Question processing device, question processing method and program

Abstract

To solve problems of prior arts that it has not been possible to effectively process information in response to questions sent by students during a lecture, and it has not been possible to provide appropriate benefits to students or lecturers.SOLUTION: A question processing device 1 comprises: a question receiving unit 121 that receives questions about a lecture from two or more student terminals while a lecturer is lecturing to the two or more students; a question processing unit 132 that processes information about the two or more questions received by the question receiving unit 121, and acquires a processing result; and a result transmission unit 142 that transmits the processing result acquired by the question processing unit 132 to a lecturer terminal 3 or student terminals 2. The question processing device enables effective information processing of questions transmitted by the students during the lecture, and thus can provide appropriate benefits to the students or lecturer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a question processing device and the like that receives questions from two or more students, processes the questions, and transmits the processing results. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there has been a technique that uses automatic question generation (AQG) to provide practice questions to students and evaluates the ability to distinguish between AQG questions and human-generated questions (HA) (see Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] Furthermore, there has been a conventional technology for a learning support method that promotes communication between students during class (see Patent Document 1).

[0004] Furthermore, there has been a conventional technology for a survey result analysis system that can grasp a new population from which highly useful reaction data for marketing can be obtained (see Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-98220

[0006] [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6813917 [Non-patent literature]

[0007] [Non-Patent Document 1] Benny G. Johnson, Jeffrey S. Dittel, Rachel Van Campenhout, and Bill Jerome. Discrimination of automatically generated questions used as formative practice. In Proceedings of the Ninth ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale, L@S '22, page 325?329, New York, NY, USA, 2022. Association for Computing Machinery. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] However, the prior art has had the problem that it is not possible to effectively process information in response to questions sent by students during a lecture, and therefore it is not possible to provide appropriate benefits to students or lecturers. Benefits here can also be considered convenience, usefulness, etc. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The question processing device of the first invention is a question processing device that includes a question receiving unit that receives questions about a lecture from two or more student terminals while a lecturer is giving a lecture to two or more students, a question processing unit that processes information about the two or more questions received by the question receiving unit and acquires the processing results, and a result sending unit that transmits the processing results acquired by the question processing unit to the lecturer terminal or the student terminal.

[0010] With this configuration, it is possible to effectively process information in response to questions sent by students during a lecture, and to provide appropriate benefits to the students or the lecturer.

[0011] In addition, the question processing device of the second invention is different from the first invention in that the question receiving unit receives a question corresponding to a student identifier and further includes a reaction receiving unit that receives reaction information indicating an evaluation for each of the two or more questions from the student terminals of one or more students other than the student who sent the question, and the question processing unit includes a level acquisition means that uses the reaction information received by the reaction receiving unit to acquire the level of the question corresponding to the reaction information, and a level storage means that stores the level acquired by the level acquisition means in association with the student identifier.

[0012] With this configuration, the level of a student can be determined using the evaluations of other students on questions from that student.

[0013] In addition, the question processing device of the third invention is a question processing device in which, compared to the second invention, the question processing unit further comprises a question recommendation means for obtaining a question corresponding to the level of a student identified by a student identifier from a question management unit which manages two or more levels in correspondence with one or more questions, and transmitting the question to the student terminal identified by the student identifier.

[0014] With this configuration, questions appropriate to the student's level can be suggested to the student.

[0015] Furthermore, in the question processing device of the fourth invention, compared to the first invention, the question processing unit is a question processing device that includes an aggregation means for aggregating two or more questions that satisfy similarity conditions among two or more questions received by the question receiving unit during one lecture into one question, and an aggregated question sending means for sending the one or more questions that remain as a result of the aggregation means aggregating the two or more questions.

[0016] With this configuration, questions sent by students during a lecture can be narrowed down by aggregating questions that satisfy similar conditions.

[0017] Furthermore, the question processing device of the fifth invention is a question processing device in which, compared to the fourth invention, the aggregation means aggregates, at a predetermined timing in a lecture, two or more questions that satisfy a similarity condition among two or more questions received by the question receiving unit during a lecture, and converts them into a single question.

[0018] This configuration is useful for lectures in which questions are collected at appropriate times during the lecture, and answers to questions are given towards the end of the lecture.

[0019] Furthermore, the question processing device of the sixth invention is a question processing device in which, compared to the fourth or fifth invention, the question processing unit further comprises a sorting means for sorting the aggregated questions aggregated by the aggregation means in descending order using the number of original questions as a key, and the aggregated question transmission means transmits two or more aggregated questions sorted by the sorting means.

[0020] This configuration allows the instructor to easily grasp questions about topics that interest many students.

[0021] Furthermore, in the question processing device of the seventh invention, compared to the first invention, the lecture is a lecture given by a lecturer using materials having two or more pages, and the question processing unit is a question processing device equipped with correspondence acquisition means for detecting the correspondence between the question received by the question receiving unit and the page of the material and acquiring a page identifier that identifies the page, and question storage means for storing questions in correspondence with the page identifier or page.

[0022] With this configuration, questions can be appropriately associated with lecture materials.

[0023] In addition, the question processing device of the eighth invention is a question processing device in which, compared to the seventh invention, the question processing unit further comprises a question identifier receiving means for receiving a question identifier that identifies a question from the instructor terminal, and a page sending means for sending a page identifier or page that pairs with the question identifier to the instructor terminal.

[0024] This configuration can assist in answering questions and understanding the answers. [Effects of the Invention]

[0025] The question processing device according to the present invention can effectively process information on questions sent by students during a lecture, and can provide appropriate benefits to the students or the lecturer. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0026] [Figure 1] Conceptual diagram of question processing system A in embodiment 1 [Figure 2] Block diagram of the question processing system A [Figure 3] Block diagram of the question processing device 1 [Figure 4] A flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the question processing device 1. [Figure 5] A flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the question processing device 1. [Figure 6] A flowchart illustrating an example of the question aggregation process [Figure 7] A flowchart illustrating an example of the question sorting process [Figure 8] A flowchart illustrating an example of the student evaluation process [Figure 9] Flowchart illustrating an example of data analysis processing [Figure 10] A flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the student terminal 2 [Figure 11] A flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the instructor terminal 3 [Figure 12] A diagram showing an example of the question posting screen [Figure 13] A diagram showing an explanation of the reaction information [Figure 14] Block diagram of the computer system DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0027] Hereinafter, embodiments of a question processing device and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that components with the same reference numerals in the embodiments perform similar operations, and therefore repeated description may be omitted.

[0028] (Embodiment 1) In this embodiment, a question processing device that processes each of two or more questions and transmits the processing results to a lecturer terminal or a student terminal will be described.

[0029] In this embodiment, we will describe a question processing device that accepts evaluations from one or more other students on a question, uses the evaluations to obtain the level of the question, uses the level to determine the level of the student, and outputs the level.

[0030] In this embodiment, a question processing device that uses the level of a student to recommend questions corresponding to that level to the student terminal 2 will be described.

[0031] In this embodiment, a question processing device that aggregates two or more questions that have the same meaning or are similar into one question and transmits the aggregated one or more questions to a lecturer terminal will be described.

[0032] In this embodiment, a question processing device will be described that sorts questions to be sent to the instructor terminal using the number of questions that are the basis for aggregation as a key.

[0033] In this embodiment, a question processing device will be described that stores questions in association with pages when a lecture is given using lecture materials of two or more pages.

[0034] In this embodiment, a question processing device will be described that receives a question instruction from a lecturer terminal when the lecturer answers a question, and outputs a page corresponding to the question.

[0035] In this specification, information X being associated with information Y means that information Y can be obtained from information X, or information X can be obtained from information Y, and the method of association is not important. Information X and information Y may be linked, may exist in the same buffer, information X may be included in information Y, or information Y may be included in information X, etc.

[0036] Furthermore, in this specification, selecting or determining information Z means obtaining information Z, obtaining a pointer to information Z, obtaining the ID of information Z, setting a flag on information Z, etc., and it is sufficient if information Z can be accessed.

[0037] 1 is a conceptual diagram of a question processing system A according to the present embodiment. The question processing system A includes a question processing device 1, two or more student terminals 2, and a lecturer terminal 3.

[0038] The question processing device 1 is a server that receives questions from two or more students and processes the questions. The question processing device 1 is, for example, a cloud server or an ASP server, but the type is not important.

[0039] The student terminal 2 is a terminal used by students attending a lecture. A lecture is typically a class given at a school such as a university, high school, junior high school, elementary school, or vocational school. However, a lecture is broadly understood to include lectures given at educational institutions such as cram schools and preparatory schools, as well as seminars, lectures, and information sessions. A lecture here is, for example, a lecture given by a lecturer using materials of two or more pages. A student is someone who listens to a lecture. A student is, for example, a student attending a class, but it can also be a member of the workforce, and is not restricted to that category.

[0040] The lecturer terminal 3 is a terminal used by a lecturer. The lecturer is a person who gives a lecture. For example, the lecturer is a person who gives an explanation to students.

[0041] The student terminal 2 and the instructor terminal 3 are, for example, smartphones, tablet terminals, personal computers, etc., but the types are not important.

[0042] The question processing device 1 and the student terminal 2, and the question processing device 1 and the lecturer terminal 3 can communicate with each other via a network such as the Internet.

[0043] Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a question processing system A according to this embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a question processing device 1.

[0044] The question processing device 1 includes a storage unit 11, a receiving unit 12, a processing unit 13, and a transmitting unit 14. The storage unit 11 includes a student management unit 111, a question management unit 112, a material management unit 113, and a recommended question management unit 114. The receiving unit 12 includes a question receiving unit 121 and a reaction receiving unit 122. The processing unit 13 includes a material acquisition unit 131 and a question processing unit 132. The question processing unit 132 includes a response acquisition means 1321, a question storage means 1322, a level acquisition means 1323, a level storage means 1324, a question recommendation means 1325, an aggregation means 1326, a sorting means 1327, an aggregated question transmission means 1328, a question identifier receiving means 1329, a page transmission means 1330, a student evaluation means 1331, and a material analysis means 1332. The transmission unit 14 includes a material transmission unit 141 and a result transmission unit 142.

[0045] The student terminal 2 includes a student storage unit 21, a student reception unit 22, a student processing unit 23, a student transmission unit 24, a student reception unit 25, and a student output unit 26.

[0046] The instructor terminal 3 includes an instructor storage unit 31, an instructor reception unit 32, an instructor processing unit 33, an instructor transmission unit , an instructor reception unit 35, and an instructor output unit .

[0047] Various types of information are stored in the storage unit 11 that constitutes the question processing device 1. The various types of information include, for example, student information (to be described later), question information (to be described later), material information (to be described later), and recommended questions to be presented.

[0048] The student management unit 111 stores two or more pieces of student information. Student information is information about a student. The student information includes a student identifier and one or more student attribute values. The student attribute value is, for example, a level. The level is, for example, the level of the student based on one or more questions asked by the student. The level is, for example, the academic level of the student.

[0049] The question management unit 112 stores two or more pieces of question information. The question information is information related to the question. The question information has a student identifier, a question, a level, and a material identifier. The student identifier here is an identifier that identifies the student who sent the question. The question included in the question information is a question sent by the student, a question related to the lecture being attended, and is usually a string of characters. The question here can also be referred to as the content of the question. The level is the level of the question. The material identifier is information that identifies the material corresponding to the question. The material is material used in the lecture. The material identifier is, for example, a page identifier. The material identifier is, for example, a document identifier and a page identifier. The page identifier is, for example, a page number and a page ID. The document identifier is information that identifies the lecture material. The document identifier is, for example, the ID of the lecture material and the file name of the lecture material.

[0050] One or more pieces of material information are stored in the material management unit 113. The material information is information related to lecture materials. The material information includes, for example, a material identifier, a lecturer identifier, and actual data of the lecture materials (usually a file).

[0051] The recommended question management unit 114 stores one or more recommended questions corresponding to each of two or more levels. A recommended question is a question that is recommended to a student. A recommended question may simply be called a question. A level is the level of a student. Alternatively, a level may be the rank of a student.

[0052] The receiving unit 12 receives various types of information and instructions as digital signals. The various types of information and instructions include questions, reaction information, a lecture start instruction, and a page turn instruction. A lecture start instruction is an instruction to start a lecture. The lecture start instruction includes, for example, a material identifier and a lecturer identifier. A page turn instruction is an instruction to turn a page of the lecture material.

[0053] While a lecturer is giving a lecture to two or more students, the question receiving unit 121 receives questions about the lecture as digital signals from one or more student terminals 2. It is preferable that the question receiving unit 121 receives questions associated with student identifiers.

[0054] The reaction receiving unit 122 receives reaction information indicating an evaluation of each of two or more questions as a digital signal from the student terminal 2 of one or more students other than the student who sent the question. The reaction receiving unit 122 may receive reaction information from the student terminal 2 of the student who sent the question. The reaction information received by the reaction receiving unit 122 corresponds to, for example, a question identifier. The reaction information received by the reaction receiving unit 122 may also correspond to the student identifier of the student who sent the question. The reaction information received by the reaction receiving unit 122 corresponds to, for example, the student identifier who sent the reaction information.

[0055] Reaction information is information that indicates an evaluation of a question. The evaluation can be merely an impression or a feeling. Examples of reaction information include "questions that resonate (e.g., "1")," "questions that can be answered (e.g., "2")," "unexpected questions (e.g., "3")," "advanced questions (e.g., "4")," and "not applicable questions (e.g., "5")." "Questions that resonate" are questions that you are also interested in. "Unexpected questions" are questions that have a different perspective than your own. "Advanced questions" are questions that are difficult to understand with your level of understanding. "Not applicable questions" are questions that do not fall into the categories of "1" to "4." Note that reaction information can also be called reaction information. Reaction information is information that identifies reactions to questions.

[0056] The processing unit 13 performs various types of processing. The various types of processing are, for example, processing performed by the material acquisition unit 131 or the question processing unit 132.

[0057] For example, when a question is received, the processing unit 13 acquires a unique question identifier, which is the question identifier of the question.

[0058] The material acquisition unit 131 acquires material information or entity data of lecture materials from the material management unit 113. The material information is materials used in a lecture. For example, upon receiving a lecture start instruction from the lecturer terminal 3, the material acquisition unit 131 acquires material information or entity data of the lecture materials corresponding to the lecture start instruction.

[0059] The question processing unit 132 processes information about two or more questions received by the question receiving unit 121 and obtains the processing results. It is preferable that the question processing unit 132 processes information about two or more questions received during a lecture and obtains the processing results during the lecture. The question processing unit 132 may also process information about two or more questions received during a lecture and obtain the processing results after the lecture has ended. Information processing includes, for example, during-lecture processing and post-lecture processing. During-lecture processing is processing that supports the progress of the lecture. Examples of during-lecture processing include question recommendation processing, question aggregation processing, and question matching processing, which will be described later. Post-lecture processing is processing that is performed after the lecture. Examples of post-lecture processing are student evaluation processing, which will be described later, and material analysis processing, which will be described later.

[0060] The correspondence acquisition means 1321 and the question storage means 1322 perform question correspondence processing.

[0061] The correspondence acquisition means 1321 detects the correspondence between the question received by the question receiving unit 121 and the page of the document, and acquires a page identifier that identifies the page.

[0062] The correspondence acquisition means 1321 acquires, for example, from the storage unit 11, the current page identifier when the question receiving unit 121 receives the question.

[0063] The correspondence acquisition means 1321, for example, acquires the page identifier of the page most similar to the question received by the question receiving unit 121. In such a case, for example, page vectors obtained by vectorizing each page of the lecture materials in the material management unit 113 are stored in association with the page identifiers. Furthermore, the correspondence acquisition means 1321, for example, vectorizes the question received by the question receiving unit 121, and acquires the page identifier paired with the page vector most similar to the vector of the question.

[0064] The question storage means 1322 stores the questions received by the question receiving unit 121 in association with a page identifier or a page. The question storage means 1322 may store the questions received by the question receiving unit 121 in association with lecture materials. The question storage means 1322 normally stores questions in the question management unit 112. The question storage means 1322 normally stores the questions received by the question receiving unit 121 in association with a page identifier acquired by the association acquisition means 1321 or a page identified by the page identifier.

[0065] The level acquisition means 1323 uses one or more pieces of reaction information received by the reaction receiving unit 122 to acquire the level of the question corresponding to the one or more pieces of reaction information.

[0066] The higher the level of the reaction information, the higher the level of the question that is acquired by the level acquisition means 1323.

[0067] The level acquisition means 1323 acquires the level of the question, for example, using the following formula 1.

[0068]

number

[0069] In Equation 1, S(q) represents the level of the question, RA represents the total number of reactions, and R s is the number of reactions to the "empathetic question", R k is the number of reactions to the "answerable question", R u is the number of reactions to the "unexpected question", R a is the number of reactions to the "advanced question." In this case, the weights are, for example, w1=w2=w3=w4=0.25, but are not important.

[0070] Furthermore, when analyzing the reactions to the questions, the following four trends were observed. (1) The reaction “empathetic questions” decreases as the question level increases. (2) The reaction "Questions that can be answered" decreases as the question level increases. (3) The reaction “Unexpected Question” increases as the question level increases. (4) The reaction "Advanced Question" increases as the question level increases. Based on the above trends, it is thought that the level of the question itself can be calculated using the above formula 1 based on the data on questions asked in the past by students and the proportion of reactions voted on by other students in response to those questions.

[0071] The level acquisition means 1323 acquires, for example, one or more representative values ​​(for example, average, median, maximum) of the reaction information as the level of the question.

[0072] The level acquiring means 1323 acquires the level of a student, for example, using the level of one or more questions of the student. The higher the level of the question, the higher the level acquiring means 1323 acquires the student's level.

[0073] The level obtaining means 1323 obtains the level of one student using the level of one or more questions of one student, for example, using Equation 2.

[0074]

number

[0075] In Equation 2, S(U nm ) represents the question level of user n with m questions, and S nm (q) represents the level of the m-th question of user n. The level of the questions asked by the students in the lecture can be calculated using formula 1, and the question level of the students can be obtained using formula 2. The level obtaining means 1323 may rank the students using the question level of each student, which is two or more. Also, the question level of the students, S nm (q) may be a representative value (average, median, maximum, etc.) of the level of each question, which may be two or more. Also, the question level of a student may be referred to as the student's level.

[0076] The level storage means 1324 stores the level of each of the one or more questions acquired by the level acquisition means 1323 in association with the student identifier.

[0077] The level storage means 1324 stores, for example, the level of one student acquired by the level acquisition means 1323 in association with the student identifier of the one student.

[0078] The question recommendation means 1325 performs a question recommendation process. That is, the question recommendation means 1325 acquires a question associated with the level of a student identified by a student identifier from the recommended question management unit 114, and transmits the question to the student terminal 2 identified by the student identifier. Note that a question associated with a level is equivalent to a question associated with a student's rank.

[0079] The question recommendation means 1325, for example, uses the acquired ranking of students' question levels to recommend high-level (advanced) questions to students ranked higher and low-level (beginner) questions to students ranked lower. Therefore, it is possible to recommend questions with a high question level S(q) to students ranked higher, and questions with a low question level S(q) to students ranked lower. This makes it possible to search for and recommend questions that students should consider next from the recommended question management unit 114 (which may also be called a question database).

[0080] The aggregation means 1326 performs a question aggregation process. That is, the aggregation means 1326 aggregates two or more questions that satisfy a similarity condition among two or more questions received by the question receiving unit 121 during one lecture into one question. As a result, the aggregation means 1326 can aggregate the many received questions into one or two or more fewer questions.

[0081] The similarity condition is a condition that the similarity between two questions, which are two character strings, is equal to or greater than a threshold value, for example.

[0082] At a predetermined timing in one lecture, the aggregation means 1326 aggregates two or more questions that satisfy a similarity condition among two or more questions received by the question receiving unit 121 during one lecture, and aggregates them into one question. Note that the predetermined timing is, for example, X minutes before the end of the lecture or Y minutes after the start of the lecture. Note that the predetermined timing is the time from the start of the lecture to the end of the lecture.

[0083] The sorting means 1327 sorts the aggregated questions in descending order using the number of original questions as a key for the questions aggregated by the aggregation means 1326. As a result, questions from a larger number of students are placed higher.

[0084] The aggregated question sending means 1328 transmits one or more questions remaining as a result of the aggregation of two or more questions by the aggregation means 1326 as a digital signal. It is preferable that the aggregated question sending means 1328 transmits the two or more aggregated questions sorted by the sorting means 1327. Here, "transmitting" usually means transmitting to the instructor terminal 3 of the instructor who delivers a lecture, but it may also be transmitting to the student terminal 2 or another device not shown. A question identifier is associated with the question to be transmitted.

[0085] The question identifier receiving means 1329 receives a question identifier that identifies a question as a digital signal from the lecturer terminal 3. The question identifier receiving means 1329 usually receives the question identifier from the lecturer terminal 3 during a lecture. The question identifier is, for example, the identifier of a question to be answered by the lecturer. The question identifier is, for example, the identifier of a question to be output.

[0086] The page sending means 1330 sends the page identifier or page paired with the question identifier received by the question identifier receiving means 1329 as a digital signal to the instructor terminal 3. The instructor terminal 3 displays the page.

[0087] The student evaluation means 1331 performs student evaluation processing. That is, for each of one or more student identifiers, the student evaluation means 1331 acquires an evaluation value (which may also be called a student's level) of the student using the levels accumulated by the level accumulation means 1324 for one or more lectures, and accumulates the evaluation value in association with the student identifier. The student evaluation means 1331 acquires a level that is accumulated for each of one or more lectures and pairs with the student identifier from the question management unit 112, and acquires an evaluation value of the student identified by the student identifier using the two or more levels. The evaluation value is, for example, a value calculated by an increasing function using two or more levels as parameters. The evaluation value is, for example, a value calculated by an increasing function using the number of questions and two or more levels as parameters. The evaluation value is, for example, a representative value (e.g., average, median) of the two or more levels. The two or more lectures are, for example, one unit, one subject, or a series of two or more lectures for one course.

[0088] The material analysis means 1332 performs material analysis processing. That is, for each of two or more pages in the material, the material analysis means 1332 performs statistical processing on one or more questions paired with the page, obtains the statistical processing results, and outputs the statistical processing results. The statistical processing results include, for example, the number of questions, the number of questions for each level of questions, and the number of questions with a level lower than a predetermined value.

[0089] The transmitting unit 14 transmits various types of information as digital signals, such as lecture materials and processing results acquired by the question processing unit 132.

[0090] The material transmitting unit 141 transmits the material in the material managing unit 113. For example, the material transmitting unit 141 transmits the material in the material managing unit 113 to the lecturer terminal 3 as a digital signal.

[0091] The result transmitting unit 142 transmits the processing result acquired by the question processing unit 132 as a digital signal to the instructor terminal 3 or the student terminal 2. The result transmitting unit 142 transmits, for example, the received question to the instructor terminal 3 or one or more student terminals 2.

[0092] Various types of information are stored in the student storage unit 21 constituting the student terminal 2. The various types of information are, for example, student identifiers.

[0093] The student reception unit 22 receives various types of information and instructions, such as questions and reaction information.

[0094] The means for inputting various information and instructions may be any means, such as a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, or menu screen.

[0095] The student processing unit 23 performs various processes. For example, the various processes are processes for converting instructions and information received by the student receiving unit 22 into instructions and information with a data structure to be transmitted. For example, the various processes are processes for converting information received by the student receiving unit 25 into information with a data structure to be output.

[0096] The student transmitting unit 24 transmits various instructions and information as digital signals, such as questions and reaction information.

[0097] The student receiving unit 25 receives various types of information as digital signals, such as questions from other students and recommended questions.

[0098] The student output unit 26 outputs various information, such as questions from other students and recommended questions.

[0099] Here, output is a concept that includes displaying on a display, projection using a projector, printing on a printer, sound output, transmission to an external device, storage on a recording medium, and delivery of processing results to other processing devices or other programs.

[0100] Various types of information are stored in the lecturer storage unit 31 included in the lecturer terminal 3. The various types of information include, for example, a lecturer identifier and lecture materials.

[0101] The lecturer reception unit 32 receives various information and instructions. The various information and instructions include, for example, an instruction to start a lecture, an instruction to turn a page, an instruction to ask a question, an instruction to output student information, and an instruction to output analysis results. A question instruction is an instruction for a question that the lecturer intends to answer. A question instruction has a question identifier. Note that the student information here includes the student's level or evaluation value. The analysis results are the results of analyzing questions about the lecture materials.

[0102] The instructor processing unit 33 performs various processes. For example, these processes include converting instructions and information received by the instructor receiving unit 32 into instructions and information with a data structure to be sent. For example, these processes include converting information received by the instructor receiving unit 35 into information with a data structure to be output.

[0103] The instructor transmission unit 34 transmits various instructions and information, such as a page-turning instruction and a question instruction.

[0104] The instructor receiving unit 35 receives various types of information, such as questions from students, collected questions, student information, and analysis results.

[0105] The lecturer output unit 36 ​​outputs various information, such as questions from students and lecture materials.

[0106] The storage unit 11, student management unit 111, question management unit 112, material management unit 113, student storage unit 21, and lecturer storage unit 31 are preferably non-volatile recording media, but can also be realized as volatile recording media.

[0107] There is no restriction on the process by which information is stored in the storage unit 11 etc. For example, information may be stored in the storage unit 11 etc. via a recording medium, information transmitted via a communication line etc. may be stored in the storage unit 11 etc., or information input via an input device may be stored in the storage unit 11 etc.

[0108] The receiving unit 12, the question receiving unit 121, the reaction receiving unit 122, the transmitting unit 14, the material transmitting unit 141, the result transmitting unit 142, the student transmitting unit 24, the student receiving unit 25, the lecturer transmitting unit 34, the lecturer receiving unit 35, the aggregated question transmitting means 1328, the question identifier receiving means 1329, and the page transmitting means 1330 are typically realized by wireless or wired communication means.

[0109] The processing unit 13, the material acquisition unit 131, the question processing unit 132, the question storage means 1322, the level acquisition means 1323, the level storage means 1324, the aggregation means 1326, the sorting means 1327, the correspondence acquisition means 1321, the question storage means 1322, the student processing unit 23, and the instructor processing unit 33 can typically be realized by a processor, memory, or the like. The processing procedures of the processing unit 13, etc., are typically realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, they may also be realized by hardware (dedicated circuitry). The processor may be a CPU, MPU, GPU, or the like, and the type is not important.

[0110] The student reception unit 22 and the instructor reception unit 32 can be realized by a device driver for an input means such as a numeric keypad or keyboard, or control software for a menu screen.

[0111] The student output unit 26 and the instructor output unit 36 ​​may or may not include output devices such as a display, a speaker, etc. The student output unit 26, etc. may be realized by driver software for an output device, or by a combination of driver software for an output device and an output device, etc.

[0112] Next, the operation of the question processing device 1 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

[0113] (S401) The receiving unit 12 determines whether or not a lecture start instruction has been received from the lecturer terminal 3. If a lecture start instruction has been received, the process proceeds to S402, and if not, the process proceeds to S403.

[0114] (S402) The material acquisition unit 131 acquires materials corresponding to the lecture start instruction from the material management unit 113. The material transmission unit 141 transmits the materials to the lecturer terminal 3. Return to S401. The materials here are lecture materials (for example, PowerPoint files) used by the lecturer.

[0115] (S403) The receiving unit 12 determines whether or not a page-turning instruction has been received from the instructor terminal 3. If a page-turning instruction has been received, the process proceeds to S403; if not, the process proceeds to S405. Note that a page-turning instruction is an instruction to move to the next page in the lecture materials, which is input by the instructor into the instructor terminal 3.

[0116] (S404) The processing unit 13 temporarily stores the current page identifier, which is the page identifier of the next page corresponding to the page turning instruction, in the storage unit 11. Return to S401. By this process, the question processing device 1 can grasp the current page identifier during the lecture.

[0117] (S405) The question receiving unit 121 determines whether or not a question or the like has been received from the student terminal 2. If a question or the like has been received, the process proceeds to S406, and if not, the process proceeds to S409. Note that the question or the like includes the question and the student identifier. The question or the like may also include a lecture identifier.

[0118] (S406) The question storage unit 1322 acquires a unique question identifier for the question, and the page identifier for the page corresponding to the received question.

[0119] (S407) The question storage unit 1322 stores the received question in the question management unit 112 in association with the question identifier, the student identifier, and the page identifier.

[0120] (S408) The transmission unit 14 transmits the received question to the instructor terminal 3 and one or more student terminals 2. Return to S401. Note that the question is associated with a question identifier.

[0121] (S409) The reaction receiving unit 122 determines whether or not reaction information, etc. has been received from the student terminal 2. If reaction information, etc. has been received, the process proceeds to S410; if not, the process proceeds to S411. The reaction information, etc., is, for example, the reaction information, the question identifier of the question to be evaluated, and the student identifier of the student who sent the reaction information.

[0122] (S410) The question processing unit 132 associates the reaction information received in S409 with the question identifier and the student identifier, and stores the information in the question management unit 112. The process returns to S401.

[0123] (S411) The question processing unit 132 determines whether it is time to recommend a question to the student. If it is time to recommend a question, the process proceeds to S412; if it is not time to recommend a question, the process proceeds to S420. The timing for recommending a question is, for example, when a question recommendation condition is met. The question recommendation condition is, for example, when a predetermined time has passed since the start of the lecture, when a predetermined time has passed before the end of the lecture, or when a predetermined time has passed and the number of questions received by the question receiving unit 121 during the lecture is equal to or less than a threshold.

[0124] (S412) The question recommendation means 1325 assigns 1 to a counter i.

[0125] (S413) The question recommendation means 1325 determines whether or not there is an i-th student attending the lecture, by referring to the student management unit 111. If there is an i-th student, the process proceeds to S414; if there is not, the process returns to S401.

[0126] (S414) The question recommendation means 1325 acquires one or more student attribute values ​​of the i-th student attending the lecture from the student management unit 111. The one or more student attribute values ​​are, for example, information about the student's level and the student's question history. The information about the student's question history is, for example, the number of questions the student has asked in this lecture and the number of questions the student has asked so far.

[0127] (S415) The question recommendation means 1325 determines whether one or more student attribute values ​​satisfy the recommendation conditions. If the recommendation conditions are satisfied, the process proceeds to S416, and if the recommendation conditions are not satisfied, the process proceeds to S419.

[0128] (S416) The question recommendation means 1325 acquires the level of the student.

[0129] (S417) The question recommendation unit 1325 acquires a question paired with the level from the recommended question management unit 114.

[0130] (S418) The question recommendation means 1325 transmits the question to the student terminals 2 of one or more students.

[0131] (S419) The question recommendation means 1325 increments the counter i by 1. The process returns to S413.

[0132] (S420) The aggregation unit 1326 determines whether it is time to aggregate questions. If it is time to aggregate questions, the process proceeds to S421, and if it is not time to aggregate questions, the process proceeds to S424.

[0133] (S421) The aggregation unit 1326 performs a process of aggregating questions. An example of such a question aggregation process will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0134] (S422) The sorting unit 1327 sorts the collected questions. An example of such question sorting processing will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0135] (S423) The material sending unit 141 sends one or more questions sorted in S422. Return to S401. The destination of the questions is, for example, the instructor terminal 3, or the instructor terminal 3 and one or more student terminals 2. Here, the questions are sorted in descending order of the number of similar or similar questions. In other words, a set of questions is sent in which questions considered to be important are ranked at the top.

[0136] (S424) The question identifier receiving means 1329 determines whether or not a question instruction has been received from the instructor terminal 3. If a question instruction has been received, the process proceeds to S425, and if not, the process proceeds to S427.

[0137] (S425) The page sending means 1330 acquires the question identifier included in the question instruction, and then acquires the page identifier or page paired with the question identifier.

[0138] (S426) The page sending means 1330 sends the page identifier or the page to the instructor terminal 3. The process returns to S401.

[0139] (S427) The student evaluation means 1331 determines whether it is time to evaluate the students. If it is time to evaluate the students, the process proceeds to S428, and if it is not time to collect questions, the process proceeds to S432.

[0140] (S428) The student evaluation means 1331 assigns 1 to the counter i.

[0141] (S429) The student evaluation means 1331 determines whether or not the i-th student to be evaluated exists. If the i-th student exists, the process proceeds to S430, and if not, the process returns to S401.

[0142] (S430) The student evaluation means 1331 acquires the evaluation value of the i-th student. An example of such student evaluation processing will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0143] (S431) The student evaluation means 1331 increments the counter i by 1. The process returns to S429.

[0144] (S432) The material analysis means 1332 determines whether it is time to perform material analysis. If it is time to perform material analysis, the process proceeds to S433, and if it is not time to perform material analysis, the process proceeds to S437. The timing to perform material analysis is, for example, after the lecture ends, at a predetermined time, but is not critical.

[0145] (S433) The data analysis means 1332 assigns 1 to the counter i.

[0146] (S434) The material analysis means 1332 determines whether or not the i-th material to be analyzed exists. If the i-th material exists, the process proceeds to S435, and if not, the process returns to S401.

[0147] (S435) The material analysis means 1332 analyzes the i-th material. An example of such material analysis processing will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0148] (S436) The material analysis means 1332 increments the counter i by 1. The process returns to S434.

[0149] (S437) The receiving unit 12 determines whether or not an instruction to output the student information has been received from the instructor terminal 3. If an instruction to output the student information has been received, the process proceeds to S438; if not, the process proceeds to S439.

[0150] (S438) Student information including the evaluation value of one or more students corresponding to the instruction to output the student information is obtained from the student management unit 111. The result sending unit 142 sends the information of one or more students to the instructor terminal 3. Return to S401.

[0151] (S439) The receiving unit 12 determines whether or not an instruction to output the analysis results has been received from the instructor terminal 3. If an instruction to output the analysis results has been received, the process proceeds to S440, and if not, the process returns to S401.

[0152] (S440) The material analysis means 1332 acquires the analysis results of the material specified by the instruction to output the analysis results from the material management unit 113. The result transmission unit 142 transmits the analysis results to the instructor terminal 3. Return to S401.

[0153] In the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5, the processing ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end the processing.

[0154] Next, an example of the question aggregation process in S421 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0155] (S601) The aggregation unit 1326 acquires all questions about the lecture from the question management unit 112.

[0156] (S602) The aggregation unit 1326 acquires a vector corresponding to each question from the character string of each question acquired in S601.

[0157] (S603) The aggregation unit 1326 assigns 1 to the counter i.

[0158] (S604) The aggregation means 1326 determines whether or not the ith set of questions exists among all the questions. If the ith set of questions exists, the process proceeds to S605; if not, the process proceeds to S611. The ith set of questions consists of two questions. Each of the two questions may be a question resulting from aggregating the two questions.

[0159] (S605) The aggregation means 1326 obtains two vectors corresponding to the ith question set.

[0160] (S606) The aggregation unit 1326 calculates the similarity between the two vectors.

[0161] (S607) The aggregation unit 1326 determines whether the similarity calculated in S606 satisfies the aggregation condition. If the aggregation condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to S608, and if the aggregation condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to S610.

[0162] (S608) The aggregation unit 1326 aggregates the i-th set of questions into one question. Typically, one question is adopted from every two questions in the i-th set of questions.

[0163] (S609) The aggregation unit 1326 associates the adopted question with the question identifiers corresponding to the questions in the ith question set.

[0164] (S610) The aggregation unit 1326 increments the counter i by 1. The process returns to S604.

[0165] (S611) The aggregation unit 1326 determines whether or not a termination condition is met. If the termination condition is met, the process returns to the upper process. If the termination condition is not met, the process returns to S603. The termination condition may be, for example, that the number of remaining questions is equal to or less than a threshold value, or that no similar questions exist as a result of the aggregation process.

[0166] Next, an example of the question sorting process in S422 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0167] (S701) The sorting means 1327 assigns 1 to a counter i.

[0168] (S702) The sorting means 1327 determines whether the i-th question exists among the questions remaining as a result of the aggregation process. If the i-th question exists, the process proceeds to S703; if not, the process proceeds to S705.

[0169] (S703) The sorting unit 1327 acquires the number of question identifiers associated with the i-th question. Note that the number of question identifiers is the number of questions that served as the basis for the i-th question.

[0170] (S704) The sorting means 1327 increments the counter i by 1. The process returns to S702.

[0171] (S705) The sorting means 1327 sorts the questions in descending order using the number of questions acquired in S703 as a key, and returns to the upper process.

[0172] Next, an example of the student evaluation process in S430 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0173] (S801) The student evaluation means 1331 acquires all questions paired with the student identifier of the student to be evaluated. The student evaluation means 1331 acquires all reaction information paired with each of the acquired one or more questions.

[0174] (S802) The student evaluation means 1331 acquires the number of all questions acquired in S801.

[0175] (S803) The student evaluation means 1331 acquires the student's evaluation value. The process returns to the upper level. The student evaluation means 1331 acquires a higher evaluation value the higher the level indicated by the reaction information. The student evaluation means 1331 also acquires a higher evaluation value the more questions there are.

[0176] In the flowchart of FIG. 8, the student evaluation means 1331 may obtain the level of one or more questions of the student to be evaluated, and use the level to obtain an evaluation value of the student.

[0177] Next, an example of the data analysis process in S435 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0178] (S901) The material analysis means 1332 acquires all questions associated with the material to be analyzed.

[0179] (S902) The material analysis means 1332 acquires the number of questions acquired in S901, and stores the number of questions in association with the material.

[0180] (S903) The material analysis means 1332 acquires the level of each question acquired in S901. The material analysis means 1332 acquires the number of questions by level, and stores the number of questions by level in association with the material.

[0181] (S904) The data analysis means 1332 assigns 1 to the counter i.

[0182] (S905) The material analysis means 1332 determines whether the i-th page exists in the target material. If the i-th page exists, the process proceeds to S906, and if not, the process returns to the upper process.

[0183] (S906) The material analysis means 1332 acquires all questions paired with the page identifier of the ith page.

[0184] (S907) The material analysis means 1332 acquires the number of questions paired with the page identifier of the ith page, and stores the number of questions in association with the ith page of the material.

[0185] (S908) The material analysis means 1332 acquires the number of questions by level in association with the page identifier of the ith page, and stores the number of questions by level in association with the ith page of the material.

[0186] (S909) The material analysis means 1332 increments the counter i by 1. The process returns to S905.

[0187] In the flowchart of FIG. 9, the total number of questions corresponding to the material, the number of questions by level for the material, the total number of questions per page, and the number of questions by level for each page are acquired.

[0188] Next, the operation of the student terminal 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0189] (S1001) The student reception unit 22 determines whether or not a question has been received from a student. If a question has been received, the process proceeds to S1002, and if not, the process proceeds to S1003.

[0190] (S1002) The student processing unit 23 acquires the student identifier and the lecture identifier from the student storage unit 21. The student processing unit 23 composes a question, etc. having the accepted question, the student identifier, and the lecture identifier. The student sending unit 24 sends the question, etc. to the question processing device 1. Return to S1001.

[0191] (S1003) The student reception unit 22 determines whether or not it has received reaction information from the student regarding the question. If reaction information has been received, the process proceeds to S1004, and if not, the process proceeds to S1005.

[0192] (S1004) The student processing unit 23 acquires the student identifier and the lecture identifier from the student storage unit 21. The student processing unit 23 acquires the question identifier for the question. The student processing unit 23 composes reaction information, etc., having the received reaction information and the acquired question identifier, student identifier, and lecture identifier. The student sending unit 24 sends the reaction information, etc. to the question processing device 1. Return to S1001.

[0193] (S1005) The student receiving unit 25 determines whether or not a question or the like has been received from the question processing device 1. If a question or the like has been received, the process proceeds to S1006, and if not, the process proceeds to S1007. Note that a question or the like has, for example, a question, a question identifier, and a lecture identifier.

[0194] (S1006) Student processing unit 23 creates a data structure for outputting the received question. Student output unit 26 outputs the question. Return to S1001.

[0195] (S1007) The student receiving unit 25 determines whether or not a recommended question or the like has been received from the question processing device 1. If a recommended question or the like has been received, the process proceeds to S1008; if not, the process returns to S1001. Note that the recommended question or the like includes, for example, the recommended question and a lecture identifier.

[0196] (S1008) The student processing unit 23 creates a data structure for outputting the received recommendation question. The student output unit 26 outputs the recommendation question. The process returns to S1001.

[0197] In the flowchart of FIG. 10, the process ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end the process.

[0198] Next, the operation of the instructor terminal 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0199] (S1101) The lecturer reception unit 32 determines whether or not a lecture start instruction has been received. If a lecture start instruction has been received, the process proceeds to S1102, and if not, the process proceeds to S1105.

[0200] (S1102) The lecturer processing unit 33 composes a lecture start instruction to be transmitted. The lecturer transmitting unit 34 transmits the lecture start instruction to the question processing device 1.

[0201] (S1103) The lecturer receiving unit 35 determines whether or not the lecture material has been received from the question processing device 1. If the lecture material has been received, the process proceeds to S1104, and if not, the process returns to S1103.

[0202] (S1104) The lecturer output unit 36 ​​outputs the received lecture materials. Return to S1101.

[0203] (S1105) The instructor reception unit 32 determines whether or not a page turning instruction has been received. If a page turning instruction has been received, the process proceeds to S1106, and if not, the process proceeds to S1108.

[0204] (S1106) The lecturer output unit 36 ​​outputs the next page of the currently outputted material.

[0205] (S1107) The lecturer processing unit 33 composes a page turning instruction having the lecture identifier. The lecturer sending unit 34 sends the page turning instruction to the question processing device 1. The process returns to S1101.

[0206] (S1108) The instructor receiving unit 35 determines whether or not a question or the like has been received from the question processing device 1. If a question or the like has been received, the process proceeds to S1109, and if not, the process proceeds to S1110. Note that a question or the like includes, for example, a question, a question identifier, and a student identifier.

[0207] (S1109) The instructor processing unit 33 composes a question to be output. The instructor output unit 36 ​​outputs the question. The process returns to S1101.

[0208] (S1110) The instructor reception unit 32 determines whether or not a question instruction has been received. If a question instruction has been received, the process proceeds to S1111; if not, the process proceeds to S1114.

[0209] (S1111) The instructor processing unit 33 composes a question instruction to be transmitted. The instructor transmission unit 34 transmits the question instruction to the question processing device 1. The question instruction includes a question identifier.

[0210] (S1112) The instructor receiving unit 35 determines whether or not it has received a page identifier or page that matches the question identifier included in the question instruction. If it has received a page identifier or page, it proceeds to S1113; if it has not received a page identifier or page, it returns to S1112.

[0211] (S1113) The instructor processing unit 33 acquires the page identified by the received page identifier or the received page. The instructor output unit 36 ​​outputs the page. The process returns to S1101.

[0212] (S1114) The instructor reception unit 32 determines whether or not an instruction to output the student information has been received. If an instruction to output the student information has been received, the process proceeds to S1115; if not, the process proceeds to S1118.

[0213] (S1115) The lecturer processing unit 33 generates an output instruction to be transmitted. The lecturer transmitting unit 34 transmits the output instruction for the student information to the question processing device 1.

[0214] (S1116) The instructor receiving unit 35 determines whether or not one or more pieces of student information have been received from the question processing device 1. If one or more pieces of student information have been received, the process proceeds to S1117; if not, the process returns to S1116.

[0215] (S1117) The instructor processing unit 33 composes one or more pieces of student information to be output. The instructor output unit 36 ​​outputs the one or more pieces of student information. The process returns to S1101.

[0216] (S1118) The instructor reception unit 32 determines whether or not an instruction to output the analysis results has been received. If an instruction to output the analysis results has been received, the process proceeds to S1119, and if not, the process returns to S1101.

[0217] (S1119) The instructor processing unit 33 composes an output instruction to be transmitted. The instructor transmitting unit 34 transmits the output instruction of the analysis result to the question processing device 1.

[0218] (S1120) The instructor receiving unit 35 determines whether or not the analysis result has been received from the question processing device 1. If the analysis result has been received, the process proceeds to S1121, and if not, the process returns to S1120.

[0219] (S1121) The instructor processing unit 33 composes the analysis result to be output. The instructor output unit 36 ​​outputs the analysis result. The process returns to S1101.

[0220] In the flowchart of FIG. 11, the process ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end the process.

[0221] The specific operation of the question processing system A in this embodiment will be described below. Students post questions during a lecture. An example of the question posting screen is shown in FIG. 12. Questions posted by one or more students are sent to all student terminals 2 and the instructor terminal 3, and a screen like that shown in FIG. 12 is displayed. In FIG. 12, as shown in 1201, five reaction stamps for inputting reaction information are displayed for each question. Note that explanation information for the five pieces of reaction information shown in FIG. 13 is displayed on all student terminals 2.

[0222] Then, during the lecture, other students input reaction information to the question. As a result, as described above, the level of each question posted by the student is determined. In addition, an evaluation value for the student is determined based on the level of the question posted by the student. Furthermore, questions are recommended to the student according to the evaluation value of the student.

[0223] As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to effectively process information in response to questions sent by students during a lecture, and to provide appropriate benefits to the students or the lecturer.

[0224] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the level of a student can be determined using the evaluations of other students on questions from that student.

[0225] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, questions appropriate to the level of the student can be suggested to the student.

[0226] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, questions are sent from students during a lecture, and questions that satisfy similar conditions are aggregated, thereby making it possible to narrow down the questions.

[0227] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, by collecting questions at an appropriate timing during a lecture, it is useful for lectures in which questions are answered towards the end of the lecture.

[0228] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the instructor or the like can easily grasp questions about matters that interest many students.

[0229] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, questions can be appropriately associated with lecture materials.

[0230] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to assist in answering questions and understanding the answers.

[0231] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, students can be evaluated using their reactions to questions.

[0232] The processing in this embodiment may be implemented by software. This software may be distributed by software download or the like. Furthermore, this software may be recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and distributed. This also applies to other embodiments in this specification. The software implementing the question processing device 1 in this embodiment is the following program. That is, this program causes a computer to function as a question receiving unit that receives questions about a lecture from two or more student terminals while a lecturer is giving a lecture to two or more students, a question processing unit that processes information about the two or more questions received by the question receiving unit and acquires the processing results, and a result transmitting unit that transmits the processing results acquired by the question processing unit to the lecturer terminal or the student terminal.

[0233] FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a computer system 300 that executes the programs described in this specification to realize the question processing device 1 and the like according to the various embodiments described above.

[0234] In FIG. 14, a computer system 300 includes a computer 301 including a CD-ROM drive, a keyboard 302, a mouse 303, and a monitor 304.

[0235] 14, computer 301 includes, in addition to CD-ROM drive 3012, MPU 3013, bus 3014 connected to CD-ROM drive 3012 etc., ROM 3015 for storing programs such as a boot-up program, RAM 3016 connected to MPU 3013 for temporarily storing instructions of application programs and providing temporary storage space, and hard disk 3017 for storing application programs, system programs, and data. Although not shown here, computer 301 may further include a network card for providing connection to a LAN.

[0236] A program that causes the computer system 300 to execute the functions of the question processing device 1 and the like of the above-described embodiment may be stored on a CD-ROM 3101, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 3012, and then transferred to the hard disk 3017. Alternatively, the program may be transmitted to the computer 301 via a network (not shown) and stored on the hard disk 3017. The program is loaded into the RAM 3016 when executed. The program may also be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 3101 or the network.

[0237] The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 301 to execute the functions of the question processing device 1 of the above-described embodiment. The program need only include instructions that call appropriate functions (modules) in a controlled manner to achieve the desired results. How the computer system 300 operates is well known, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0238] In addition, in the above program, the steps of transmitting information and receiving information do not include processing performed by hardware, such as processing performed by a modem or interface card in the transmission step (processing that can only be performed by hardware).

[0239] The computer that executes the program may be a single computer or a plurality of computers, that is, it may perform centralized processing or distributed processing.

[0240] Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, it goes without saying that two or more communication means present in one device may be physically realized by one medium.

[0241] Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, each process may be realized by centralized processing in a single device, or may be realized by distributed processing in a plurality of devices.

[0242] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible, and it goes without saying that these modifications are also included within the scope of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0243] As described above, the question processing device 1 of the present invention can effectively process information on questions sent by students during a lecture, and has the effect of providing appropriate benefits to students or lecturers, making it useful as a server for processing questions during a lecture, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0244] A. Question Processing System 1. Question Processing Device 2 Student devices 3. Teacher's terminal 11 Storage area 12 Receiving unit 13 Processing section 14 Transmitter 21 Student Storage 22 Student Reception 23 Student Processing Unit 24 Student Transmission Department 25 Student Reception Section 26 Student Output Section 31 Lecturer Storage 32 Lecturer Reception 33 Lecturer Processing Department 34 Lecturer Transmission Department 35 Lecturer Reception Department 36 Lecturer Output Section 111 Student Management Department 112 Question Management Department 113 Materials Management Department 114 Recommendation Questions Management Department 121 Question Reception Department 122 Reaction Receiver 131 Data Acquisition Department 132 Question Processing Unit 141 Data Transmission Department 142 Result transmission unit 1321 Corresponding acquisition means 1322 Question storage means 1323 Level Acquisition Method 1324 Level Accumulation Means 1325 Question recommendation means 1326 Aggregation Methods 1327 Sorting Method 1328 Aggregate Question Transmission Means 1329 Question identifier receiving means 1330 Page Transmission Method 1331 Student Evaluation Instrument 1332 Material analysis means

Claims

1. a question receiving unit that receives questions about a lecture from each of two or more student terminals while a lecturer is giving the lecture to two or more students; a question processing unit that performs information processing on the two or more questions received by the question receiving unit and acquires a processing result; a result transmission unit that transmits the processing result acquired by the question processing unit to a lecturer terminal or a student terminal.

2. The question receiving unit receiving a question associated with a student identifier; a reaction receiving unit that receives reaction information indicating an evaluation of each of the two or more questions from a student terminal of one or more students other than the student who sent the question; The question processing unit a level acquisition means for acquiring a level of a question corresponding to the reaction information by using the reaction information received by the reaction receiving unit; 2. The question processing device according to claim 1, further comprising: level storage means for storing the level acquired by said level acquisition means in association with said student identifier.

3. The question processing unit 3. The question processing device according to claim 2, further comprising a question recommendation means for acquiring a question corresponding to the level of a student identified by the student identifier from a question management unit which manages two or more levels in correspondence with one or more questions, and transmitting the question to the student terminal identified by the student identifier.

4. The question processing unit aggregating means for aggregating two or more questions that satisfy a similarity condition among two or more questions received by the question receiving unit during one lecture into one question; 2. The question processing device according to claim 1, further comprising aggregated question sending means for sending one or more questions remaining as a result of the aggregation means aggregating the two or more questions.

5. The aggregation means The question processing device according to claim 4, wherein, at a predetermined timing in the one lecture, the question receiving unit aggregates two or more questions that satisfy a similarity condition among two or more questions received during the one lecture into one question.

6. The question processing unit further comprising a sorting means for sorting the aggregated questions in descending order using the number of original questions as a key for the questions aggregated by the aggregation means; The aggregated question sending means 6. The question processing device according to claim 4, wherein the sorting means transmits two or more aggregated questions sorted by the sorting means.

7. the lecture is a lecture given by the lecturer using materials having two or more pages, The question processing unit a correspondence acquisition means for detecting a correspondence between the question received by the question receiving unit and a page of the document, and acquiring a page identifier for identifying the page; 2. The question processing device according to claim 1, further comprising question storage means for storing the question in association with the page identifier or the page.

8. The question processing unit a question identifier receiving means for receiving a question identifier for identifying a question from the instructor terminal; 8. The question processing device according to claim 7, further comprising a page sending means for sending a page identifier or a page paired with the question identifier to the instructor terminal.

9. A question processing method realized by a question receiving unit, a question processing unit, and a result sending unit, a question receiving step in which the question receiving unit receives questions about the lecture from each of two or more student terminals while the lecturer is giving the lecture to two or more students; a question processing step in which the question processing unit processes information related to the two or more questions received by the question receiving unit and acquires a processing result; a result transmitting step in which the result transmitting unit transmits the processing result acquired by the question processing unit to a lecturer terminal or a student terminal.

10. Computer, a question receiving unit that receives questions about a lecture from each of two or more student terminals while a lecturer is giving the lecture to two or more students; a question processing unit that performs information processing on the two or more questions received by the question receiving unit and acquires a processing result; A program for causing the question processing unit to function as a result transmission unit that transmits the processing results acquired by the question processing unit to a lecturer terminal or a student terminal.

Images