Peter Tong and Chi Fai Ho contend
that they have invented just such an educational system and that they are
acquiring a patent portfolio that broadly covers their approach to online
learning. Last month, they received their 10th such patent, for a system
that monitors and responds to the learning of students in a virtual
classroom, both individually and as a group.
Their learning system is powered in part by an automated natural-language
search engine created by Mr. Tong and Mr. Ho. They contend that their
search engine, the basis for their company, ProfessorQ, bears some
resemblance to the one powering the popular AskJeeves reference site.
Indeed, two M.I.T. professors received a lot of attention recently for
suing AskJeeves over a patent. But they are not the only ones. Mr.
Tong and Mr. Ho last summer filed a lawsuit in the Northern District
of California against AskJeeves, saying that the company infringes on three
of their search-engine patents.
Mr. Tong and Mr. Ho contend that their patents cover the Socratic
method -- as long as it is a computer that is asking the questions. This
computer ''allows you to learn through questioning,'' Mr. Tong said.
''Based on your answers, the computer knows your level of understanding --
whether you need to review material or move on.''
In the case of an online classroom, Mr. Tong said, the
computerized professor also learns from and responds to group dynamics.
''For example, if someone is constantly asking irrelevant questions and
disrupting the discussion,'' Mr. Tong said, ''the computer can send a
message saying, 'Wouldn't it be better if you were more focused in the
subject area?' '' And if the irritating student persists with the nongermane
questions? ''The computer can shut down his communications link,'' Mr.
Tong said.
Another of the Tong-Ho patents covers software that prevents
students from doing fun things, like playing music or games, on their
computers until they have finished a prescribed amount of homework.
Yet another patent covers the technology that monitors a student's
attentiveness with a video camera that, while perched on a computer, is
constantly patrolling for drooping eyes and nodding heads.
Ideally, however, Mr. Tong said, the computer observes passively
-- by noting whether the student's response time to questions is slower than
usual, for example. ''The monitoring part is not intrusive,'' he said.
''It's not like some systems that monitor your brain waves, where you have
to put gear on your head.''
So what will the computerized professor do if it catches you slacking?
''It can yell at you and say, 'Wake up!' '' Mr. Tong said. ''Or it
can suddenly play a piece of music or change the screen display.''
Mr. Tong knows a thing or two about old-fashioned academia. Like
Mr. Ho, he has a Ph.D. in computer science from the California Institute of
Technology; he also has a law degree and an M.B.A. This month, the former
product manager at Hewlett-Packard quit his day job as a patent lawyer so he
could devote his full attention to ProfessorQ.
The Tong-Ho prototype of the digital professor is rather
primitive, Mr. Tong said, because thus far the two inventors have
been unable to attract much investment capital for the project. In part, Mr.
Tong says, this is because he and Mr. Ho are ''a couple of
technologists who don't know anything about marketing.''
Moreover, it's an idea ahead of its time, Mr. Tong contends. ''One
can have great technology, but when one is ahead of the game, people won't
be buying it. We're waiting for the industry to be ready, and then we'll
develop it.'' In the meantime, Mr. Tong said, the two are
concentrating their efforts on their search engine.
Mr. Tong and Mr. Ho were most recently awarded patent 6,029,043.