Patent Document ID: 7860736
Application ID: 10401045
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for preparing course content and materials for instructing employees wherein said content and materials are to be aligned with strategic business goals and priorities of an organization, said computer-implemented method comprising the following steps executed on a computer: receiving business goals of the organization, said business goals having priorities established relative to one another by said organization; generating preliminary learning effort proposals by receiving requests for learning from said organization; receiving validated learning effort proposals from said organization, the feasibility of said preliminary learning effort proposals having been assessed by said organization; designing courses associated with said validated learning effort proposals, said designing comprising drafting a course topic outline, a development plan, and a work plan that are associated with one another, wherein said development plan describes subject matter of the course content, materials needed to fulfill said validated learning effort proposals, course objectives, an outline of activities to be performed, and milestones to be met, and wherein said work plan defines production timelines, including completion deadlines for specific activities, and assigns specific tasks to individuals or groups for the development of said content and materials described by said development plan; developing course content and materials covering topics identified in said course topic outline, wherein developing course content and materials comprises: searching for pre-existing course content in a database; and selectively reusing the pre-existing course content; certifying that said course content and materials are consistent with said priorities of said business goals; and storing said course content in a database, wherein said storing comprises: dividing the course content into distinct course chapters; tagging and cataloging the course content; and storing the course content in the database, wherein said drafting of said course topic outline comprises performing: an audience analysis comprising a determination whether a chosen instruction design is incompatible either with logistics of the learning audience or with learning services resources, wherein the audience analysis enables course requirements to be defined; subsequent to defining and confirming course requirements, a curriculum impact analysis comprising a review to determine how a new learning effort impacts overall curriculum being offered by the learning effort proposal, including determining whether a completely new course is to be produced or whether an existing course can be modified or replaced, and after which selecting a delivery method based on said analyses, and organizing topics identified in a validated learning effort proposal based on said selected delivery method to produce said course topic outline.