Content discovery using a skills graph

Abstract

A system includes a database configured to store skills graphs for courses, a skills mapping service configured to map skills to courses, a skill query service configured to receive a skill identifier associated with a skill, and return an ordered list of courses. The system further includes a graph service configured to generate skills graphs and store the skills graphs in the database, and a recommendation service configured to traverse skills graphs stored in the graph database, identify one or more courses that are tagged with the skill identifier associated with the skill, and provide the ordered list of courses to the skill query service.

1 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a memory,   wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to implement:
 a skills mapping service coupled to a linear scalable database storing content of online courses, the skills mapping service mapping skills to the online courses; 
 a graph service generating skills graphs by accessing the linear scalable database; 
 a skill query service receiving a skill identifier associated with a skill, and returning an ordered list of one or more online courses; and 
   a recommendation service configured to:
 traversing the skills graphs, 
 identifying one or more online courses that are tagged with the skill identifier associated with the skill, and 
 providing the ordered list of the one or more online courses to the skill query service. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to further implement a testing service, the testing service performing A/B testing of versions of a skills graph for an online course, and based on results of the A/B testing, creating an optimal skills graph for the online course. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to further implement an evaluation service, the evaluation service requesting and gathering information and data related to an online course, the information and data being used in identifying one or more skills for tagging to the online course. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the information and data related to the course are an indication of what skills are taught by the online course. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein mapping skills to the online courses includes modeling a hierarchy of skill dependencies for material taught by a course. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the database further stores subgraphs, wherein a subgraph maps skills to careers. 
     
     
         7 . A computer system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   at least a memory,   wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
 receive a name of an online course stored in a linear scalable database; 
 identify a skill taught by the online course; 
 tag the skill to the named online course; 
 construct a skills graph including tagged skills for a plurality of online courses stored in the linear scalable database including the named online course, the skilled graph connecting the tagged skills to each other and to online course content; 
 store the skills graph; 
 receive a query for a specific skill; 
 in response to receiving the query, discover online course content corresponding to the specific skill by traversing the skills graph, the traversing identifying the specific skill as the tagged skill for at least the named online course; 
 based on identifying the specific skill as the tagged skill for the named online course, identify the name for the course; and 
 present the named online course over a communication network to teach the specific skill to a learner. 
   
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein traversing the skills graph further comprises creating an ordered list of online courses that are tagged with the specific skill. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein traversing the skills graph further comprises creating an ordered list of at least one of modules, lessons, or videos for the named online course that teaches the specific skill. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors execute instructions stored in the memory, in response to receiving the query, to create a profile for the specific skill. 
     
     
         11 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors execute instructions stored in the memory, in response to receiving the query, to identify other skills related to the specific skill. 
     
     
         12 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors execute instructions stored in the memory, in response to receiving the query, to identify at least one prerequisite skill for mastering the specific skill. 
     
     
         13 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the skills graph is a directed acyclic graph. 
     
     
         14 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the skills graph maps skills to course content. 
     
     
         15 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein an edge of the skills graph is directed from a first vertex to a second vertex, and wherein the edge of the skills graph has an associated relevancy score indicating a relevancy of a skill represented by the first vertex relative to a skill represented by the second vertex. 
     
     
         16 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a memory,   wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
 tag online courses stored in a linear scalable database with skills taught by online courses; 
 generating skills graphs for the online courses stored in the linear scalable database; 
 querying the skills graphs to identify one or more online courses that are tagged with a specific skill, and 
 providing an ordered list of the one or more online courses. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the skills graphs connect the tagged skills to each other and to online course content, each skills graph being a series of vertices and edges, and wherein an edge between a skill vertex and an online course content vertex represents a relevancy of the tagged skill represented by the skill vertex. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein querying the skills graphs to identify one or more online courses that are tagged with a specific skill occurs through a schema-aware data layer interface to the linear scalable database. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the skills graphs are directed acyclic graphs. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising, one or more create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) application programming interfaces (APIs) to manipulate vertices and edges included in a skills graph.