Patent ID: 7379704

Claim:
In a system that includes contact objects such as peer contact objects and expert contact objects that are associated with a course, wherein content of the course is delivered over a network to contacts represented by the contact objects, a method for integrating collaborative services with the content of the course such that users may collaborate in the context of the course's content, the method comprising: providing a user interface to a user, the user interface including a content pane for displaying course content to the user, the user interface further including a collaborate pane for facilitating communication between the user and one or more contacts, wherein course content previously selected by the user for display in the content pane is not displaced from the user when the collaborate pane is presented and remains displayed in the content pane throughout collaboration between the user and the one or more contacts; providing a list of contact objects within the collaborate pane, wherein the contact objects are dynamically selected based on the course content being displayed within the content pane, and for the course; selecting a contact object representative of a contact from the collaborate pane; providing the user with a contact block in the collaborate pane, wherein the contact block identifies one or more modes of communication that are available for collaboration with the selected contact; and collaborating with the selected contact over a particular mode of communication that is selected by the user from the contact block, wherein the collaboration over the particular mode of communication occurs through the collaborate pane which is simultaneously displayed with the previously selected course content, and within the context of the course content.