WO2016035034A2

WO2016035034A2 - International, digital education platform with translation module; connecting the world through education

Info

Publication number: WO2016035034A2
Application number: PCT/IB2015/056727
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joseph GHALY
Original assignee: International Council For Education Reform And Development (icerd)
Current assignee: International Council For Education Reform And Development (icerd)
Priority date: 2014-09-03
Filing date: 2015-09-04
Publication date: 2016-03-10
Anticipated expiration: 2017-03-03
Also published as: WO2016035034A3

Abstract

A platform is provided for educational purposes, with the platform being able to connect students, teachers, institutions, and other education-related entities. The platform is international and multilingual, allowing for communications between parties regardless of language and 5 residence. Users of the platform can operate under a number of community networks, such as student-teacher networks, with the ability to transmit ideas and files within the community networks. A number of analysis tools and programs are integrated, allowing for evaluations of various users (e.g. teacher evaluations). Software is also provided for analyzing user accounts that are at risk or otherwise prone to joining terrorist cells or other globally unlawful groups. As 10 the platform is focused on education, it also enables business to better market appropriate products and services to potential customers. Ultimately, the platform is able to help interface and improve education across the world.

Description

International, Digital Education Platform with Translation Module;

Connecting the World through Education

The current application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent application serial number 62/045,241 filed on September 3, 2014.

FIELD OF INVENTION The invention relates to the development of a comprehensive field-specific interactive global online platform, dedicated entirely to the education field. Communities within the field are organized into highly specialized networks, offering tools and venues to empower participants to transfer, share and disseminate information across geographical, political, language and social barriers, by promoting sound educational, programs, services and products without any limitations or restrictions.

This is a real-time multimedia-based tool focusing on teaching, learning, assessment, leadership, training, educational e-commerce and marketing through an interactive online environment. Notably, it is a comprehensive, educational platform that will help organize all aspects of the educational field under one online system.

Although guiding principles will promote the success of each learner, educator, and educational system across the globe, special focus will be given to at risk groups. One of the main purposes is to promote the effective education, rehabilitation, and support of at-risk students and youth in the context of global anti-terrorism and social violence efforts.

The tool will endow users with the capacity to disseminate and share globally the knowledge, services and products that support proper development in regards to this goal, while curtailing quantifiable manifestations of deviant behavior in participants. The tool will also support the improvement of curricula, teaching and learning ideologies and methodologies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The focus of the invention is in using education as means of connecting societies and cultures around the globe under the mission of supporting sound education, globalization, tolerance and acceptance amongst all stakeholders, with emphasis on combating, ineffective educational trends, segregation, and extremist ideology, and to guide at-risk students and youth who may have been influenced by such philosophies and ideals.

In looking at the world map, demographics, and geographical barriers, and despite globalization efforts, and achievements in breaking through those barriers, when it comes to the field of education, the world remains very segregated.

Since September 11, 2001, all developing nations of the free world have come together in a serious and highly costly effort to counter terrorism. Despite the financial output and the cost of lives which have impacted the world economy and freedoms, we still have a long way to go to drastically reduce the risk and eventually eradicate terrorism. Education is a key element which has been under used in the fight against terrorism. As leaders of an NGO that specializes in international relief, and global education, health and social development, we have always spoken out, and advised the governments we work with that only through education, will we be able to succeed in our fight against terrorism. After all, terrorist organizations try to educate and brain wash the at-risk young students and youth on how to deviate from the norm to become terrorists. It makes perfect sense that we try to save these youth through proper education, globalization, and teaching that promotes global citizenship. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed a counter- terrorism committee in November of 2013, noting that education is key in counter-terrorism efforts.

Educational challenges, reform and development have been, and will always be a topic of discussion and concern in every home, community, society, and nation. Whether a given nation is developing, or underdeveloped, rich or poor, politically stable or torn with unrest or isolation, the challenges that face the educational field have many similarities worldwide, despite demographics and socioeconomics.

While the different nations, to varying degrees, invest in education reform and development despite their socioeconomics, and while some nations try to implement well studied, research-based reform initiatives, others may sink billions of dollars into trial and error initiatives. End-results in most cases often don't meet the initial goals and expectation of the stakeholders. These initiatives are often undertaken without including students and teachers as the main stakeholders in the design and implementation plans.

In its present form this tool will provide a unique solution to address the many global challenges and obstacles that face students today while taking into consideration, regional and country- specific problems and obstacles, identifying and addressing those serious regional problems that may contribute to deviant social behavior, global violence, hate crimes, intolerance, stereotyping, and religious fanaticism.

The platform will allow teaching, learning, leadership, knowledge and educational research to be shared and transferred seamlessly and freely, addressing the world as one global community, not through just introduction, but by empowering all stakeholders with the tools and the venues that will support and enhance their success, the reward will be embraced and appreciated by millions of students, teachers, and families across the globe.

Over the past decade, it has become increasingly apparent that much more can be offered to the global education community than the existing segregated and fragmented online tools. In reviewing the available tools, it is clear that the current tools have too many deficiencies and limitations when considered within the context of a global community.

Although there are limited numbers of conventional online social networking sites that offer limited global services, none of them seem to offer the global tools and venues to empower members to share and transfer knowledge, build and enhance their careers, and to allow them to work collaboratively to support the success of reform and development initiatives, none of them appears to promote the true meaning of global education, measurement of professional performance, and the individualized support needed to overcome the many obstacles and challenges that face education worldwide.

In education today, there are some sporadic and fragmented tools and venues being offered by certain companies and organizations in one domain or another. These tools are being offered to privileged specific communities with limited numbers of participants, and may have many restrictions and limitations, whether geographical, linguistic, or financial.

Unlike any other educational and social media platforms, this unique and exclusive tool is focused on building successful communities that are entirely focused on the field of education, within a global perspective and without any limits, barrier or restrictions. This tool has many benefits, including: 1. being open to all age groups

2. being available to all geographical regions world-wide

3. addressing all aspects of the field of education

4. focusing on target groups the include anyone who is actively attached to the educational field in any manner such as students, teachers, educators, professors, parents, education paraprofessionals, educational institutions, service providers and vendors.

5. Involving technology which can provide multilingual real time communication, with diverse audiovisual communication tools, and simultaneous multilingual interpretation and off the cloud translation module.

The platform will be designed to promote and support the sharing and transferring of information, supporting members' individualized academic needs, creating endless opportunities for teaching, learning, and leadership, and promoting global education and social reform through the development of true global citizenship, leading to individuals who are ready to reach out and support each other across the many barriers. Such a wholesome approach will indeed contribute greatly to creating a better and more tolerant world, where members of this global community will celebrate and embrace diversity, and differences.

In terms of specialized and field-specific e-commerce, there hasn't been a single online one-stop mall that is totally and exclusively dedicated to one field and its subfields. Well known marketplace sites provide a forum to sell, buy and resell products of all types but, unlike this tool, are neither limited to a specific focus/field nor geared toward bringing all stakeholders together to share information, services and products. The merchants on existing sites don't offer the highly specific products and services that are difficult for educators and educational services providers to find in a global venue. This unique concept of an exclusive e-commerce educational mall will allow members to sell, buy, and exchange their services and products, especially those that are difficult to advertise in non-specialized venues, including but not limited to; multilingual live tutorial services, multilingual digital academic material, multilingual supplemental academic material, multilingual academic courses, and programs, multilingual live professional development training programs, educational applications, educational technology equipment, programs, and educational supplies. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is a comprehensive, exclusive, field- specific platform, to globally connect the different diverse groups within the educational field into highly specialized networks. The concept will address the true linking of global citizens, breaking through physical, geographical, political, language, demographic, social, and religious barriers.

The concept is not focused on social media, promoting the setup of a personal profile for each member for the sake of social or professional introductions and communication, it is more about providing the members of a large global community and its sub-communities with the tools and the venues necessary to break through the above mentioned barriers, empowering them to share and disseminate knowledge, services and products.

The tool is a comprehensive interactive platform intended just for those in the field of education. Its purpose is to promote global citizenship, acceptance, tolerance, by modernizing educational systems around the globe, with great emphasis on educating at-risk children and youth in the context of anti-terrorism efforts, while guiding those who may have been exposed to fanaticism, extremist ideology and propaganda away from these perils. This tool is aimed at fostering international collaboration, mutual understanding, and tolerance between diverse groups by means of education and communication. The tool will endow users with the capacity to share and disseminate information, services and products in regards to this goal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart depicting the invention's entire process from start to finish.

FIG. 2 is the flowchart for educators' network.

FIG. 3 is the flowchart for educators / students network.

FIG. 4 is the flowchart for students' network.

FIG. 5 is the flowchart for parents / educators / academic institutions network.

FIG. 6 is the flowchart for the parents' network. Legal guardians are included in this flowchart as substitute entities in the same role.

FIG. 7 is the flowchart for non-instructional staff network. FIG. 8 is the flowchart for educational leaders, educators, professional developers and the range of community networks.

FIG. 9 is the flowchart for the educational institutions and their community connections to other networks.

FIG. 10 is the flowchart for governments and regulatory/supervisory agencies involved or interested in the field of education, and their connections to other community networks.

FIG. 11 is the flowchart for the educational supplies companies and vendors, and their connections to other community networks.

FIG. 12 is the flowchart for translators, depicting their role as supporters and mediators.

FIG. 13 is the flowchart for the file upload process.

FIG. 14 is the flowchart for student's evaluation tools.

FIG. 15 is the flowchart for educator's evaluation tools.

FIG. 16 is the flowchart for messaging via video, including VoIP and webcam as part of the process.

FIG. 17 is the flowchart for the dissemination that occurs when a document is translated into multiple languages.

FIG. 18 is a higher- level flowchart for the user interaction that goes through the translation module, including video, audio, and text.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart for how a user accesses data in multiple languages from the repository of academic material.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a repeated classroom experience with streaming or recorded audio and video.

DETAIL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INVENTION

All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the tool in its present state and are not intended to limit the scope of the present tool. Software in particular can be implemented in a number of ways to achieve the same functionality.

This is a comprehensive online, field-specific, teaching, learning, leadership, and e- commerce platform that is uniquely and exclusively focused on the field of education. The platform will follow a multilingual approach connecting educators, schools, universities, educational organizations, governmental and none governmental education entities, students, parents, education consultants, education professional developers, educational service providers, and vendors of educational products under one platform.

The platform will offer information transfer, sharing and dissemination around the globe in a seamless, borderless, unrestricted interactive online multi-level, multilingual manner (digital knowledge repository Centers).

The information on the platform will be organized into field and subfield-specific secured focused-groups, and professional networks, offering state of the art online tools for real-time communication, teaching, learning, training, and assessment tools, which will include but are not limited to; virtual teaching, learning, training and communication environment, whiteboards, audio/visual communication tools, teaching/learning assessment tools, and data collection, management and analysis system.

Using the platform, and through the utilization of special assessment and evaluation tools, combined with detailed data analysis, one can tell which youths are at-risk, from an early age. Through education, this tool helps preclude the acquisition of deviant social behavior, including religious fanaticism, social intolerance and segregation ideology. The tool considers both academic and non-academic factors in its evaluations, and flags discouraged behavior and alerts the proper stakeholders and authorities within this global system.

The tool helps unify educational experts and all those involved in the education system,

(teacher, parents, student, etc.) under the platform. The tool is a multimedia platform which includes all aspects of the education system, and as such, is not just an online classroom because of its widespread breadth and scope.

Referring now to the tool in more detail, FIG. 1 shows the creation of an online exclusive environment that reaches worldwide but focuses only on the field and subfields of education.

The various communities will be organized into multilevel networks based on educational field, specialty, qualifications, interest, demographic, and geographical location. The following are some of the important communities that will be organized under this platform: 1. Educator to Educator Network:

As seen in FIG. 2, educators, whether at KG (Kindergarten) level or university Level

(Teachers, Instructors, Professors), will be able to communicate with their peers at a local and global level, where they can share knowledge, curricula, experiences, research ideas, best practices, training, products and services. Networks will be divided into the following categories:

• K- 12 Education

o Early Childhood Educators,

o Elementary School Educators

o Middle School Educators

o High School Educators

o Special Education Teachers

o K- 12 Educational Leaders

• Higher Education

• Higher Education Faculty

Educator to Student Network:

This is depicted in FIG. 3. Either individually or collaboratively, educators will be able to connect with their own students, and with other students at large, utilizing unique teaching and assessment tools, whether locally or globally, educators will be able to offer their services (real-time teaching and assessment) in their own native language or, simultaneously and collaboratively (collaborative co-teaching with a local colleague who will provide the translation) in a different language. Components of this network include:

• K- 12 Education

o Early Childhood Educators,

o Elementary School Educators

o Middle School Educators

o High School Educators

• Higher Education

o Higher Education Faculty

Student to Student Network:

As depicted in FIG. 4, students will be able to connect with their peers at local and global levels, transferring, and sharing information, interests and plans. This could occur whether students connect with peers in the same class, across town, or across any geographical barriers. Students will enrich their knowledge and experiences, learning from and teaching each other beyond the walls of conventional classrooms, and the limits of world borders, acquiring new global education habits, sharing, exploring new cultures, promoting love, respect, and tolerance of those cultures, it is a unique and new concept in effective face to face academic exchange programs, without the restrictions and high cost of formal exchange programs and the related travel. Components of this network include:

• K- 12 Education

• Higher Education

Parents to Educators and Academic Institutions Networks:

Please refer to FIG. 5. Parents will be able to communicate with their children's teachers and academic institutions, obtain and provide the support needed for wholesome education, obtain timely student records, and participate in early intervention programs.

Parents to Parents Networks:

Please refer to FIG. 6. Parents or guardians can be organized within special networks, where they can share knowledge, develop support groups as needed, and share resources and concerns, especially beneficial for parents with children with special needs. Parents or guardians can thus share tips and discuss children's classes, educators, curricula, etc.

Education non-instructional staff to own community network:

Please refer to FIG. 7. Non-instructional staff can coordinate with each other to help educators in their roles. Educational non-instructional staff will have the chance to be organized under specialized local and global networks, allowing for transfer and sharing of information and best practices in their respective role.

Educational Leaders and Professional Developer to Educators and Community Network:

Please refer to FIG. 8. Educational leaders, consultants and professional development professionals, will be able to be organized under local and global networks, where they can exchange, transfer and share knowledge, promote their programs and support other members within their communities, and the different global communities, allowing them to coordinate with and support subordinate educators, determine curricula changes and updates, and modify policies and procedures.

Educational Institutions (Schools, Colleges and Universities) and Community Network: Please refer to FIG. 9. Educational institutions offer curriculum online equivalent to that in brick and mortar facilities. Educational institutions will have the chance to connect with students, parents, employees, and can maximize their potential through coaching and mentoring the different networks organized under their name, and of course they can benefit greatly through connecting with other global networks, to share, transfer and disseminate information, curricula, programs, and digital academic material and resources.

Institutions will also benefit from extending the teaching and learning process beyond the walls of the classrooms, encouraging educators and students to join the unlimited number of virtual classrooms, promoting online teaching and assessment, data collection, management and analysis. These include educational institutions at the kindergarten to grade 12 (K - 12) schools, colleges, universities, and educational centers.

The components of this network include:

• K- 12 Schools

• Colleges

· Universities

• Educational Centers

Government and regulatory/supervisory agencies interested in the field of education: Please refer to FIG. 10. Government and regulatory /supervisory agencies interested in the field of education will be organized under specialized networks, and they will have access to other certain networks to collect data for management, research and analysis. This may be quite beneficial in refining and enhancing education reform and development projects. These entities will also have the chance to offer timely news, programs, and incentives to a large number of stakeholders with seamless effort and in real-time.

Merchants offering products and/or services for education:

Please refer to FIG. 11. Educators, Educational supplies companies and vendors will be organized under specialized local and global networks, where they can promote, advertise, and hold live and recorded sessions to market, explain and promote their products and services, they also can access education research and development networks to learn more about the latest trends and needs of their communities. Educational supplies companies and vendors' networks will be accessible to all community networks to learn more about their services and products, before they proceed to the platform's 'Mega Mall' to complete their purchases.

The present invention includes a personal portfolio having personal portfolio information. Personal portfolio information is individual to each user. This tool enables these participants to enter personal portfolio information. Personal portfolio information comprises:

• Personal details/contact information with links to their website or social network site

• Category or type of participation (students versus merchants, etc. as in FIG. 1)

• Geographical area

· Academic programs and digital course material.

• Products offered or sought with links to their product descriptions or site.

• Service providers with links to their services or site.

• Other special requests or situations not comprehended in this platform

• Name (Video Introduction)

· DOB/AGE

• City/ Country of Birth

• City/ Country of Residence (LP. Auto Detect through Google Maps)

• Contact Information/ Auto Generated Business Card that can be shared (Virtual Business Card).

· Languages: Native Tongue, and other languages mastered, level of mastery, and other languages interested in learning.

• My Family

• My Peers

• My Academic Profile (Student/ Educator/ Education Leader)

· My Academic and None Academic Interests.

• My Achievements, Degrees, and Career Plans.

• My Individualized Learning Plan (Student)/ , My Individualized Professional Development Plan (Educator)

• My Career Path (Schooling/ Professional Timeline)

· My Photos • My Video Channels

• My Library

o My Digital Resources

o My Recorded Lessons

o My Apps

o My Links

• My Video Chat

• Multimedia Platform

o My Assignments

o My Virtual Classroom

o My Grade Book

o My Recommendations.

• My Ratings

• My Products and Services (when applicable)

This unique tool combines the vast networking capability of a social network with the marketplace aspects of online shopping sites, but restricts the interest group focus to the field of education alone. The result is a multidimensional educational community without walls, and a knowledge/information source with unlimited functional and growth potential.

In its present form this tool can be used as an all-inclusive online solution for any participant in the education community, without the limitations and handicaps of all of the currently existing concepts or tools.

This tool can be used for the conceptualization and design of an online platform specifically targeting participants, institutions and merchants in the field of education and provides the software architecture, application framework for participants.

The software architecture design facilitates efficient organization of information, speedy search algorithms, and easy use and integration of various tools such as educational videos, video conferencing and communication capabilities via voice, text or instant messaging, and live or recorded television/internet television. Global integration of educational traditional television and educational internet television into the platform will permit participants to have access to all forms of educational television. Live classroom video and audio streaming and recording through encrypted special wide-angle IP cameras capability is provided. The video and audio streaming is further available as recorded sessions integrated into the platform as password protected libraries to be accessed by teachers and students. As seen in FIG. 20, audio and video is captured and processed by an audio/video processor which can stream the audio and video live to a student participant or store the audio and video on a storage medium to be accessed later by a student participant. This will help teachers greatly in the analysis, assessment and management of students' academic and non-academic behavior, while it will help students recall, review, and enforce information taught. This live and recorded classroom audio and video is also known as 'repeated classroom experience' and is available only upon written consent of all parti ed involved (Academic Institution, educators, students and parents when applicable), and within the parameters local laws" All of this can be used by participants to interact, share knowledge, exchange products and services and use various software tools provided for the purposes of education, at a much more efficient and powerful level than anything currently available. Again, this helps to build a comprehensive, exclusive, field- specific platform to globally connect the different diverse groups within the educational field. It facilitates the formation of both highly specialized and general networks.

Reiterating, some of the key aspects of the invention include but are not limited to: Multilingual real-time communication, diverse audio/visual communication tools, and real-time performance feedback for both the students and educators with built-in alerts. Although the key audience is anyone who works in the education community the targeted users are students, educators, parents, educational leaders, institutions, service providers, and educational supplies and vendors. Members will range in age from 5 years to 99 years old (any age range). Most of the system is computer-based, except for the two major human-based components. These two human-based components are the translation module and the data-based research and development. Research and development constitutes analysis of the curricular, social and behavioral data collected from a specific group or region and making decisions based on that data analysis.

The present version of the tool is comprised of: a personal portfolio for each member, a multi-lingual virtual environment with multimedia capabilities, student evaluation tools, educator evaluation tools, academic material with multi-lingual teaching and training programs, a recommendation system for the design and delivery of professional development programs, a curricula evaluation system, and a translation module. Many of these components include their individual subcomponents which will be discussed later.

The first major component is a personal portfolio for each user, entailing detailed information about the user such as name, status, position, demographics, individualized learning plans, credentials, networks, individualized library, interests and similar fields.

The next component is the multi-lingual interactive virtual environment. This is the digital, online environment in which the users interact with each other. This environment itself is comprised of several web applications, VoIP sub-processes, and webcam sub-processes, as seen in FIG. 16 and FIG. 18.

The web application includes but is not limited to standard web functionality for interaction, including forums, blogs, posts, classrooms, interpretation, translation, and multimedia.

The VoIP sub-process allows users to communicate through conventional voice-over- internet protocol means. This VoIP sub-process will include encryption protocols for security.

The webcam sub-process allows users to communicate through conventional streaming video. This webcam sub-process may include encryption protocols for security.

Another component is the set of student evaluation tools, for assessing academic achievement and behavior. The behaviors assessed are for both academic and non-academic situations. These student evaluation tools require parent/guardian approval for users who are under the age of 18. There are privacy agreements for those involved.

In the tool's preferred embodiment, these student evaluation tools are comprised of four main sections, as seen in FIG. 14. Many of these tools include alert features, detailed later. The student evaluation tools are comprised of: text and spoken word engines, a live physical interactions, gestures and body language analysis engine, and lastly, feedback reporting for qualified educational psychologists, educators, technology experts and security specialists.

The text and spoken word engines can decipher and analyze speech. This sub-component can search for key terms through targeted filters and alert designated users if such terms are detected. For example, terms promoting hate, prejudice, stereotyping, social violence, and terrorism may be flagged and reported. The sub-process can send an automated coded flag message to the teacher, with alerts to a potential problem with a student. This coded flag warning may take a number of forms, including but not limited coded alerts that can be shared through, assessment reports, data feedback reports, and e-mail.

There are also analytical sub-processes for live physical interactions. These include but are not limited to parsing of real-time data related to behavior.

The gestures and body language analysis engine handles analysis of physical behavior in relation to human anatomy. This includes but is not limited to analysis of posture, limb positioning, finger movements, and physical aggression and certain physical motion, etc.

The last subcomponent of the student evaluation tools is the means for feedback. This feedback would be sent to qualified educational psychologists, technology experts, security specialists, and others who form the management team of the platform. The feedback would be shared with appropriate stakeholders under strict privacy agreements.

Confidential information about a student would be provided to his/her teacher. Collated data may be shared with appropriate authorities within the platform management for research and development purposes.

The educator evaluation tools are used for evaluating the competency levels of teachers and other faculty, as seen in FIG. 15. These tools would function in virtual live academic environments, also with alert tools. In the invention's preferred embodiment, these educator evaluation tools would be in accordance with research based standardized educator evaluation indicators and rating systems. In other embodiments, the invention tool may also include customized indicators and rating systems to better suit the needs of the tool and its users.

The next major component is the body of academic material available on the tool's platform. Importantly, this material would be in a multitude of languages and cover a very broad listing of academic subjects from all disciplines. This includes libraries of digital educational material, including but not limited to: lesson plans, educational videos, audio lessons, recorded classroom sessions, educational research, live and recorded television and internet television, etc.

Notably, this academic material includes multi-lingual teaching and training programs. These programs will mostly be presented in a digital interactive format.

The recommendation system for professional development programs will be based on the professional learning plan of the individual educator, and will help ensure a standard level of educator knowledge and competency. The recommendation system ensures proper teacher training, coordination of local capacity building, and local on-site coaching. The system will provide the tools linking teachers, professional developers, and training programs.

Notably, this recommendation and training would allow teachers to reach students globally, minimizing the need to first acclimate to local culture. For example, the system will connect trainees and professional developers globally, via the invention's multi-language approach and real-time translation. This alleviates the teachers of the need to go through extensive language training beforehand to engage in an appropriate professional development program. The translation module would accommodate most language and cultural barriers in the teacher's career planning. Details of the translation module are in later sections.

The curricula evaluation system analyzes and evaluates curricular standards. It includes tools for quantifying academic and social behavior related to internationally- accepted academic standards and social behavior based on indicators. This sub-process also measures deviation from expected approved behaviors.

The curricula evaluation system is based on matching performance against rubrics and benchmarks. Furthermore, the curricula evaluation system is also closely tied with the aforementioned student academic and social assessment tools. There would be critical word analysis of certain areas of the student's work. The students' work would be filtered through user-defined word filters for proper social behavior and certain terminology. The word filter terms would be matched against word libraries from the social sciences and for globalization purposes. The system would be looking for keywords related to extremism, social violence, deviant behavior, religious fanaticism, and other sets of filters. The filtering sub-process can also cross-reference with certain geographic locations. First, the system is configured to determine trends. Then, this data is checked by a human. The data is then shared with the appropriate stakeholders.

Here is an example of this curricula evaluation system in use. In a hypothetical situation, the tool is used in a troubled region. The tool would parse for keywords that promote violence or hate against a certain nation, religion or group. It could be set to identify politically sensitive terminology and language or other terminology in the user-defined filters.

The curricula evaluation system would then match the resulting data with standards and benchmarks, matching it with standardized behavior/trend models. The users can analyze trends of what a specific region are like politically and socially, based on the filters, e.g.; levels of aggressive behavior or acceptance/resistance towards certain policies and programs. Filters can also be set for hate language or discussions regarding topics such as social violence, terrorism, skin color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, etc. The resulting data is sent to the proper stakeholders and concerned authorities for review and decision-making.

The final main component of the tool is the interpretation/ translation module. This is a human-driven, sub-system/sub-method for real-time translation between users. For example, if a student in the Middle East wishes to learn a new language, he/she can connect to a native speaker teacher anywhere in the world to do that.

The interpretation/ translation module itself is comprised of a community -based volunteer sub-system, with off-the-cloud translation, and a filter-down dissemination feature.

This interpretation/ translation module relies on the participation and involvement of users who volunteer to act as simultaneous or off the cloud translators. Members are self- identified who contribute translation services to the community. The translators would be volunteer users who need to be certified and licensed by their community and invention's system before being allowed to participate. After an approval and authorization process, these volunteer users would act as intermediaries between teachers, students, faculty, parents, etc. This role is depicted in FIG. 12.

This translation module supports global, live simultaneous interpretation and translation. For example, using this system, an English speaker and a Chinese speaker can communicate through an intermediary who will facilitate use of the tool's educational services. These interpretation/ translation services can be hosted from another country, the interpretation/ translation module will also supports an off-the-cloud translation service for digital academic material.

There is also a filter-down feature for fast dissemination, as seen in FIG. 17 and the related FIG. 13. By using this sub-process, a document is quickly translated by the multiple translators into their respective languages. The document is then distributed to the constituents of each language's subdivision.

Herein is a description of how all the individual components interact. First, a user creates his/her personal portfolio and registers with the system. Participants would have to apply to use the system, and join their appropriate network(s) within the platform. Networks include educators, students, parents/guardians, academic institution networks, educational non- instructional staff members, merchants, interested parties, regulatory/supervisory agencies, and government agencies. Each individual may participate in a vast number of activities offered through the platform in accordance to his/her individualized needs, for example; if the user is a teacher he/she will likely to join the educators' network, the educator/student network, the educator/parents network, the academic institution network, the education services and supplies network, and may participate in the recommendation and delivery system for professional development programs.

Following initial setup, the users enter the multi-lingual virtual environment, using the constituent web application, VoIP and webcam features in conjunction with the translation module to interact with each other. The users now have access to the academic services and products of the invention, including digital academic programs, curricula, assessment tolls, lesson plans and training programs in multiple languages and educational services and products, as seen in FIG. 19.

The users are assessed in accordance to their individual roles. For example, teachers are evaluated and rated in accordance to the educator evaluation tools and systems, while students' assessment of learning and behavior evaluation are conducted and rated in accordance to standardized research-based assessment and evaluation tools and systems, students are assessed based on both their academic and non-academic behavior. The invention continually scans for indicators of at-risk behavior via the analytics sub-processes. The assessment data is passed to authorities and management groups which include regulatory/supervisory agencies and government. These authorities and management groups use the assessment data for decision making to improve the efficiency, functionality, and productivity of the platform.

Additional tools provided include:

· Teaching/ Learning/ Training/ Conferencing Environment (Virtual Multimedia

Environment)

• A/V Chat

• Video Channels

• LMS - Learning management system

· CMS - Content management system

• Business/ Portfolio Card Generators • Personal Page Art work and Skin

Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Obvious changes, modifications, and substitutions may be made by those skilled in the art and technology to achieve the same purpose the invention. The exemplary embodiments are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the tool. It is intended that the present version of the tool cover all other embodiments that are within the scope of the descriptions and their equivalents.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing an international digital education platform by executing

computer-executable instruction stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method comprises the steps of:

providing a database, a plurality of community networks, and a plurality of user accounts, wherein each of the plurality of user accounts are assigned to at least one of the plurality of community networks;

adding a new user account to the plurality of user accounts in response to receiving an account creation request;

enabling communication between the plurality of user accounts within each of the plurality of community networks by receiving a communication medium from a first user account and outputting the communication medium to a second user account;

enabling data transfer between the plurality of user accounts with each of the plurality of community networks by receiving an uploaded file from the first user account and sending the uploaded file to the second user account;

enabling multilingual interactions between user accounts by routing the communication medium and the uploaded file through a translation module;

enabling targeted vending of products within each of the plurality of community networks by outputting a plurality of available products to an individual user account in response to receiving a product inquiry from the individual user account;

enabling targeted provision of services within each of the plurality of community networks by outputting a plurality of available services to the individual user account in response to receiving a service inquiry from the individual user account; and

parsing communications and data transfers associated with an individual user account in order to analyze the individual user account, wherein user accounts susceptible to unlawful behavior are identified.

2. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first educator account and the second user account is a second educator account; enabling communication between the first educator account and the second educator account through an educator to educator network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first educator account and the second educator account through an educator to educator network from the plurality of community networks.

3. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first educator account and the second user account is a first student account;

enabling communication between the first educator account and the first student account through an educator to student network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first educator account and the first student account through an educator to student network from the plurality of community networks.

4. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first student account and the second user account is a second student account;

enabling communication between the first student account and the second student account through a student to student network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first student account and the second student account through a student to student network from the plurality of community networks.

5. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of: wherein the first user account is a first parent account and the second user account is a first educator and academic institution account;

enabling communication between the first parent account and the second educator and academic institution account through a parent to educator and academic institution network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first parent account and the second educator and academic institution account through a parent to educator and academic institution network from the plurality of community networks.

6. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first parent account and the second user account is a second parent account;

enabling communication between the first parent account and the second parent account through a parent to parent network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first parent account and the second parent account through a parent to parent network from the plurality of community networks.

7. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first non-instructional staff account and the second user account is a second non-instructional staff account;

enabling communication between the first non-instructional staff account and the second non-instructional staff account through an education non-instructional staff to own community network from the plurality of community networks;

enabling data transfer between the first non-instructional staff account and the second non-instructional staff account through an education non-instructional staff to own community network from the plurality of community networks;

8. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first educational leader and professional developer account and the second user account is a second educator and community account;

enabling communication between the first educational leader and professional developer account and the second educator and community account through an educational leader and professional developer to educator and community network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first educational leader and professional developer account and the second educator and community account through an educational leader and professional developer to educator and community network from the plurality of community networks.

9. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first educational institution account and the second user account is a second community account;

enabling communication between the first educational institution account and the second community account through an educational institution to community network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first educational institution account and the second community account through an educational institution to community network from the plurality of community networks.

10. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first government and regulatory agency account and the second user account is a second stakeholder account;

enabling communication between the first government and regulatory agency account and the second stakeholder account through a government and regulatory agency to stakeholder network from the plurality of community networks; and enabling data transfer between the first government and regulatory agency account and the second stakeholder account through a government and regulatory agency to stakeholder network from the plurality of community networks.

11. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

wherein the first user account is a first merchant account and the second user account is a second customer account;

enabling communication between the first merchant account and the second customer account through a merchant to customer network from the plurality of community networks; and

enabling data transfer between the first merchant account and the second customer account through a merchant to customer network from the plurality of community networks.

12. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

prompting the new user account to complete a plurality of profile fields; and saving the plurality of profile fields to the database under the new user account.

13. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

prompting the new user account to input at least one community network from the plurality of community networks in order to join the at least one community network; and assigning the new user account to the at least one community network.

14. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

outputting a static text to the second user account in response to receiving a text- based communication as the communication medium; outputting a video feed to the second user account in response to receiving a video-based communication as the communication medium; and

outputting an audio feed to the second user account in response to receiving an audio-based communication as the communication medium.

15. The method for providing an international digital educational platform as claimed in claim 1 comprises the steps of:

linking the communication medium to a user profile of the first user account and a user profile of the second user account;

linking the uploaded file to the user profile of the first user account and the user profile of the second user account;

analyzing the communication medium by comparing parsed data from the communication medium to a list of keywords, wherein the list of keywords indicates at- risk user accounts;

analyzing the uploaded file by comparing a textual component of the uploaded file to the list of keywords;

analyzing the uploaded file by comparing a verbal component of the uploaded file to the list of keywords; and

analyzing the uploaded file by comparing a visual component of the uploaded file to a list of visual cues, wherein the list of visual cues indicates at-risk user accounts.