A method as claimed in claim 16, including the step of associating tag data with a content data record.

27. A method as claimed in claim 26, wherein tag data is compulsory tag data and/or optional tag data.

28. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the database is configured to contain education publisher records, wherein each publisher record is associated with a publisher type, and wherein each publisher type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content data types, and including the step of:

allowing a publisher associated with a particular publisher type to control access to one or more corresponding content data types by one or more managers associated with a corresponding manager type.

29. A method as claimed in claim 16, including the steps of:

30. A tangible computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method for providing educational content, including the steps of: providing a database configured to contain educational content data records and education content element manager records, wherein each content data record is associated with a content data type, each content element manager record is associated with a manager type, and each content data type is uniquely associated with a corresponding one of the content element manager types;

Substitute Sheet

(Rule 26) RO/AU