Patent Publication Number: US-2004043362-A1

Title: Re-configurable e-learning activity and method of making

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] This invention relates to the structure, the making of, and the delivery and use of so-called electronic-learning, or e-learning, activities which are deliverable for use and are employable in the context of different forms of contemporary data-communication systems and environments. Such environments can include, without limit, that of a single hand-held type computer, a stand-alone workstation, laptop or desktop computer, a local-area-network(LAN)-connected computer, a wide-area-network(WAN)-connected computer and an Internet-connected computer. As suggested, these particularly stated environments are but representative of what is referred to herein by the phrase “data-communication environment”.  
       [0002] While the invention will clearly be seen to have utility in a number of fields of training and learning, a preferred embodiment, and a preferred manner of practicing and using the present invention are disclosed herein in conjunction with various forms of sales-training activities deemed to be widely useful in today&#39;s commercial world.  
       [0003] As those skilled in the art will immediately recognize, in the field of sales training, there are many different facets and areas which are considered to be very important. Each of these areas is well understood to be characterizable in a number of different ways to suit different specific purposes and situations. For example, in a sales training activity which is designed to offer training regarding completing a successful sales transaction by “making a deal”, the specific ways in which sales personnel can be trained in this field of activity are very wide spread and often are handled and dealt with by different vendors of goods and services with a very wide range of approaches. This being the case, it is very clear that, while there are certainly fundamental attributes that can be said to be associable with a “make the deal” type training activity under most all circumstances, accommodation for including various different specific components of training information is important in order to suit the wishes and tastes of different vendors.  
       [0004] Thus, it is important that, with regard to any training program that is developed, and which is hoped to have widespread utility, such a program ought to be made in such a fashion that it is highly and easily tailorable and re-configurable by specific users who may wish to offer their trainees different kinds of approaches and indeed different approaches which can change from time to time.  
       [0005] The present invention proposes (a) a novel e-learning activity structure, (b) a method of building and making that structure, and (c) a methodology enabling easy and very versatile re-configuring of that activity. According to a preferred embodiment of an activity constructed in accordance with this invention, that activity takes the form, in an electronic data format, of what is referred to herein as an activity template which essentially is a template made up of particular selected attributes chosen to lie as a core framework for the building of specific e-learning training approaches that are aimed at promoting that specific activity. In one manner of practicing the invention, such a template is itself is offered as a changeable core component—one which a user can reconstruct by re-configuring the makeup of core attributes. In what is considered to be the preferred form of the invention, core templates themselves are not necessarily modifiable. Rather, they are offered in such a manner that, while they may have nominally linked to them pre-selected default data-components that relate to specific information which is to be delivered and employed in the implementation of a sales training activity, a user is given the free opportunity to revise and re-configure the specific activity data components (information components) which are linked to the core attributes. With this re-configurability possibility made available, a user can freely and very flexibly make changes from time to time in the approach used for a particular sales training activity.  
       [0006] Handily enabling this important reconfigurability as offered by the present invention is the fact that the core template components are structured in such a way that they are effectively independent of linked specific activity information data. This de-linking and state of independence offers a rich opportunity for variation in the hands of a user who has obtained a useful core template made in accordance with the invention.  
       [0007] With respect to the fundamental makeup of an activity for e-learning built in accordance with the present invention, which activity includes a core template of attributes with respect to which specific activity data components can be linked, attribute elements within the template include, as non-exhaustive examples, the name of the activity to be trained for, the general attitude and approach which is to be employed in training, the style of training with respect to how content information is delivered to a trainee and how responses are solicited and evaluated from and with respect to a trainee, the overall core structure of content which a user feels needs to be delivered to a trainee in order to embrace a particular activity training, elements of styles such as color, the presentation of logos, the use of animation, the integration of visual and sound images with printed text and numbers, whether merit awards or statements of congratulations are to be delivered in some fashion, and so on. It is with respect to a template possessing such attribute characteristics that specific content information is linked, preferably in a very freely re-configurable and revisable form. Thus, with respect, for example, to the manner in which content is delivered to a trainee, this information content might include the exact texts of a handful of different statements, questions, propositions, relationships, etc. that are to be presented. It can include whether and how this content information is delivered for example visually in printed text, in moving animation, in color renderings, in sound tracks, etc. The manner of delivery of such information can be functionally guided by those attributes built into a template which, for example, endows the presentation to a trainee with what can be thought of as the personality of the training activity—a personality which has been consciously selected for use.  
       [0008] These and other important and obvious advantages and creative offerings made by the structure and methodology of the present invention will now become more fully apparent as the description which follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009]FIG. 1 is a block/schematic diagram, in somewhat simplified but nonetheless highly informative form, illustrating the structure and making of an e-learning, e-training activity in accordance with practice of the present invention.  
     [0010]FIG. 2 is a simplified block/schematic diagram illustrating somewhat more specifically how a core template of e-learning activity attributes can be flexibly and re-configurably combined with selected specific activity information components to build, in a very changeable, and selectably modifyable way, the e-learning activity illustrated in FIG. 1.  
     [0011]FIG. 3 is a simplified block/schematic diagram illustrating how, in accordance with a modified form of and manner of practicing the invention, a core activity template which forms part of an activity in accordance with this invention can itself be selectively re-configured and re-styled as desired.  
     [0012] In these three drawing figures three different shading styles are employed, one of which utilizes angled shading lines which slope upwardly and to the right, another of which employs more densely packed shading lines that are angled and that slope upwardly and to the left, and a third quality of shading where criss-crossing shading lines are employed. The block structures, and fragments thereof, which contain these respective three different characters of shading are, from figure to figure, essentially the same components or elements. Thus, these shading lines are provided as an aid in relating what is shown in each of these three figures with what is shown in the other two drawing figures.  
     [0013]FIGS. 4 a - 4   f , inclusive, illustrate, in words and images, practice of the invention to create an e-learning activity called “Good Question Game Activity”.  
     [0014]FIGS. 5 a - 5   d  are similar in character to FIGS. 4 a - 4   f , except that here what is pictured is employment or practice of the invention to create another e-learning activity which is entitled “Drag and Drop”. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0015] Turning attention now to the drawings, and referring first of all to FIG. 1, indicated generally at  10  is a data-communication environment (represented by the bracket) wherein an e-learning activity  12  is presented for use. This activity, as shown in FIG. 1, is made available to an e-learning trainee, also referred to herein as an e-trainee,  14  who is provided access to activity  12  within environment  10  through an appropriate data-communication interface  16 . A communication link between e-trainee  14  and interface  16  is represented by double-headed broad arrow  18  in FIG. 1.  
     [0016] With reference for just a moment to what might make up environment  10  in relation to interface  16 , these two components are intended to represent the situation that interface  16  might be a completely hand-held personal computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a LAN-connected computer, a WAN-connected computer, or an appropriately Internet-connected computer. There may of course be other useful interface devices that can sit in the place of interface  16  as illustrated in FIG. 1, and the present invention is fully implementable by any such other kind of interface structure. E-learning activity  12 , which is constructed, and which is used, in accordance with the present invention, is made available in the environment shown at  10  in FIG. 1 in a manner which allows trainee  14 , at his or her own selection and pace, to engage in the learning content which is offered by activity  12 . For the purpose of illustration herein, e-learning activity  12  is one which is designed to provide training in the field of sales, and is specifically an activity which, say, the employer of trainee  14  has decided to make available as a training asset for trainee  14 . Other fields of training endeavor may also take advantage of an activity constructed in accordance with this invention, such as activity  12 , but the field of sales training has been found to be one wherein the present invention has and offers particular utility.  
     [0017] Still with reference to FIG. 1, activity  12  is also referred to herein importantly as a selectively re-configurable, reusable, revisable, e-learning activity which is made up, in accordance with the invention, with two fundamental components. These two components include what are referred to herein as a core component  20 , and a deliverable-content component  22 . These two components are operatively linked, and such linking is represented in FIG. 1 by dashed line  24 .  
     [0018] Still speaking in somewhat general terms, activity  12  has been prepared for use in environment  10  by packaging it in what is referred to herein as a data-communication-environment wrapper which may take on a number of different well known forms such as SCORM, AICC, LRN, or some other standard-based communication wrapper. This wrapper in FIG. 1 is shown generally at  26 .  
     [0019] One will note that component  20 , which is shown as a simple block, is shaded with upwardly and to the right angled shading lines. Similarly, deliverable-content component  22  is shaded with more densely packed lines which slope upwardly and to the left. Finally, wrapper  26  (fragmentarily only in FIG. 1) is shaded with intersecting or cross-hatching angled lines. These three shading approaches have been chosen to help distinguish and differentiate the three elements with respect to how they are illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and  3  in the drawings.  
     [0020] In the fully constructed state which is shown for activity  12  in FIG. 1, component  20  takes the form herein of a reusable e-learning activity template assembled in electronic data form, and made up of a selected collection of attributes which are distinctly related with a selected e-learning activity. This selection of attributes defines what is referred to herein as the core framework of activity  12 , and includes such things as (a) various verbal and visual characteristics of a learning activity, which may include sound material, (b) written text material, such as questions, answers, feedback and instructional strings. It also includes selected visual elements such as color and form, and may include, particularly with respect to text material whether oral or printed, a tone of voice and a style of verbal expression which the creator of activity  12  has determined to use in relation to the presentation of training information to a trainee, such as trainee  14 . Collectively, the attributes which have been chosen to provide a core framework for activity  12  can be thought of as defining a training personality for that activity, which personality becomes displayed and presents itself, as will be mentioned again later, during engagement with the activity by a trainee, such as trainee  14 .  
     [0021] Distributable-content component  22  herein takes the form of another selection of elements in the forms of specific e-learning, application-specific pieces of information that very specifically determine what it is that is delivered and presented to a trainee in the context of the attributes for activity  12  which are determined by template  20 .  
     [0022] An important feature of the present invention, among others, is that, in a certain manner of speaking, the contents of component  22  are independent of the attributes which make up template  20 . Such independence exists in the sense that both the attributes within template  20  and the contents within component  22  can be changed independently. It is, in point of fact, this feature of changability which constitutes and important advance and offering made by the present invention. This feature allows, for example, a core template to be created for a particular type of learning activity, linked appropriately to a default set of information constituents within component  22 , and provided to a user, such as an employer planning to provide training to employees. Very specifically, the linked combination of components  20 ,  22  freely allows the acquiring employer to make a wide array of changes from time to time in the specific overall makeup of an activity, like activity  12 . In addition to such re-configurability and changability, importantly offering a user the opportunity to change the character of a training activity by changing constituents within component  22 , it may also be very useful and desirable and important to provide that same user with an opportunity to make changes in the core template of attributes itself. As shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed herein that e-learning activity  12  has a particular personality defined by a particular collection of attributes in template  20 , and presents, in accordance with the training personality defined by those attributes, through the contents of component  22 , a specific training presentation, questions, answers, comments, images and sounds, etc., to a trainee, such as trainee  14 .  
     [0023] Shifting attention now to FIG. 2, here there is very specifically illustrated, in general terms, that important feature of the present invention which relates to and offers revisability and free re-configurability of activity  12 , through changes that may be made easily in the content, for example, of the specific training information component  22 . For the sake of continuity and clarity herein, the very same numbers that have been used in FIG. 1 to point out generally the make up of activity  12  are also employed in FIG. 2 recognizing, of course, that with respect to FIG. 2, we are now looking at the impressive re-configurability which is enabled for activity  12  by the present invention.  
     [0024] Reading from left to right across the upper portion of FIG. 2, shown at  20  is an already fully constructed e-learning activity template which, in relation to what else is shown in FIG. 2, and with specific reference to methodology which is provided by the present invention, can be thought of as being acquired as a precursor to the activity pictured in FIG. 2 that involves assembling and/or re-configuring an e-learning activity, such as activity  12 . To the right of stand-alone template  20  in FIG. 2 is a block  28 , which represents a re-useable c-learning activity builder, and to the right of this builder is a block  30  which can be thought of as constituting an output block, wherein an activity assembled within block  28  is prepared with a wrapper for delivery and use into and in a data-communication environment, such as previously mentioned environment  10 .  
     [0025] A block  32  which resides at the lower side of FIG. 2, and which is shown somewhat fragmentarily, represents an available selection, or collection or population, of application-specific information units, or content elements, that can be selected for introduction through block  28  into the assembly of an e-learning activity which is to be based upon attribute template  20 .  
     [0026] With regard to the assembly and/or revising or re-configuring activity which is pictured in FIG. 2 with respect to the specific structure of activity  12 , one can think of template  20 , in the environment of builder  28 , as being a tool which offers an effective interface for the assembly of specific features in and for activity  12 . Assuming, as has just be mentioned, that template  20  is a fully assembled and acquired template, what is now going to be described with respect to FIG. 2 does not involve any changing taking place within the make-up of template  20 .  
     [0027] As has been suggested earlier herein, template  20  is made up, essentially, of various attributes which have been selected from a population of attributes deemed to be especially capable of defining the core character of activity  12 . As will be explained shortly, there is indeed a selection process which is associated with the construction of template  20 , this process being one which allows the template to be tailored and created to have special qualities. Fundamentally, the attributes within template  20 , at a core level, describe the structural aspects of the chosen activity. They also describes any special colors, graphics, or other appropriate style elements that are to be associated with the related e-learning activity, and they contain information relative to whether, and in what amount, for example, questions, answers, feedback, and instructional strings are to play a role in defining the learning personality which the final activity ( 12 ) will display.  
     [0028] Within builder  28 , therefore, with template  20  readied appropriately, and acquired for assembly into activity  12 , the creator of the activity, or the re-configuror of the activity if that is the case, draws into the builder selected specific application information which is to play a role in the ultimate training engagement which will take place with the finished activity. Thus, shown in various sizes and shapes of blocks  34  in population  32  in FIG. 2, are different pieces of specific training information which are selected and sent into builder  28  in order to create operative linkages between these selected pieces of information and the attributes in template  20 . Three, different-length, upwardly pointing arrows extend from population  32  to builder  28  in FIG. 2, and each of these arrows represents a different selection of one or more information elements from within population  32  for specific linkage with template  20 .  
     [0029] When this linkage activity has been accomplished, there resides in builder  28  a finished form of activity  12 , and this is so pictured within the dashed lines that exist within the image of builder  28  in FIG. 2.  
     [0030] The selection and linking process which takes place between blocks  28 ,  32 , as pictured in FIG. 2, describe fundamentally how the possibilities of revision and re-configuration can be implemented in accordance with the invention. For example, it is possible for an activity-builder person to remove an existing information element from block  22 , to augment information already within that block, to replace information in block  22  with something drawn from block  32  and also to perform internal variation within a body of information application specific within block  22 .  
     [0031] It is thus the case, that, without in any way disturbing or affecting the basic core make-up of attribute template  20 , the final shape of activity  12  can readily be configured to take on a very wide range of specific characteristics.  
     [0032] With reference now to FIGS. 4 a - 4   f , inclusive, and  5   a - 5   d , inclusive, in these two collections of drawing figures, the details of learning activity assembly, as pictured in FIG. 2, are presented in considerable detail with respect to two different illustrative e-learning activities aimed into the world of sales. The various images presented in FIGS. 4 a - 4   f , inclusive, describe an activity building procedure involving a sales training activity referred to with the title “Good Question Game Activity”.  
     [0033]FIGS. 5 a - 5   d , inclusive, illustrate, in detail, the construction of another activity which here bears the title “Drag and Drop”.  
     [0034] Those skilled in the art studying drawing FIGS. 1 and 2 along with the two illustrated activity building illustrations found in the FIGS. 4 and 5 groups of images, will readily see how to construct a very wide range of e-learning activities utilizing the technique of linking selected application-specific contents to a pre-assembled activity template constructed from selected activity attributes.  
     [0035] Returning focus specifically to FIG. 2, block  30 , wherein an activity, such as activity  12 , which has been built within builder  28  is presented for finalization, so-to-speak, it is here that the completed e-learning activity is wrapped with an appropriate data-communication-enabling wrapper, such as previously mentioned wrapper  26 . Such wrapping activity is directly pictured on the upper right side of FIG. 2.  
     [0036] With completion of the work performed in block  30 , e-learning activity  12  is ready for employment in a data-communication environment, such as environment  10  shown in FIG. 1.  
     [0037] As was mentioned earlier herein, another area wherein the present invention provides substantial versatility with respect to the creation of an e-learning activity relates to the opportunity provided by the invention for changing the attribute make-up of template  20 . In FIG. 3, a fragmentary block  36  contains a large population of various activity attributes which are shown in this block by the small and differently sized and shaded rectangles shown at  38 .  
     [0038] As is illustrated by the three different-length arrows that point to the right in FIG. 3 from block  36 , a person engaged in the act, in accordance with the invention, of assembling a template of attributes makes any selection of attributes to employ, and feeds them to a template builder represented by block  40  on the right side in FIG. 3. Emerging from work that is preformed within builder  40  in FIG. 3, is an activity template of attributes, such as template  20  which is pictured on the inside of block  40  in FIG. 3.  
     [0039] The process thus illustrated and generally described with respect to FIG. 3, has many of the same characteristics as does the process that is illustrated regarding the cooperation between blocks  28 ,  32  in FIG. 2. More specifically, a person operating in accordance with FIG. 3 is enabled to construct initially, or to modify and reconfigure later, a freely selected activity template  20  having all of the elements that lead to an e-learning personality as was described above.  
     [0040] It will thus be apparent how the contributions made by the present invention offer a very unique and versatile opportunity for the creation, re-configureably and reuseably, of a host of e-learning activities, such as those mentioned herein that relate to the field of sales. The level of independence described earlier which exists between an activity template and the application-specific information which becomes linked to attributes within that template, provides a very efficient environment within which to create a very wide range of differing e-learning activities, without having to go through the process of necessarily changing template construction and componentry every time that there is a desire to change information content characteristics in an activity.  
     [0041] Thus, while a preferred embodiment and manner of practicing the present invention have been described and illustrated herein, it is appreciated that many variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.