System and method of matching teachers with students to facilitate conducting online private instruction over a global network

• US 20020064767A1
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Published: 05/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signum International AG
• Original Assignee: Englishtown Incorporated
• Inventors: McCormick, Christopher, Lim, Molly, Sollom, Richard, Shtessel, Alena
• Granted Patent: US 7,031,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/396
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/14 with provision for individual teacher-student communication
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/927 Education or instruction

Abstract

Described are a system and method for facilitating private instruction over a network between a teacher and a student. Profile information is received from each student who registers for a private course. Each student who registers for a private course is included in a list of students who are unassigned to a teacher. Each teacher who is able to teach a private course has access over the network to the list of students and the profile information of the students. One of the teachers who is able to teach a given private course is assigned to one of the students in the list of students enrolled in that given private course based upon the profile information of that student.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating private instruction over a network between a teacher and a student, comprising the steps of:

receiving student profile information from each student who registers for a private course;

adding each student who registers for a private course to a list of students who are unassigned to a teacher;

enabling access to the list of students and the profile information of the students over the network by each teacher who is able to teach a private course; and

assigning one of the teachers capable of teaching a given private course to one of the students in the list of students enrolled in that given private course based upon the profile information of that student.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning one of the authorized teachers to one of the student includes selecting that one student from the list of students by that one teacher.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning one of the authorized teachers to one of the students includes selecting that one teacher from a list of teachers by an administrator.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising placing each student in the list of students in an order based upon an enrollment date of each student.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the teacher assigned to the one student is in a different time zone than that student.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating between the assigned teacher and the student to negotiate terms related to conducting the given private course.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein one negotiated term is when a discussion session is to occur between the assigned teacher and the student.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein each student profile information identifies a preferred time of day and a preferred day of the week for conducting a discussion session with a teacher.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising opening a voice channel between the assigned teacher and student for conducting discussion sessions.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising opening a text channel between the assigned teacher and student for conducting discussion sessions.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the given private course is a course for teaching a language that is foreign to the student.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the foreign language is English.

14. The server system of claim 13, wherein the client system is operated by a given teacher who is able to teach the given private course, and wherein the software assigns the given teacher to a student in response to input from the client system indicating that the teacher selected that student.

15. The server system of claim 13, wherein the client system is operated by an administrator, and wherein the software assigns a teacher to a student in response to input from the client system indicating that the administrator matched that teacher to that student.

16. The server system of claim 13 wherein the network is the World Wide Web.

17. The server system of claim 13 wherein each student profile information identifies a preferred time of day and a preferred day of the week for conducting a discussion session with a teacher.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the computer-readable program means for assigning one of the teachers to one of the students in the list of students assigns that one teacher to that one student in response to input from a client system operated by that one teacher indicating that that teacher selected that one student.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the computer-readable program means for assigning one of the teachers to one of the students in the list of students assigns that one teacher to that one student in response to input from a client system operated by an administrator indicating that the administrator matched that one teacher with that one student.

13. A server system for facilitating private instruction over a network between a teacher and a student, comprising:

an input system receiving student profile information from each student who registers for a private course;

a queue listing students registered for a private course who are unassigned to a teacher, the queue of students and the profile information of the students being accessible over the network by each client system that is operated by a teacher who is able to teach a private course; and

software executing on the server system in communication with a client system over the network, the software assigning a teacher who is able to teach a given private course to one of the students in the queue of students registered in that given private course based upon the profile information of that student.

18. An article of manufacture having computer-readable program means embodied thereon for facilitating private instruction over a network between a teacher and a student, the article of manufacture comprising:

computer-readable program means for receiving student profile information from each student who registers for a private course;

computer-readable program means for adding each student who registers for a private course to a list of students who are unassigned to a teacher;

computer-readable program means for enabling access to the list of students and the profile information of the students over the network by each teacher who is able to teach a private course; and

computer-readable program means for assigning one of the teachers able to teach a given private course to one of the students in the list of students enrolled in that given private course based upon the profile information of that student.