Abstract: In accordance with the present invention, an interactive education application is provided. The application receives preferences from the user and retrieves media assets, where the application assembles the media assets and other content into a personalized lesson. In addition, the application provides messaging features between the user and other users relating to the personalized lesson.

Abstract: New and improved methods and systems are provided for producing, managing, delivering, retrieving, and/or tracking permission communications that alleviate several of the existing problems commonly associated with existing permission communications. According to the invention, computer users can request to receive direct communications from one or more senders. When a new communication is detected, an alert is provided to the recipients, who can use the alert to view the communication in their Web browser. Similar alerts may also be provided to one or more recipients when particular Web pages are updated. Various alternative embodiments are also disclosed.