Patent Application
20150356699
In today's school environment, students are scheduled into various classes throughout the day. In particular, a student may have math during first period, biology during second period, social studies during third period, lunch during fourth period, physical education during fifth period, an elective subject matter during six period and English during seventh period. The class schedule for any particular student does not vary from day to day regardless of whether the student needs more help with math than biology. Thus, each student's ability to learn any one subject matter faster than another is not taken into account in meeting the learning needs of each particular student.
Various embodiments of the present systems and methods recognize and address the foregoing considerations, and others, of prior art systems and methods.
In an embodiment, the invention is directed to a system for adaptively scheduling a plurality of students in a plurality of classrooms that comprises at least one processor, memory coupled to the at least one processor, and a display operatively coupled to the at least one processor. In various embodiments, the at least one processor is configured to receive information regarding each one of a plurality of students and the skills that each student needs to learn, as determined prior to a first particular time period. Skills that are needed to be learned may be based on any subject matter (e.g., math, science, social studies, English, language arts, etc.) and may be a subset of any one particular subject matter (e.g., for math the skill may be addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.). The system may also be configured to receive information regarding a plurality of skills and the resources needed for each one of the plurality of skills. For example, for the skill of addition, the system may select from one or more activities for teaching addition where each activity (e.g., playing a dice game, making change, working in groups, etc.) requires different resources (e.g., dice, fake money, group stations, etc.) to complete the activity.
Furthermore, the system may also be configured to receive information regarding the available teachers during the particular period of time, and to receive information regarding the available classrooms during the particular period of time and the resources available in each one of the available classrooms. The system, based at least partially upon receiving the at least one or more of the foregoing, calculates assignments of students, teachers, and classrooms to best meet the learning needs of a majority of the students, and display the assignments for the particular period of time to the students and teachers prior to the start of the particular period of time.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in this specification, which makes reference to the appended drawings, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to presently preferred embodiments of the present system, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit thereof For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
A dynamic scheduling system, in various embodiments, is configured to assign each particular student of a plurality of students to a particular available classroom to perform a particular activity or lesson available in that particular available classroom that is supervised by a particular available instructor. In particular embodiments, the system is configured to receive information that comprises: (1) information associated with one or more available classrooms; (2) information associated with one or more available instructors; (3) information associated with one or more available resources; and (4) information associated with one or more needs of each of the plurality of students, where the one or more needs may include, for example, a need to improve in a particular academic area of a particular academic subject (e.g., reading, adding, subtracting, stoichiometry, etc.). In various embodiments, the system is configured to dynamically schedule each of the plurality of students into an available classroom with an available instructor for a first particular time period to perform a particular lesson or activity based at least in part on each student's needs. In various embodiments the system is configured to weigh a first student's needs against a second student's needs in order to complete the dynamic scheduling. For example, where more than a maximum number of students have a need to complete a particular lesson that requires placement in a particular classroom, the system will determine which students have the greatest need for that particular lesson when scheduling the students and also whether a student has another need that can be satisfied by another lesson being offered at the same time. In particular embodiments, the system is configured to optimize the pairing of students, classrooms, teachers, and activities/lessons in order to provide the substantially greatest benefit to the plurality of students as a whole rather than, for example, any particular student individually.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant field, the present systems and methods may be, for example, embodied as a computer system, a method, or a computer program product. Accordingly, various embodiments may be entirely hardware or a combination of hardware and software. Furthermore, particular embodiments may take the form of a computer program product stored on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions (e.g., software) embodied in the storage medium. Various embodiments may also take the form of web-implemented computer software. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized including, for example, hard disks, compact disks, DVDs, optical storage devices, and/or magnetic storage devices.
Various embodiments are described below with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatuses (e.g., systems), and computer program products. It should be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by a computer executing computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine. As such, the instructions executed on the general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article that is configured for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including but not limited to: a local area network (LAN); a wide area network (WAN); a cellular network; or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article that is configured for implementing the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that are executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
The one or more networks 40 may include any of a variety of types of wired or wireless computer networks such as the Internet, a private intranet, a mesh network, a public switch telephone network (PSTN), or any other type of network (e.g., a network that uses Bluetooth or near field communications to facilitate communication between computers). The one or more networks 40 may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a cellular network, and/or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In particular embodiments, the one or more networks 40, together with the scheduling server 20, facilitate communication between the one or more third party servers 30, one or more remote computing devices 50, interactive display 60, and/or one or more mobile computing devices 70, as described in more detail herein.
The one or more remote computing devices 50 are operatively connected to the interactive display 60 by a universal serial bus (USB). In other embodiments, one or more remote computing devices 50 may be operatively connected to the interactive display 60 by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or any suitable wireless protocol type connection. The interactive display 60 may be, for example, any suitable display device with input/output capabilities (e.g., a monitor, a smart TV, etc.). In a particular embodiment, the interactive display 60 is an interactive whiteboard that is touch and/or pen input enabled, such as those produced by Promethean World Plc. (Promethean, Ltd.). An example of an interactive whiteboard is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,325,162 to Promethean Ltd., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. It should be understood, in light of this disclosure, that the interactive display 60, in one or more embodiments, is an interactive display other than a whiteboard, such as a computer monitor, which may or may not be touch-enabled, a touch screen computer, an interactive table display, a projector with a screen having one or more input sensor (e.g., a light curtain), a television operatively connected to one or more motion sensing devices, etc.
In particular embodiments, the scheduling server 20 may be connected (e.g., networked) to one or more other computers via a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, and/or the Internet (e.g., one or more networks 40). As noted above, the scheduling server 20 may operate in the capacity of a client computer in a client-server network environment, and/or as a peer computer in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The scheduling server 20 may be a desktop personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, smart TV, an interactive whiteboard, a server, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any other computer capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that computer. Further, while only a single computer is illustrated, the term “computer” should also be understood to include any collection of computers that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
An exemplary scheduling server 20 includes a processor 202, a main memory 204 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 206 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 218, which communicate with each other via a bus 232. The scheduling server 20 may further include a network interface device 208, a video display unit 210 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 212 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 214 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 216 (e.g., a speaker)).
The processor 202 represents one or more general-purpose processors such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the processor 202 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. The processor 202 may also be one or more special-purpose processors such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like. The processor 202 may be configured to execute processing logic 226 for performing various operations and steps discussed herein.
The data storage device 218 may include a machine-accessible storage medium 230 (also known as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or a non-transitory computer-readable medium) on which is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., the scheduling module 300) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The scheduling module 300 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 204 and/or within the processor 202 during execution thereof by the scheduling server 20—the main memory 204 and the processor 202 also constituting computer-accessible storage media. The scheduling module 300 may further be transmitted or received over the network 40 via a network interface device 208. It should be understood that of the scheduling server 20 (or other system computers, or other computers outside the system). Operation of the scheduling module 300 is discussed in further detail below.
While the computing device-accessible storage medium 230 is shown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computing device-accessible storage medium” should be understood to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “computing device-accessible storage medium” should also be understood to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the computing device and that cause the computing device to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. The term “computing device-accessible storage medium” should accordingly be understood to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, etc.
The system of
Moreover, the method described in
Referring to
Step 310 by receiving information regarding available teachers for a first particular time period. In various embodiments, the available teachers may include any teachers at a particular school that are assigned (e.g., scheduled) to work during the first particular time period. In particular embodiments, the information regarding the available teachers may include, for each one of the available teachers any of the following information: (1) one or more subjects that the teacher is qualified to teach (e.g., math, science, social studies, English, one or more foreign languages, etc.); (2) a subspecialty within the one or more subjects in which the teacher may specialize (e.g., calculus or algebra in the case of math, American history in the case of social studies, etc.); (3) information associated with one or more special qualifications or certifications the teacher may have such as, for example, certification to work with special needs students, certification to work with English as a Second Language (ESL) students, etc.; (4) information associated with one or more age levels or grade levels the teacher is qualified to teach, is assigned to teach, or has a preference for teaching; (5) information associated with one or more particular lessons the teacher is capable of teaching; (6) information associated with one or more students the teacher has taught previously and information associated with how those one or more students have performed when taught by the teacher (e.g., based on the one or more student's performance on one or more graded assignments for the teacher, etc.); and/or (7) any other suitable information related to the available teachers.
In particular embodiments, the systems are configured to receive the information related to the available teachers from a database or other suitable source that includes a listing of one or more teachers and periods to which the one or more teachers are assigned to teach (e.g., a listing of which of a plurality of teachers are assigned to teach during the first particular time period and are therefore available teachers for the particular period).
Continuing at Step 320, the system receives information regarding each one of a plurality of available classrooms for the first particular time period. In various embodiments, the available classrooms for the first particular time period may include all classrooms in a particular school. In other embodiments, the available classrooms for the first particular time period may include all classrooms in a particular school that are not already assigned or known to be in use during the first particular time period. In particular embodiments, the available classrooms for the first particular time period may include all the available classrooms for a portion of a larger academic institution, such as, for example, all available classrooms associated with a particular college within a particular university, all available classrooms in a particular building of a particular school (e.g., a high school, middle school, elementary school, etc.), all available classrooms in a particular portion of a school (e.g., the middle school portion of a preparatory school that includes both a middle and high school), etc.
In various embodiments, the information regarding each one of the plurality of available classrooms may include, for example: (1) a capacity of each classroom (e.g., number of seats available); (2) an arrangement of each classroom (e.g., whether the classroom has individual student desks, lab stations for one or more students, one or more tables and how many students each of the one or more tables can accommodate, an auditorium arrangement, etc.); (3) resources available in each classroom (e.g., fixed resources) such as, for example, chalkboards, whiteboards, computers, particular software installed on computers, power outlets, gas lines (e.g., for Bunsen burners, etc.), or any other resource that may be available in a classroom (e.g., to aid in teaching or for use in particular lessons and activities); and/or (5) any other suitable information related to each classroom.
Next, at Step 330, the system receives information regarding one or more resources available in each one of the plurality of available classrooms. In various embodiments, the one or more resources include any of the one or more resources discussed immediately above. In other embodiments, the resources may include fixed resources, which may for example, be substantially permanently fixed within each one of the plurality of classrooms (e.g., a gas line, power outlet, blackboard mounted to the wall, etc.). In other embodiments, the one or more resources may include mobile resources which, although temporarily housed within a particular one of the plurality of available classrooms, may be moveable to a different one of the available classrooms. Mobile resources may include, for example, one or more board games (e.g., card games, dice, etc.), one or more textbooks, one or more instruments, one or more school supplies (e.g., notebooks, pencils, pens, markers, crayons, highlighters, rulers, calculators, etc.), or any other suitable resources which may, for example, be required for a particular teaching activity.
Continuing at Step 340, the system receives information regarding one or more particular needs for each one of a plurality of students, the one or more particular needs having been determined at a time prior to the first particular time period. In various embodiments, the one or more particular needs are one or more needs to improve in a particular subject and/or a particular topic within the particular subject. A particular student may, for example need to improve in a subject generally or may have a need to improve or learn a particular concept within that subject. Exemplary subjects and concepts within those subjects may include, for example: (1) addition, subtraction, multiplication, order of operations, algebra, graphing, etc., for math; (2) reading, spelling, vocabulary, analogies, literature, poetry, etc., for English; (3) American history, civil war history, government, tenants of major world religions, etc., for social studies; and/or (4) any other suitable subject or concept within a particular subject which may be taught in any particular school or other learning/teaching settings. In various embodiments, the system is configured to determine and/or receive one or more needs of a particular student based at least in part on: (1) the student's performance on a particular graded assignment in a particular subject or covering a particular topic; (2) one or more instructor reviews of the student's work; (3) an indication from the student that the student does not understand a particular subject/topic; (4) input received about the student from a system as described in either (a) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/297,513, filed on Jun. 5, 2014, by inventor Steven C. Velozo, et al., and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING OBJECT ASSOCIATION OVER TIME,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety or (b) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/297,494, filed on Jun. 5, 2014, by inventor Steven C. Velozo, et al., and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING, IDENTIFYING AND TRACKING OBJECTS AND EVENTS OVER TIME,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, (5) results received for each student from standardized testing scores; or (6) any other suitable factor.
In other embodiments, the one or more particular needs of each student may include a preferred learning style of the student. For example, particular students may have a demonstrated, stated, or ascertained preference for hands on learning, rote learning, or any other learning style. In various embodiments, the system is configured to determine a student's preferred learning style based at least in part on the student's performance on one or more graded assignments following lessons geared toward one or more particular learning styles, based on a preference provided by each student, based on an observed preference by one or more instructors/teachers of the student, or in any other suitable manner.
In various embodiments, the system is configured to determine a hierarchy of needs for each particular student (e.g., prioritize the student's needs) based on any suitable factor. In particular embodiments, a particular student's needs may be based at least in part on subjects or topics for which the student has performed the most poorly. In other embodiments, the system is configured to determine a student's most pressing needs based on needs of the student that have yet to be fulfilled (e.g., a particular student may be poor in math and have a need there, but the student may also have yet to receive instruction in English where they also have a need).
In various embodiments, the system continues, at Step 350, by, at least partially based on the available teachers, the resources available for each one of the plurality of classrooms, and the one or more particular needs of each one of the plurality of students, calculating pairings of students, teachers, and classrooms that optimize meeting the particular needs of each one of the plurality of students. In various embodiments, the system may initially group particular students of the plurality of students that share the same one or more particular needs. In particular embodiments, the system may then determine available activities/lessons, for example, based on those lessons/activities that one or more of the available teachers are capable of leading. The system may then determine which of those available lessons/activities the one or more students have previously completed (e.g., so a particular student does not repeat an activity). The system then assigns each particular student an optimal activity, for example, based at least in part on the shared needs groupings, classroom availability and/or capacity, teacher availability, activities previously completed, and available resources that particular activities may require.
In various embodiments, a particular classroom hosting a particular activity may have insufficient capacity to accommodate all students having a need to complete that activity. In such embodiments, the system is configured to optimize student placement across all available classrooms, with all available teachers and resources in a manner that provides substantially the most benefit to the plurality of students as a whole, or to a particular number of the plurality of students, rather than any particular student individually.
In particular embodiments, the system is configured to use any suitable machine learning algorithm to optimize student pairing (e.g., via one or more suitable neural networks). In various embodiments, the system is configured to receive input concerning each student's performance in a paired activity (e.g., based on a quiz score, teacher review, etc.), which the system may store and utilize in future optimizations in creating a custom schedule for a later particular time period.
The system, at Step 360, displays the parings between students, teachers, and classrooms for the first particular time period. In particular embodiments, the system is configured to display the parings on the interactive display 60 described above, which may, for example, be positioned in a place of prominence within a school for which the system is implementing the present method. The system may, for example, display the pairings on the interactive display 60 in such a way that a student would be able to consult the interactive display 60 prior to the beginning of the first particular time period in order to ascertain the particular classroom with which the student was paired for the first particular time period. In embodiments in which the first particular time period is a first period during a day comprising one or more additional periods (e.g., as in the case of a school day divided into multiple periods), the system may be configured to display (e.g., on the interactive display 60) the pairings for each particular period during a time leading up to the particular period (e.g., between a period immediately before the particular period and the particular period) in order to direct students to the proper, paired classroom for the particular period.
Continuing at Step 370, the system communicates the pairing of a particular one of the plurality of students with the particular one of the plurality of teachers to each one of the plurality of students via a computing device connected to the at least one processer by a communication network. In various embodiments, the system is configured to communicate the pairings to the students, to the teachers, to one or more people associated with the students (e.g., a parent, guardian, etc.), or any other person who may desire to know of the pairings. In other embodiments, the system is configured to communicate the pairings to one or more people by including the pairings as part of a message (e.g., e-mail, text message, SMS, etc.) transmitted to a computing device associated with the one or more people. In various embodiments, the communication further comprises information associated with the paired classroom for the particular one of the plurality of students for the first particular time period.
Conclusion
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. In light of the above, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purposes of limitation.
