Patents Assigned to EPALS, INC.
  • Publication number: 20140356839
    Abstract: The system provides a framework for developing process, project or problem-based learning systems that make use of social networking. The system provides a general purpose framework to create, manage, and deliver online instruction that supports learning methods consistent with social constructivist and experiential learning theories. The framework utilizes personal social software for collaboration, problem-solving, group work, and other activities consistent with those methods. The general framework, based on finite-state automata and other methods for determining similarity of learning objectives, provides individual creators the means to define, implement, and manage experiential instruction within a social network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2014
    Publication date: December 4, 2014
    Applicant: ePals, Inc.
    Inventors: Linda Dozier, Edmund J. Fish, Miles R. Gilburne, Nina Zolt
  • Patent number: 8798519
    Abstract: A system including an object-oriented programming language for building state-based applications with flow control, event loops, measures of similarity, and Boolean logic to dynamically control the interaction between members in a social network around content and, in particular, project-based activities, where the system collects and groups individuals who are members of a social network, projects or assignments and their content, and activities or processes within projects based on the attributes of the objects and runtime events to create a social context for learning or for other interaction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Epals, Inc.
    Inventors: Linda T. Dozier, Edmund J. Fish, Nina Zolt, Miles R. Gilburne
  • Publication number: 20140095619
    Abstract: A system of computers on a wide area network establishes connections between nodes on the basis of their multidimensional similarity at a particular point in time in a certain setting, such as a social learning network, and sends information of value to those nodes. Dimensions in the definition of similarity include a plurality of attributes in time and community space. Examples of such dimensions and attributes may include a position in a learning community's project cycle, titles of readings and projects, the genre or subject matter under consideration, age, grade, or level of the participants, and language. The network's nodes are represented as a tensor field and are searched efficiently and adaptively through a variety of multidimensional data structures and mechanisms. The system includes a master clock that can transform a participant's time coordinates on the network, such as a social learning network, into Universal Time, and the synchronizer coordinates the position of each participant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Publication date: April 3, 2014
    Applicant: EPALS, INC.
    Inventors: Linda T. Dozier, Edmund Fish, Miles Gilburne, Nina Zolt
  • Publication number: 20130117368
    Abstract: Systems and methods for associating cohorts in a social networking environment are provided. At least two users of a social network can be associated in a cohort based at least in part on a determined relationship between the at least two users. This relationship can be different from relationships defined by the users. An analysis of one or more parameters of the at least two users in the cohort can be performed based at least in part on the cohort, wherein the one or more parameters are unrelated to association of the at least two users in the cohort. The parameters can be used to longitudinally measure parameters of the at least two users that may have been impacted by association in the cohort. At least a portion of the analysis can be communicated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Publication date: May 9, 2013
    Applicant: EPALS, INC.
    Inventors: Linda T. Dozier, Richard S. Shoemake, Arthur B. Clifford
  • Publication number: 20080319949
    Abstract: A method and system to permit the creation of “parent” accounts within a school system's data transmission system which are associated with a parent's child or children who are students in the system. A parent account is capable of creation and access by various levels within the hierarchy of the system and is associated with one or more schools within the community being serviced by the entity providing the servers and community generation implementation engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2008
    Publication date: December 25, 2008
    Applicant: EPALS, INC.
    Inventors: John Irving, Marcello Bursztein, Pierre Killeen, Steve Mulligan, Patrick Lajeunesse