Module-based education

• US 20030232315A1
• Filed: 06/13/2002
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey A. Pfund
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey A. Pfund
• Inventors: Pfund, Jeffrey A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,736,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

The invention is a system and method for conveying information, job skills, academic courses, and/or other forms of learning (collectively “education”). The subject matter being taught is organized into small modular units called content modules. Content modules can be invoked in a highly flexible manner and order, based on interactions with the user. A learning matrix selectively identifies which content module is to be subsequently invoked, on the basis of user goals, test results, prerequisites relating to the subject matter, empirical evidence relating to how persons typically learn the particular subject, prior content modules invoked by the user, and/or any other potentially relevant characteristic. By incorporating information relating to the user, the user'"'"'s performance, the subject matter, and/or empirical data relating to how people learn the specific subject matter, subsequent content modules can be selected to specifically tailor the learning process to the specific context of the user.

Claims

1. A knowledge conveyance system comprising:

a content subsystem, said content subsystem including a plurality of content modules, said plurality of content modules comprising a first content module and a plurality of potential subsequent content modules; and

a module selection subsystem for selectively identifying a second content module from said plurality of subsequent content modules, wherein said second content module is not identified until after the completion of said first content module.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each content module in said plurality of content modules includes less than 35 hours of instruction time.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each content module in said plurality of content modules includes less than 30 minutes of instruction time.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each content module in said plurality of content modules includes approximately 15 minutes of instruction time.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein one said content module in said plurality of content modules comprises a videoconferencing mechanism.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein each said content module in said plurality of content modules comprises a videoconferencing mechanism.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a expert consultation subsystem, said expert consultation subsystem including a user interface and an expert interface;

wherein a question is submitted from said user interface to said expert interface and wherein a response to said question is sent from said expert interface to said user interface.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said question is sent to said expert interface in real-time and said response to said question is sent to said user interface in real-time.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said question is sent in the form of an instant message and said response is sent in the form of an instant message.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a testing subsystem, said testing subsystem including a pre-content test and a pre-content test result, wherein said module selection subsystem selectively identifies said second content module using said pre-content test result.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a testing subsystem, said testing subsystem including a post-content test and a post-content test result, wherein said module selection subsystem selectively identifies said second content module using said post-content test result.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a testing subsystem, said testing subsystem including a post-content test, a post-content test result, a pre-content test, and a pre-content test result, wherein said module selection subsystem selectively identifies said second content module using said post-content test result and said pre-content test result.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one said content module delivers some content information to a user interface using a computer.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one said content module delivers all content information to a user interface using a computer.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein all said content modules deliver all content information to a user interface using a computer.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of content modules are academic content modules.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of content modules are vocational content modules.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said second content module is automatically initiated without human intervention.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a certification is awarded after the completion of said second content module.

20. A knowledge conveyance system comprising:

a content subsystem, said content subsystem including a plurality of content modules, said plurality of content modules comprising a first content module and a plurality of potential subsequent content modules;

a testing subsystem, said testing subsystem including a pre-content test, a pre-content test result, a post-content test, and a post-content test result for each content module in said plurality of content modules; and

a module selection subsystem using said post-content test results and said pre-content test results for selectively identifying a second content module from said plurality of potential subsequent content modules.

21. The system of claim 20, said module selection subsystem including a matrix associating each said potential subsequent content module with a prerequisite, said post-content test result, and said pre-content test result.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein said prerequisite is a predefined prerequisite and said matrix is a predefined matrix.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein each content module includes between 5 and 45 minutes of instruction time.

24. A method for creating a module-based learning system, comprising the steps of:

creating a plurality of content modules and potential test results;

associating each content module with at least one test, and each test with at least one potential test result;

identifying relationships between different content modules; and

generating a matrix for determining the sequence of content modules using the identified relationships between different content modules and the associations with potential test results.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

configuring a computer to automatically sequence content modules with the generated matrix.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the test is a pre-content test.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the test is a post-content test.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the test includes both a post-content test and a pre-content test.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein no content module exceeds 45 minutes in length.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the generated matrix determines a subsequent content module from one of at least four potential content modules.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the generated matrix determines a subsequent content module from more than four potential content modules with a direct relationship to the preceding content module.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein no content module exceeds 49 minutes in length.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the selecting of a subsequent content module is made without human intervention.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising invoking the selected subsequent content module without human intervention.

32. A method for module-based knowledge transference, comprising the steps of:

generating pre-content test results from a pre-content test;

providing information content in the form of a content module;

capturing post-content test results from a post-content test;

selecting a subsequent content module depending on pre-content test results and post-content test results.