Inventing the seminar.
At Minerva we had to invent the classroom we wanted to teach in. These patents cover the mechanics of Forum: who speaks next, what the professor sees, how a discussion splits and re-forms, and how a lesson plan becomes a live class.
Participation queue system and method for online video conferencing
An orderly way for students to signal they want to speak, and for the class to see who is up next.
System and method for decision support in a virtual conference
Surfacing, in the moment, the information a professor needs to decide whom to call on and where to take the discussion.
System and method for tracking events and providing feedback in a virtual conference
Capturing what happens in a session so that students can get specific feedback tied to the moment it refers to.
System and method for discussion initiation and management in a virtual conference
Starting, running and closing structured discussions, including breakouts, without losing the thread of the class.
System and method for scalable, interactive virtual conferencing
Keeping a video class interactive as the number of participants grows well beyond a seminar table.
Participation queue system and method for online video conferencing
A continuation extending the participation queue.
System and method for a virtual conference interactive timeline
A navigable timeline of a class, so anyone can jump to the exchange that mattered.
Apparatus, user interface, and method for authoring and managing lesson plans and course design for virtual conference learning environments
Tools for composing a lesson from activities and turning it into a class the platform can run.
Eight of fourteen. Public records list fourteen U.S. patents in my name: thirteen assigned to Minerva Project and one to Yahoo!. The rest are being added here. Co-inventors across this work include Ari Bader-Natal, Stephen Kosslyn, Matt Regan, Ben Nelson, Brandon Tilley, Joshua Fost and James Genone.