SKILLS CLUSTERING WITH LATENT REPRESENTATION OF WORDS

1 . A computer-implemented method using at least one computer processor, the method comprising:

receiving a request for recommended courses, wherein the request includes a skill of interest;

accessing a plurality of course records to determine whether a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are available;

in accordance with a determination that a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are not available:

accessing a plurality of skill records representing a plurality of skills other than the skill of interest;

generating skill attribute vectors for the skill of interest and the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest;

calculating a distance score between the skill attribute vectors associated with the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest and a skill attribute vector associated with the skill of interest;

ranking the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest based on the distance score associated with their respective skill attribute vectors;

selecting a skill based on the rankings;

identifying at least one course that teaches the selected skill; and

transmitting a course recommendation for the identified course to a client system for presentation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

for the plurality of skills stored in the database at a server system:

generating a skill attribute vector for each skill in the plurality of skills; and

using the generated skill attribute vectors, grouping the plurality of skills into a plurality of skill groups.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein grouping the plurality of skills into a plurality of skill groups further comprises:

selecting a plurality of skill attribute vectors as group central points;

for a particular skill attribute vector associated with a skill:

calculating a distance between the particular skill attribute vector and a plurality of group central points;

selecting, based on the calculated distance, a skill group with a group central point closest to the particular skill attribute vector; and

grouping the particular skill attribute vector into the selected skill group.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

recalculating the group central point of the selected skill group.

5 . The method of claim 3 further comprising:

grouping small skill groups into larger skill groups to create a skill group hierarchy.

6 . The method of claim wherein determining whether a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are available comprises:

accessing metadata for a plurality of courses, the metadata including a list of skills taught by each course; and

identifying whether the metadata for the plurality of courses includes the skill of interest.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

counting a number of courses with metadata that lists the skill of interest;

determining whether the counted number of courses exceeds a requested number of course recommendations; and

in accordance with a determination that the counted number of courses does not exceed the requested number of course recommendations, determining that a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are not available.

8 . A system comprising:

a computer-readable memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors, configure the system to perform a plurality of operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a request for recommended courses, wherein the request includes a skill of interest;

accessing a plurality of course records to determine whether a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are available;

in accordance with a determination that a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are not available:

accessing a plurality of skill records representing a plurality of skills other than the skill of interest;

generating skill attribute vectors for the skill of interest and the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest;

calculating a distance score between the skill attribute vectors associated with the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest and a skill attribute vector associated with the skill of interest;

ranking the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest based on the distance score associated with their respective skill attribute vectors;

selecting a skill based on the rankings;

identifying at least one course that teaches the selected skill; and

transmitting a course recommendation for the identified course to a client system for presentation.

9 . The system of claim 8 , further including operations comprising:

for the plurality of skills stored in the database at a server system:

generating a skill attribute vector for each skill in the plurality of skills; and

using the generated skill attribute vectors, grouping plurality of skills into a plurality of skill groups.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations for grouping the plurality of skills into a plurality of skill groups further comprise operations for:

selecting a plurality of skill attribute vectors as group central points;

for a particular skill attribute vector associated with a skill:

calculating a distance between the particular skill attribute vector and a plurality of group central points;

selecting, based on the calculated distance, a skill group with a group central point closest to the particular skill attribute vector; and

grouping the particular skill attribute vector into the selected skill grog

11 . The system of claim 10 , further including operations comprising:

recalculating the group central point of the selected skill group.

12 . The system of claim 10 , further including operations comprising:

grouping small skill groups into larger skill groups to create a skill group hierarchy.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein operations for determining whether a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are available further comprise operations for:

accessing metadata for a plurality of courses, the metadata including a list of skills taught by each course; and

identifying whether the metadata for the plurality of courses includes the skill of interest.

14 . The system of claim 13 , further including operations comprising:

counting a number of courses with metadata that lists the skill of interest;

determining whether the counted number of courses exceeds a requested number of course recommendations; and

in accordance with a determination that the counted number of courses does not exceed the requested number of course recommendations, determining that a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are not available,

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request for recommended courses, wherein the request includes a skill of interest;

accessing a plurality of course records to determine whether a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are available;

in accordance with a determination that a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are not available:

accessing a plurality of skill records representing a plurality of skills other than the skill of interest;

generating skill attribute vectors for the skill of interest and the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest;

calculating a distance score between the skill attribute vectors associated with the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest and a skill attribute vector associated with the skill of interest;

ranking the plurality of skills other than the skill of interest based on the distance score associated with their respective skill attribute vectors;

selecting a skill based on the rankings;

identifying at least one course that teaches the selected skill; and

transmitting a course recommendation for the identified course to a client system for presentation.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further including operations comprising:

for the plurality of skills stored in the database at a server system:

generating a skill attribute vector for each skill in the plurality of skills; and

using the generated skill attribute vectors, grouping the plurality of skills into a plurality of skill groups.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations for grouping the plurality of skills into a plurality of skill groups further comprise operations for:

selecting a plurality of skill attribute vectors as group central points;

for a particular skill attribute vector associated with a skill:

calculating a distance between the particular skill attribute vector and a plurality of group central points;

selecting, based on the calculated distance, a skill group with a group central point closest to the particular skill attribute vector; and

grouping the particular skill attribute vector into the selected skill group.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further including operations comprising:

recalculating the group central point of the selected skill group.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further including operations comprising:

grouping small skill groups into larger skill groups to create a skill group hierarchy.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein operations for determining whether a sufficient number of courses that teach the skill of interest are available further comprise operations for:

accessing metadata for a plurality of courses, the metadata including a list of skills taught by each course; and

identifying whether the metadata for the plurality of courses includes the skill of interest.