Abstract: Techniques are described by which learner skill can be estimated over time, even in the presence of large data sets. A rating system can be used in which a learner's submission of a course assessment can be interpreted as a single match, where the learner and the course assessment are competing against each other. This approach can be applied to online learning platforms that include very many learners who have submitted assignments very many times in many courses. The described techniques provide reliable estimates of assessment difficulty and learner ability. The described scoring framework may be used as a basis for various applications that account for a learner's ability, such as adaptive diagnostic tests and personalized recommendations.

Abstract: A computer system includes a course repository and a server. The course repository includes a video of an online course, an instructor provided output for a programming assignment associated with the online course, and a submission script for generating student provided output for the programming assignment. The server includes a submission module that receives and verifies the student provided output for the programming assignment. The server further includes one or more built-in grader applications that compare the student provided output with the instructor provided output to determine a grade for the programming assignment.

Abstract: A computer system includes a course repository and a server. The course repository includes a video of an online course, an instructor provided output for a programming assignment associated with the online course, and a submission script for generating student provided output for the programming assignment. The server includes a submission module that receives and verifies the student provided output for the programming assignment. The server further includes one or more built-in grader applications that compare the student provided output with the instructor provided output to determine a grade for the programming assignment.

Abstract: Techniques described herein provide a service and associated interface that are capable of serving online queries for learners' states with respect to various types of learning content. For example, the described techniques may serve a query to determine items that have been completed by a particular user, or courses with which a user has recently interacted. More particularly, the described techniques provide a uniform interface for all such learner progress, which facilitates fast and efficient capabilities of users, administrators, and developers with respect to finding, using, and modifying learner progress.

Abstract: A method can present a new sequence of online courses within a specialization for a group of new learners while maintaining a previous sequence of online courses within the specialization for a group of previous learners. The method can include maintaining a base class, associating a first learner with the base class, receiving a request to update a previous sequence of courses, generating a child class, associating a second learner with the child class, responding to a request for a sequence associated with the first learner, and responding to a request for a sequence associated with the second learner.

Abstract: A system includes a processor coupled to a memory. The processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to store an original content of an online education course of a first format type in an online education platform. The processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to automatically translate the original content of the online education course from the first format type to a content of a second format type, and to deliver, by the online education platform, the translated content of the online education course in the second format type to a student logged in on a client device.

Abstract: In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method can include receiving, by a computer system, a name for a course, receiving, by the computer system, a selection of a skill, storing, in a first database included in the computer system, the skill tagged to the course, creating a skills graph including tagged skills for a plurality of courses including the course, the skills graph providing a graph of a skills hierarchy for the course, storing, in a second database included in the computer system, the skills graph, receiving, by the computer system, a query for the skill, and in response to receiving the query, traversing the skills graph, the traversing identifying the skill as a tagged skill for at least the course, and based on identifying the skill as a tagged skill for the course, identifying the name for the course.

Abstract: According to an implementation, a system includes an online education platform including a content manager configured to provide an authoring tool on a computing device associated with a learner of an online course. The authoring tool is configured to provide at least one user interface for creation of a learner-created question for an assessment for the online course. The content manager includes an education content converter configured to convert the learner-created question from a first format to a second format. The online education platform including an assessment bank configured to store the learner-created question, as well as other learner-created questions and instructor-created questions. The online education platform including a content selector configured to select a plurality of questions from the assessment bank for the assessment for the online course.

Abstract: Techniques are described for receiving a feature request for an application feature of a mobile application. An annotated model class may be determined that corresponds to the feature request and includes class annotations characterizing a server response object stored using an application server and including application data associated with the application feature. An annotated data contract may be determined that includes contract annotations mapping the annotated model class to the server response object and defining a persistence strategy for storing and accessing the application data at an application server and at one or more local caches of a mobile device. A request object may be used to fetch the server response object from the application server. Then, from the fetched server response object and using the class annotations of the annotated model class, a runtime application data model may be generated that is executable by the mobile application platform.

Abstract: In one general aspect, a method for generating a note for a video of an online course can include providing a video of an online course for display in a user interface on a display device included in a computing device, providing a transcript of the video of the online course synchronously with the providing of the video of the online course, the transcript being displayed in the user interface with the video of the online course, receiving an indication of a selection of a save-a-note element included in the user interface, and in response to receiving the indication of the save-a-note element, creating a note for the video of the online course. The note can include an indicator of a frame in the video when a particular phrase included in the transcript of the video is spoken, the particular phrase, and a screen shot of the frame.

Abstract: In one general aspect, a method for rendering a web page can include receiving, from an interactive web application executing on a computing device, a plurality of application programming interface (API) calls for information and data for including in the rendering of the web page by the interactive web application, determining, for each of the plurality of API calls, whether an API call satisfies at least one criterion, storing, in a memory included on a computing device, an API call for inclusion in a batch of API calls if the API call satisfies the at least one criterion, and sending, in a single API call, the batch of API calls stored in the memory, the sending based on an occurrence of an event in the computing device.

Abstract: Techniques described herein provide a service and associated interface that are capable of serving online queries for learners' states with respect to various types of learning content. For example, the described techniques may serve a query to determine items that have been completed by a particular user, or courses with which a user has recently interacted. More particularly, the described techniques provide a uniform interface for all such learner progress, which facilitates fast and efficient capabilities of users, administrators, and developers with respect to finding, using, and modifying learner progress.

Abstract: According to an aspect, an online education platform may be configured to provide an online course over a network to a plurality of computing devices. The online course may provide education content in which learners view and interact with the education content. The online education platform may include an online course analyzer to determine performance data associated with learners' engagement with the education content including an engagement metric indicating a level of engagement of the learners with the education content during a session of the online course, and provide the performance data via an instructor dashboard. The online course analyzer may include a content editor configured to edit the education content based on the performance data including changing at least a portion of the education content based on the performance data before a completion of the online course.

Abstract: Techniques for generating an assessment question about content of an educational course include obtaining, by processing circuitry of a computer, an electronic document of content of the course and generating a parsable text version of the electronic document. Importance scores for sentences of the parsable text version of the electronic document are generated and a sentence having an importance score that exceeds a first threshold value is identified. A key phrase in the identified sentence is identified, where the identified key phrase has a key phrase score that exceeds a second threshold value, and an assessment question about the content of the course related to the identified sentence is generated, where the assessment question is based on the identified sentence but where the identified key phrase is not present in the assessment question.

Abstract: A system includes a processor coupled to a memory. The processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to store an original content of an online education course of a first format type in an online education platform. The processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to automatically translate the original content of the online education course from the first format type to a content of a second format type, and to deliver, by the online education platform, the translated content of the online education course in the second format type to a student logged in on a client device.

Abstract: A web browser renders a web page, where textual information is displayed in a first portion of the page and where streaming video is displayed in a second portion of the page. As a user interacts with the page and views the video, both page view values and video data values are sent out from the browser, across a single TCP/IP connection, and to a single analytics web server, where both types of values are stored. The page view values may, for example, indicate when the user clicks on buttons, keys or links. The video data values may, for example, indicate the settings or play status of the video player application program. The analytics web server receives the two types of values, performs real-time processing using the values, and outputs a report in real time where the report includes a real-time analysis of both types of data values.

Abstract: In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method can include receiving, by a computer system, a name for a course, receiving, by the computer system, a selection of a skill, storing, in a first database included in the computer system, the skill tagged to the course, creating a skills graph including tagged skills for a plurality of courses including the course, the skills graph providing a graph of a skills hierarchy for the course, storing, in a second database included in the computer system, the skills graph, receiving, by the computer system, a query for the skill, and in response to receiving the query, traversing the skills graph, the traversing identifying the skill as a tagged skill for at least the course, and based on identifying the skill as a tagged skill for the course, identifying the name for the course.

Abstract: In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method can include receiving, by a computer system, code for a custom grader application, creating, by the computer system, a base custom grader container including the code for the custom grader application, associating the base custom grader container with an online course included in a repository included in the computer system, evaluating, by the computer system, the base custom grader container by executing the custom grader application in the base custom grader container, determining that the custom grader application violates a predetermined criterion, modifying the base custom grader container to prevent the executing of the custom grader application from violating the predetermined criterion, and storing, in the repository and in association with the online course, the modified base custom grader container including the custom grader application as a custom grader container image.

Abstract: In one general aspect, a method for generating a note for a video of an online course can include providing a video of an online course for display in a user interface on a display device included in a computing device, providing a transcript of the video of the online course synchronously with the providing of the video of the online course, the transcript being displayed in the user interface with the video of the online course, receiving an indication of a selection of a save-a-note element included in the user interface, and in response to receiving the indication of the save-a-note element, creating a note for the video of the online course. The note can include an indicator of a frame in the video when a particular phrase included in the transcript of the video is spoken, the particular phrase, and a screen shot of the frame.

Abstract: An on-line course system involves an On-Line Course Content Serving Web Server (OCCSWS). The OCCSWS serves, or otherwise enables the providing of, on-line course materials such as textual materials and/or a video to a large number of remotely located students. The students view the course materials and take part in the classes remotely via the internet. The OCCSWS performs volunteered user data collection, thereby obtaining for each student items of first classification information. The OCCSWS performs behavioral user data collection, thereby obtaining for each student items of second classification information. The items of first and second classification information are used to group the students into groups. The OCCSWS then communicates, to each student, an indication of the group to which the student has been assigned. The OCCSWS facilitates the students engaging in group activities, monitors the students, and if necessary prompts the students to perform certain group activity tasks.