Student interaction management system

• US 20070218446A1
• Filed: 03/03/2006
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Burck Smith, Charles Felmeister, Kirk Benningfield, Lukasz Galeeki
• Original Assignee: Burck Smith, Charles Felmeister, Kirk Benningfield, Lukasz Galeeki
• Inventors: Benningfield, Kirk, Galeeki, Lukasz, Smith, Burck, Felmeister, Charles
• Application Number:
  US11/367,284
• Publication Number:
  US 20070218446A1
• 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

Abstract

A system and method for providing a tutoring service over a network comprises a tutoring application server on the network that is capable of serving one or more student interfaces and tutor interfaces over the network. In use, the tutoring application server matches an available tutor in a subject to a student seeking assistance in the subject with a highest priority. It then provides a common template in the form of a whiteboard application that both a matched tutor and student can use to write and draw to interact with one another. A mathematical algorithm that factors: priority for an affiliate institution that uses the system, tutor subject weight, and student time in queue is used to match a student with the highest priority to an available tutor.

Claims

1. A system for providing tutoring services to one or more users, comprising:

a network;

a tutoring application server connected to the network;

one or more student interfaces connected to the tutoring application server over the network;

one or more tutoring interfaces connected to the tutoring application server over the network;

wherein the tutoring application server comprises;

a central processing unit;

memory;

operating system software;

queuing module software for providing graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for students and tutors, wherein the queuing module software matches an available tutor to a student with a highest priority;

tutoring module software for providing GUIs for users and tutors, wherein the tutoring module software including whiteboard module software for providing a common template that both a tutor and a student can use to write and draw to interact with one another.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the queuing module includes an algorithm that matches an available tutor to a student with a highest priority, said algorithm comprising:

an assigned Affiliate Threshold (AT) that reflects a priority for an affiliate institution that uses the system;

an assigned Subject Weight (SW) for each subject taught by a tutor, wherein the SW reflects the proficiency of the tutor in the subject;

instructions for calculating a Threshold Capacity (TC) for each student in a queue seeking assistance in a certain subject when a tutor for the subject becomes available, wherein TC is calculated by summing an AT of each student with a SW of the tutor in the subject;

instructions for calculating a Waiting Threshold (WT) for each of the students in the queue by dividing a time in queue for each of the students by the calculated TC; and

instructions for calculating a Student Priority (SP) for each of the students by dividing the TC of each of the students by the SW of the tutor in the certain subject, wherein a student with a highest SP is determined to have the highest priority.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the tutoring module software interface for a tutor includes interface elements to allow the tutor to switch between a plurality of tutoring duties.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said interface element is selected from the group consisting of icons, hypertext links, menus, and combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein said plurality of duties are selected from the group consisting of synchronous tutoring sessions, asynchronous tutoring sessions, annotation of previously-saved tutoring sessions, and transfer of a tutoring request to another tutor.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the tutoring module software interface for a student includes a display of an estimated wait time.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the tutoring module software interface for a student includes software to view stored content while waiting for a tutor.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said stored content is selected from the group consisting of documents, movies, audio, and combinations thereof

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the tutoring module software includes instructions and interface elements to allow students and tutors to import external content into the common template.

10. A method for providing a tutoring service over a network, comprising

providing a tutoring application server on the network;

serving one or more student interfaces over the network;

serving one or more tutoring interfaces over the network;

wherein the tutoring application server;

matches an available tutor in a subject to a student seeking assistance in the subject with a highest priority; and

provides a common template that both a matched tutor and student can use to write and draw to interact with one another.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the tutoring application server matches the tutor and student with a queuing module and provides the common template with a tutoring module.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising matching an available tutor to a student with a highest priority by:

assigning an Affiliate Threshold (AT) that reflects a priority for an affiliate institution that uses the system;

assigning a Subject Weight (SW) for each subject taught by a tutor, wherein the SW reflects the proficiency of the tutor in the subject;

calculating a Threshold Capacity (TC) for each student in a queue seeking assistance in a certain subject when a tutor for the subject becomes available, wherein TC is calculated by summing an AT of each student with a SW of the tutor in the subject;

calculating a Waiting Threshold (WT) for each of the students in the queue by dividing a time in queue for each of the students by the calculated TC; and

calculating a Student Priority (SP) for each of the students by dividing the TC of each of the students by the SW of the tutor in the certain subject, wherein a student with a highest SP is determined to have the highest priority.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing interface elements to allow the tutor to switch between a plurality of tutoring duties.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said interface elements are selected from the group consisting of icons, hypertext links, menus, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said plurality of duties are selected from the group consisting of synchronous tutoring sessions, asynchronous tutoring sessions, annotation of previously-saved tutoring sessions, and transfer of a tutoring request to another tutor.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying an estimated wait time to each student.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising students viewing stored content while waiting for a tutor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said stored content is selected from the group consisting of documents, movies, audio, and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising allowing students and tutors to import external content into the common template.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising importing the external content in content windows and allowing resizing and annotation of each content window.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein the student seeks assistance in the subject by posting a question to the system and the student can exit the queue and request an asynchronous response from a tutor.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein interaction on the common template is saved for review by the tutor, the student, and an Affiliate.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein the saved interaction is post processed by the tutor to make corrections or add comments.

24. The method of claim 10, wherein the student interface served over the network is a student homepage and the student seeks assistance in the subject and accesses the common template using the homepage.

25. The method of claim 10, wherein the student interface served over the network is the common template and the student seeks assistance in the subject using a local software module to contact the tutoring application server.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising customizing and controlling exit privileges of the student with an XML file.