System and method for providing differentiated content based on skill level

• US 20090311657A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Achieve3000, Inc. (McGraw Hill LLC)
• Original Assignee: Achieve3000, Inc. (McGraw Hill LLC)
• Inventors: Gertler, Susan, Dodelson, Saki, Locker, Rivki
• Granted Patent: US 8,714,986 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/10 all student stations being capable of presenting the same information simultaneously G09B5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/08 characterised by modifying the teaching programme in response to a wrong answer, e.g. repeating the question, supplying further information

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for providing differentiated content to a user comprising determining a skill level of the user, obtaining unmodified content, aligning the unmodified content to a set of content standards, modifying the aligned content in accordance with the user'"'"'s skill level, providing the modified aligned content to the user, re-assessing the user'"'"'s skill level based on a response from the user to the modified aligned content, and modifying new aligned content in accordance with the re-assessed user'"'"'s skill level.

Claims

1. A method for providing differentiated content to a user, comprising the steps of:

providing a first set of questions to the user;

receiving a first set of answers related to the first set of questions from the user;

analyzing the first set of answers to produce a first skill level associated with the user;

obtaining a first unmodified content from at least one source;

modifying the first unmodified content in accordance with the first skill level of the user to produce a first modified content;

generating a second set of questions related to the first modified content;

presenting the first modified content and the second set of questions to the user;

receiving a second set of answers related to the second set of questions from the user;

analyzing the second set of answers to produce a second skill level associated with the user;

obtaining a second unmodified content from at least one source; and

modifying the second unmodified content in accordance with the second skill level to produce a second modified content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of modifying the first unmodified content to produce a first modified content further comprises the steps of:

obtaining a first set of content standards;

aligning the first unmodified content to the first set of content standards to produce a first aligned content, wherein the first aligned content is similar in information to the first unmodified content but different in presentation from the first unmodified content; and

matching the first aligned content to the first skill level of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first set of content standards is selected from the group consisting of educational standards, industry training standards, and job performance standards.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of aligning the first unmodified content to the first set of content standards further comprises the step of using a set of intermediate standards.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of preparing a first lesson plan using the first modified content, wherein the first lesson plan comprises a set of lesson exercises related to the first skill level.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of preparing a second lesson plan using the second modified content, wherein the second lesson plan comprises a set of lesson exercises related to the second skill level.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of preparing a second lesson plan using the first modified content, wherein the second lesson plan comprises a set of lesson exercises related to the second skill level.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of developing a user profile associated with the user, wherein the user profile comprises user identification information, learning characteristics, personal interests, and the first and second skill levels of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the first set of answers to produce a first skill level associated with the user further comprises the step of comparing the first set of answers to a first set of content standards.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of delivering the first modified content via an e-mail communication.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of presenting the e-mail communication in a format associated with the first skill level.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of delivering the second modified content via an e-mail communication.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of presenting the e-mail communication in a format associated with the second skill level.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first skill level and the second skill level are the same.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first skill level and the second skill level are different.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing feedback to the user regarding the analysis of the second set of answers to produce the second skill level.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of receiving a modified second set of answers based on the feedback provided to the user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of analyzing the modified second set of answers to produce a third skill level.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of delivering the analysis of the first set of answers and the analysis of the second set of answers to an evaluator.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of receiving a modification to the first skill level by the evaluator.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of receiving a modification to the second skill level by the evaluator.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a substitute first skill level from the evaluator; and

replacing the first skill level with the substitute first skill level.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second unmodified contents are selected from the group consisting of textbooks, news articles, educational lessons, and industry training materials.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one source is selected from the group consisting of a school database, a news database, an educational database, a proprietary database, and an evaluator.

25. A method for providing content to a plurality of users, where the content provided to each user is the same in information but customized in presentation in accordance with a skill level of each user, comprising the steps of:

providing a first set of questions to the plurality of users;

receiving a plurality of first sets of answers related to the first set of questions, wherein each first set of answers is associated with each user of the plurality of users;

analyzing each first set of answers of the plurality of first sets of answers to produce a plurality of first skill levels, wherein each first skill level is associated with each user;

obtaining a first unmodified content from at least one source;

modifying the first unmodified content to produce a plurality of versions of first modified content, wherein each version of first modified content is associated with each first skill level associated with each user;

generating a plurality of second sets of questions wherein each second set of questions is related to each version of first modified content;

matching each version of first modified content and each second set of questions to each first skill level associated with each user; and

presenting each matched version of first modified content and each matched second set of questions to each user of the plurality of users.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of second sets of answers from the plurality of users, wherein each second set of answers is related to each second set of questions;

analyzing each second set of answers to produce a plurality of second skill levels, wherein each second skill level is associated with each user;

obtaining a second unmodified content from at least one source; and

modifying the second unmodified content to produce a plurality of versions of second modified content, wherein each version of second modified content is associated with each second skill level associated with each user.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of modifying the first unmodified content to produce a plurality of versions of first modified content further comprises the steps of:

obtaining a first set of content standards;

aligning the first unmodified content to the first set of content standards to produce a plurality of versions of first aligned content, wherein each version of first aligned content is similar in information to the first unmodified content and is different in presentation from the first unmodified content and from the other versions of first aligned content; and

matching each version of first aligned content to each first skill level associated with user.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of aligning the first unmodified content to the first set of content standards further comprises the step of using a set of intermediate standards.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of preparing a plurality of first lesson plans, wherein each first lesson plan relates to each version of first modified content, wherein each first lesson plan comprises a set of lesson exercises related to each first skill level of each user.

30. A computer system for providing differentiated content to a user, comprising:

at least one central processing unit;

at least one set of support circuits;

a first server comprising a differentiation engine, wherein the differentiation engine comprises;

a profile database for storing a user profile; and

an assessment application to perform the functions of;

developing a user profile, wherein the user profile comprises learning characteristics of the user;

assessing a plurality of skill levels associated with the user; and

preparing customized content based on the plurality of skill levels; and

a second server comprising a standards engine communicatively connected with the differentiation engine, wherein the standards engine comprises;

a standards database for storing a plurality of sets of content standards;

an intermediate standards database for storing a plurality of sets of intermediate standards; and

an alignment application to perform the functions of;

obtaining unmodified content; and

applying a set of intermediate standards to align the unmodified content to a set of content standards from the plurality of sets of content standards.

31. The computer system of claim 30, further comprising a third server comprising a communication engine communicatively connected with the differentiation engine, wherein the communication engine comprises a communication application to perform the functions of:

preparing communications to the user, wherein the communications are customized to the plurality of skill levels of the user; and

delivering the customized content to the user.

32. The computer system of claim 31, wherein the communication application further performs the function of communicatively connecting the user with other users associated with the system.

33. The computer system of claim 30, further comprising a fourth server comprising a feedback engine communicatively connected with each of the differentiation engine and the standards engine, wherein the feedback engine comprises:

a performance database storing performance and progress data associated with the user; and

a feedback application to perform the functions of;

generating performance and progress data associated with the user based upon a user response to the customized content; and

providing the performance and progress data to the user and to an evaluator.

34. The computer system of claim 30, wherein each of the differentiation engine and the standards engine is stored and maintained on a server.

35. The computer system of claim 30, wherein both the differentiation engine and the standards engine are stored and maintained on a single server.

36. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the differentiation engine communicatively connects to an aligned content database, wherein the aligned content database stores content aligned to a set of content standards from the plurality of content standards.

37. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the standards engine communicatively connects to at least one external unmodified content database.

38. The computer system of claim 37, wherein the at least one external unmodified content database comprises unmodified content selected from the group consisting of textbooks, news articles, educational lessons, and industry training materials.

39. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the plurality of sets of content standards include at least one of a set of educational standards, a set of industry training standards, and a set of job performance standards.

40. A computer system for providing differentiated content to a user comprises:

a central processing unit;

a set of support circuits; and

a server, wherein the server stores and maintains a memory comprising;

at least one operating system;

a differentiation engine;

a communication engine interfacing with the differentiation engine;

a standards engine interfacing with the differentiation engine; and

a feedback engine interfacing with the differentiation engine, the communications engine, and the standards engine.

41. A computer-readable memory medium storing executable code for implementing a method to provide differentiated content to a user on a computer, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

providing a first set of questions to the user,

receiving a first set of answers related to the first set of questions from the user;

analyzing the first set of answers to produce a first skill level associated with the user;

obtaining a first unmodified content from at least one source;

modifying the first unmodified content in relation to first skill level of the user to produce a first modified content;

generating a second set of questions related to the first modified content;

presenting the first modified content and the second set of questions to the user;

receiving a second set of answers related to the second set of questions from the user;

analyzing the second set of answers to produce a second skill level associated with the user;

obtaining a second unmodified content from at least one source; and

modifying the second unmodified content in relation to the second skill level to produce a second modified content.

42. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 41, wherein the executable code implements at least a subset of the steps of the method in real-time.

43. A computer-readable memory medium storing executable code for implementing a method to provide content to a plurality of users, where the content provided to each user is the same in information but customized in presentation in accordance with a skill level of each user, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

providing a first set of questions to the plurality of users;

receiving a plurality of first sets of answers related to the first set of questions, wherein each first set of answers is associated with each user of the plurality of users;

analyzing each first set of answers of the plurality of first sets of answers to produce a plurality of first skill levels, wherein each first skill level is associated with each user;

obtaining a first unmodified content from at least one source;

modifying the first unmodified content to produce a plurality of versions of first modified content, wherein each version of first modified content is associated with each first skill level associated with each user;

generating a plurality of second sets of questions wherein each second set of questions is related to each version of first modified content;

matching each version of first modified content and each second set of questions to each first skill level associated with each user; and

presenting each matched version of first modified content and each matched second set of questions to each user of the plurality of users.

44. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 43, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of second sets of answers from the plurality of users, wherein each second set of answers is related to each second set of questions;

analyzing each second set of answers to produce a plurality of second skill levels, wherein each second skill level is associated with each user;

obtaining a second unmodified content from at least one source; and

modifying the second unmodified content to produce a plurality of versions of second modified content, wherein each version of second modified content is associated with each second skill level associated with each user.

45. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 43, wherein the wherein the executable code implements at least a subset of the steps of the method in real-time.