METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR USER-INTERFACE-ASSISTED COMPOSITION CONSTRUCTION

• US 20170229032A1
• Filed: 02/03/2017
• Published: 08/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ThinkCERCA.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ThinkCERCA.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Tolman, Josh, Murphy, Ellen, Ross, Abby
• Granted Patent: US 11,164,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/08 providing for individual presentation of information to a plurality of student stations
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/06 of the multiple-choice answer-type, i.e. where a given question is provided with a series of answers and a choice has to be made from the answers
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for user-interface-assisted composition construction. In an embodiment, a plurality of input fields, each having an argument-element type, is presented via a client-side user interface, initially arranged according to a predefined sequence. Textual inputs are received via the input fields, and corresponding argument-building-block elements are responsively presented via the client-side user interface according to a current arrangement on the client-side user interface of the input fields. Each presented argument-building-block element has the same argument-element type and the received textual input of the corresponding user-interface input field. Argument-building selections of one or more of the presented argument-building-block elements are received via the client-side user interface, and a composition is responsively generated in a displayed text editor at least in part by populating the textual inputs into the displayed text editor according to the received argument-building selections. The generated composition is submitted for evaluation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting, via a client-side user interface of an educational platform, a plurality of user-interface input fields initially arranged on the client-side user interface according to a predefined sequence, wherein each of the user-interface input fields has a respective argument-element type from among a plurality of argument-element types;

receiving textual inputs via the respective user-interface input fields, and responsively presenting corresponding argument-building-block elements via the client-side user interface according to a current arrangement on the client-side user interface of the user-interface input fields, wherein each presented argument-building-block element (i) has the same argument-element type as the corresponding user-interface input field and (ii) comprises the textual input received via the corresponding user-interface input field;

receiving, via the client-side user interface, argument-building selections of one or more of the presented argument-building-block elements, and responsively generating a composition in a displayed text editor at least in part by populating the textual inputs into the displayed text editor according to the received argument-building selections; and

submitting the generated composition for evaluation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of argument-element types comprises claim, reasoning, evidence, reason, and counterargument; and

the predefined sequence is claim, reason, evidence, reasoning, counterargument.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated composition pertains to a source-material selection, the method further comprising:

presenting, via the client-side user interface, the source-material selection in juxtaposition with the presented plurality of user-interface input fields.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving annotation input with respect to the presented source-material selection, and responsively updating the presented source-material selection to reflect the received annotation input.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the presented argument-building-block elements have the appearance of respective index cards.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the corresponding argument-building-block elements via the client-side user interface comprises presenting the corresponding argument-building-block elements in a designated staging area on the client-side user interface.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the client-side user interface, reordering input with respect to the user-interface input fields, and responsively reordering both the user-interface input fields and the corresponding argument-building-block elements in accordance with the received reordering input.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the client-side user interface, reordering input with respect to the argument-building-block elements, and responsively reordering both the user-interface input fields and the corresponding argument-building-block elements in accordance with the received reordering input.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the client-side user interface includes a dedicated content-display pane and a dedicated working pane.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the client-side user interface further includes:

a first control panel for selecting what is displayed in the dedicated content-display pane from among a plurality of content-display options; and

a second control panel for selecting what is displayed in the dedicated working pane from among a plurality of working-pane options.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of content-display options comprises two or more of a source-material selection on which the composition is to be based, an overview of the source-material selection, a selection of vocabulary pertaining to the source-material selection, a rubric pertaining to the composition, a set of user annotations of the source-material selection, and a designated staging area for user work product pertaining to the source-material selection.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of working-pane options comprises an ordered series of predefined different types of user-input stages for producing the composition based on the source-material selection.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of working-pane options comprises an ordered series of predefined different types of user-input stages for producing the composition based on a source-material selection.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving text-modification input via the displayed text editor with respect to the populated textual inputs,

wherein generating the composition further comprises modifying the populated textual inputs in the displayed text editor according to the received text-modification input prior to submitting the generated composition for evaluation.

15. The method of claim 1, carried out at least in part by a web browser executing on a processor-based computing-and-communication system.

16. The method of claim 1, carried out at least in part by runtime execution of JavaScript code.

17. The method of claim 1, carried out at least in part by a JavaScript argument-builder studentResponse model.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the JavaScript argument-builder studentResponse model is a child model of a JavaScript studentAssignment model.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the JavaScript studentAssignment model comprises at least one additional child JavaScript studentResponse model other than the JavaScript argument-builder studentResponse model, wherein the at least one additional child JavaScript studentResponse model has a different student-input format than that of the JavaScript argument-builder studentResponse model.

20. A client-side computing device comprising:

a client-device communication interface;

a client-device user interface;

a client-device processor; and

client-device data storage containing client-device instructions executable by the client-device processor for causing the client-side computing device to carry out a set of functions, wherein the set of functions includes;

presenting, via a client-side user interface of an educational platform via the client-device user interface, a plurality of user-interface input fields initially arranged on the client-side user interface according to a predefined sequence, wherein each of the user-interface input fields has a respective argument-element type from among a plurality of argument-element types;

receiving textual inputs via the respective user-interface input fields, and responsively presenting corresponding argument-building-block elements via the client-side user interface according to a current arrangement on the client-side user interface of the user-interface input fields, wherein each presented argument-building-block element (i) has the same argument-element type as the corresponding user-interface input field and (ii) comprises the textual input received via the corresponding user-interface input field;

receiving, via the client-side user interface, argument-building selections of one or more of the presented argument-building-block elements, and responsively generating a composition in a displayed text editor at least in part by populating the textual inputs into the displayed text editor according to the received argument-building selections; and

submitting, via the communication interface, the generated composition for evaluation.