On-line educational system for grading of assignments and posting grade information in an on-line gradebook

• US 6,678,500 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2001
• Issued: 01/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: eCollege.com, Inc (Pearson plc)
• Original Assignee: eCollege.com, Inc (Pearson plc)
• Inventors: Dobrin, Jon M., Helmick, Robert N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hughes, S. Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): ADAMS, CHANDA L
• Application Number:
  US09/879,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20020137016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 434/362, 434/350, 434/353, 707/512
• US Class Current: 434/362
• 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

An on-line educational system including on-line gradebook and electronic journal features. An instructor builds a course on-line containing identification of assignments and educational materials, which are compiled into an on-line electronic syllabus. Users enrolled in the course may access the electronic syllabus and perform various functions with the on-line educational system in order to participate in the on-line educational course. The instructor can post grade information relating to the users'"'"' assignments into an on-line gradebook, which the users can then access to view the grade information for their assignments. Users can also enter information into an electronic journal and specify which portions of the journal the instructor may view.

Claims

1. A method for providing an on-line gradebook for an instructor to post grade information and an electronic journal for use with an on-line educational system, comprising:

providing on-line content concerning educational materials for a particular educational course;

providing on-line an electronic syllabus for the educational course;

receiving from the instructor grade information relating to users'"'"' assignments for the educational course;

posting the grade information in an on-line gradebook;

providing an electronic journal for a particular one of the users permitting the particular user to enter information into the electronic journal for participation in educational course, wherein the electronic journal provides for association of the entered information with the particular user;

permitting the instructor to enter information into the electronic journal for viewing by the particular user, wherein the electronic journal provides for secure access to instructor'"'"'s entered information by the particular user;

permitting the user to selectively identify permitted access to the electronic journal by the instructor; and

selectively providing access to the electronic journal by the instructor based upon the particular user'"'"'s identification of permitted access.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

permitting each user to access the on-line gradebook; and

restricting each user'"'"'s access of information in the on-line gradebook to information corresponding to each particular user'"'"'s completion of the assignments.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the restricting step includes selectively restricting each user'"'"'s access to the grade information concerning each particular user'"'"'s completion of the assignments.

4. The method of claim 1, further including providing an instructor view of the on-line gradebook for viewing by the instructor, the instructor view providing the instructor with access to the grade information for all of the users.

5. An apparatus for providing an on-line gradebook for an instructor to post grade information and an electronic journal for use with an on-line educational system, comprising:

a content module for providing on-line content concerning educational materials for a particular educational course;

a syllabus module for providing on-line an electronic syllabus for the educational course;

a receive module for receiving from the instructor grade information relating to users'"'"' assignments for the educational course;

a post module for posting the grade information in an on-line gradebook;

a journal module for providing an electronic journal for a particular one of the users permitting the particular user to enter information into the electronic journal for participation in the educational course, wherein the electronic journal provides for association of the entered information with the particular user;

an instructor module for permitting the instructor to enter information into the electronic journal for viewing by the particular user, wherein the electronic journal provides for secure access to the instructor'"'"'s entered information by the particular user;

an access module for permitting the user to selectively identify permitted access to the electronic journal by the instructor; and

a module for selectively providing access to the electronic journal by the instructor based upon particular user'"'"'s identification of permitted access.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further including:

a user module for permitting each user to access the on-line gradebook; and

an access module for restricting each user'"'"'s access of information in the on-line gradebook to information corresponding to each particular user'"'"'s completion of the assignments.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the access module includes a module for selectively restricting each user'"'"'s access to the grade information concerning each particular user'"'"'s completion of the assignments.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further including a module for providing an instructor view of the on-line gradebook for viewing by the instructor, the instructor view providing the instructor with access to the grade information for all of the users.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to perform a method for providing an on-line gradebook for an instructor to post grade information and an electronic journal for use with an on-line educational system, the method including;

providing on-line content concerning educational materials for particular educational course;

providing on-line an electronic syllabus for the educational course;

receiving from the instructor grade information related to users'"'"' assignments for the educational course;

posting the grade information in an on-line gradebook;

providing an electronic journal for a particular one of the users permitting the particular user to enter information into the electronic journal for participation in the educational course, wherein the electronic journal provides for association of the entered information with the particular user;

permitting the instructor to enter information into the electronic journal for viewing by the particular user, wherein the electronic journal provides for secure access to the instructor'"'"'s entered information by the particular user;

permitting the user to selectively identify permitting access to the journal by the instructor; and

selectively providing access to the electronic journal by the instructor based upon the particular user'"'"'s identification of permitted access.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further including:

permitting each user to access the on-line gradebook; and

restricting each user'"'"'s access of information in the on-line gradebook to information corresponding to each particular user'"'"'s completion of the assignments.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the restricting step includes selectively restricting each user'"'"'s access to the grade information concerning each particular user'"'"'s completion of the assignments.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further including providing an instructor view of the on-line gradebook for viewing by the instructor, the instructor view providing the instructor with access to the grade information for all of the users.