Online education system and method

• US 6,928,260 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2001
• Issued: 08/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ChildCare Education Institute LLC (Brentwood Associates)
• Original Assignee: ChildCare Education Institute LLC (Brentwood Associates)
• Inventors: Betz, Michael J., Nalesnik, Christopher, Ganza, William
• Primary Examiner(s): ADAMS, CHANDA L
• Application Number:
  US09/829,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20020146674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/362, 434/322, 434/323, 434/118, 434/307.R
• US Class Current: 434/350
• 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

Abstract

A method and system for online education that includes an educator provider system and at least one student system connected via a network means so that at least one lesson can be transmitted from the provider system to the student system. One embodiment of the present invention uses an interactive lesson with at least one audio file that controls the pace of the presentation of the lesson. The present invention can further comprise a mechanism for generating a lesson completion record after a student has completed the lesson. The lesson completion record is immediately transmitted upon completion of the lesson to a student and/or an education authority in order to certify that the student has completed the lesson and has spent the requisite minimum time period on that lesson.

Claims

1. An online education system that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on at least one lesson, the system comprising:

an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson comprising an audio file wherein the at least one lesson comprises content and wherein the audio file is associated with the content of the at least one lesson;

at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student;

network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

such that when the at least one lesson is transmitted over the network means from the educator provider system to the at least one student system, the presentation of the at least one lesson is controlled by an audio controlling means based on the received audio file, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the at least one lesson until the audio file has completed playing.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the educator provider system is capable of generating the at least one lesson.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an education authority system connected to the network means.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the education authority system is capable of generating the at least one lesson.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the educator provider system includes means for generating a course completion record for transmission over the network means to the education authority system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the educator provider system includes means for generating an electronic certificate for transmission over the network means to the at least one student system.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one student system includes a printer, means for receiving the electronic certificate, and means for printing the received electronic certificate on the printer.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the network means comprises a global network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the global network comprises the Internet.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one student system comprises an Internet browser.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the audio controlling means comprises a browser plug-in suitable for use in streaming audio content over the Internet.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for interrupting the at least one lesson.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising means for tracking the point at which the at least one lesson was interrupted, and means for resuming the interrupted lesson at such recorded point.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one lesson comprises a plurality of presentations, at least one of the plurality of presentations having at least one audio file associated therewith.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the plurality of presentations comprises a test for the student.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive lesson further comprises at least one video file, the system further comprising:

a video controlling means for controlling presentation of the lesson based on the received at least one video file.

17. An online education system that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on at least one lesson, the system comprising:

an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson comprising at least one video file wherein the at least one lesson comprises content and wherein the at least one video file is associated with the content of the at least one lesson;

at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the lesson to at least one student;

network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication; and

a video controlling means operably connected to the network means, such that when the at least one lesson is transmitted over the network means from the educator provider system to the at least one student system, the presentation of the at least one lesson is controlled by the video controlling means based on the received video file, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the at least one lesson until the video file has completed playing.

18. A system for online education that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on at least one lesson, the system comprising:

an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson comprising content and at least one audio file or at least one video file associated with the content, and for transmission of a lesson completion record that certifies that the required amount of time was spent on the lesson, wherein the at least one audio file or at least one video file controls the presentation of the lesson, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the at least one lesson until the audio file or video file has completed playing;

at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student; and

network means connected to the educator provider system and the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

such that after completion of the transmission of the at least one lesson over the network means from the education provider system to the at least one student system, the lesson completion record is immediately transmitted to the at least one student system upon the completion of the lesson.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the lesson completion record includes a unique course instance identifier.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the lesson completion record comprises an electronic certificate; and

the at least one student system includes means for printing the electronic certificate.

21. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

an education authority system connected to the network means for receipt of the lesson completion record.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the completion record comprises a certificate of completion, and wherein the student system on which the lesson was completed further comprises means for printing, the method further comprising the step of:

printing the certificate of completion with the printing means.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the online education system further comprises an education authority system connected to the network, the method further comprising the step of:

transmitting the completion record from the educator provider system to the education authority system.

24. A method of online education of at least one lesson that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on the at least one lesson, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an online education system including;

(a) an educator provider system for transmission of at least one interactive lesson comprising an audio file, wherein the at least one interactive lesson comprises content and the audio file is associated with the content of the at least one lesson;

(b) at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student; and

(c) network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

transmitting one of the at least one lessons from the educator provider system to one of the at least one student systems;

receiving and presenting the transmitted lesson at the student system; and

controlling the pace of the presentation of the received lesson with the received audio file, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the received lesson until the received audio file has completed playing.

25. A method of online education of at least one lesson that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on the at least one lesson, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an online education system including;

(a) an educator provider system for transmission of a plurality of presentations that make up a lesson, at least one of the plurality of presentations comprising content and having at least one audio file associated therewith, the at least one audio file being associated with the content;

(b) at least one student system capable of receiving each of the plurality of presentations and presenting each of the plurality of presentations to at least one student; and

(c) network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

transmitting each of the plurality of presentations from the educator provider system to one of the at least one student systems;

receiving and presenting each of the transmitted plurality of presentations at the student system; and

controlling the pace of the presentation of each of the transmitted plurality of presentations of the lesson based on the audio file associated with that presentation, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the lesson until the at least one audio file associated with that presentation has completely played.

26. A method of online education of at least one lesson that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on the at least one lesson, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an online education system including;

(a) an educator provider system for transmission of at least one interactive lesson comprising content and at least one video file, the at least one video file being associated with the content of the at least one interactive lesson;

(b) at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the lesson to at least one student;

(c) network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication; and

(d) a video controlling means operably connected to the network means;

transmitting one of the at least one lessons from the educator provider system to one of the at least one student systems;

receiving and presenting the transmitted lesson at the student system; and

controlling the pace of the presentation of the received lesson with the video controlling means based on the at least one video file, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the received lesson until the at least one video file has completed playing.

27. A method of online education of at least one lesson that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on at least one lesson wherein the at least one lesson comprises content, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an online education system including;

(a) an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson and for transmission of a lesson completion record that certifies that the required amount of time was spent on the lesson;

(b) at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student; and

(c) network means connected to the educator provider system and the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

transmitting one of the at least one lessons from the educator provider system to one of the at least one student systems;

receiving and presenting the transmitted lesson at the student system until the transmitted lesson is completed;

controlling the presentation of the lesson with at least one audio file or at least one video file associated with the content of the at least one lesson so that the at least one student cannot advance in the lesson until the at least one audio file or at least one video file has completed playing;

generating the lesson completion record with the educator provider system; and

immediately transmitting the lesson completion record from the educator provider system to the student system on which the lesson was completed, upon the completion of the lesson.

28. A method of online education of at least one lesson that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on the at least one lesson, wherein the at least one lesson comprises content, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an online education system including;

(a) an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson and for transmission of a lesson completion record that certifies that the required amount of time was spent on the lesson;

(b) a student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to a student using the student system;

(c) an education authority system capable of receipt of the lesson completion record; and

(d) a network means operably connected to the educator provider system, the student system, and the education authority system;

transmitting one of the at least one lessons from the educator provider system to the student system;

receiving and presenting the transmitted lesson at the student system until the transmitted lesson is completed;

controlling the presentation of the lesson with at least one audio file or at least one video file associated with the content of the at least one lesson so that the at least one student cannot advance in the lesson until the at least one audio file or at least one video file has completed playing;

generating with the educator provider system the lesson completion record; and

immediately transmitting the lesson completion record from the educator provider system to the education authority system upon the completion of the lesson.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising, after the step of transmitting the lesson completion record, the step of:

accepting the lesson completion record.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising, after the step of accepting the lesson completion record, the step of:

granting course credit to the student.

31. An online education system that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on at least one lesson, the lesson comprising a plurality of presentations, each of the plurality of presentations comprising content, the system comprising:

an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson comprising an audio file or video file wherein the audio file or video file is associated with the content of at least one of the plurality of presentations;

at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student;

network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

such that when the at least one lesson is transmitted over the network means from the educator provider system to the at least one student system, the presentation of the at least one lesson is controlled by a controlling means based on the received audio file or video file, so that the at least one student cannot advance the presentation having the content to which the audio file is associated until the audio file or video file has completed playing.

32. An online education system that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on at least one lesson, the system comprising:

an educator provider system for transmission of at least one lesson comprising an audio file or video file, wherein the at least one lesson comprises content and at least one interactive test, the at least one interactive test relating to the content, and wherein the audio file or video file is associated with the content of the at least one lesson;

at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student;

network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

such that when the at least one lesson is transmitted over the network means from the educator provider system to the at least one student system, the presentation of the at least one lesson is controlled by a controlling means based on the received audio file or video file, so that the at least one student cannot advance in the at least one lesson until the received audio file or video file has completed playing, and such that the test is transmitted to the at least one student system to determine if the at least one student has comprehended the content, and the at least one student is not permitted to advance in the at least one lesson until it is determined by the test that the at least one student has comprehended the content.

33. A method of online education of at least one lesson that guarantees that at least one student spends a specified amount of time on the at least one lesson, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an online education system including;

(a) an educator provider system for transmission of at least one interactive lesson, the at least one interactive lesson comprising a first presentation and a second presentation, the first presentation having content and an audio file or video file associated with the content of the first presentation, the second presentation comprising an interactive test;

(b) at least one student system capable of receiving the at least one lesson and presenting the at least one lesson to at least one student; and

(c) network means for connecting the educator provider system with the at least one student system in bidirectional communication;

transmitting the first presentation of the at least one interactive lesson from the education provider system to one of the at least one student systems;

receiving and presenting the transmitted first presentation at the same at least one student system;

controlling the pace of the presentation of the received first presentation with the received audio file or video file so that the at least one student cannot advance in the received lesson until the audio file or video file has completed playing;

transmitting the second presentation of the at least one interactive lesson from the education provider system to the same at least one student system;

receiving and presenting the transmitted second presentation at the student system;

transmitting and receiving the at least one student'"'"'s answers to inquiries made to the interactive test between the education provider system to the student system, and evaluating the answers to determine whether the at least one student has comprehended the content of the lesson; and

controlling the pace of the presentation of the received second presentation so that the at least one student cannot advance in the received lesson until it is determined that that student has comprehended the content of the lesson.