SRI, NSF Ink Agreement To Launch Cyberlearning Research Center
Nonprofit research institute SRI International and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have joined forces to open the Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning (CIRCL). SRI, in partnership with the Education Development Center (EDC) and NORC at the University of Chicago, will manage the new research center, according to the agreement inked this week by the two organizations. The center will be located at SRI's Menlo Park headquarters.
The goal of CIRCL is to improve growth in the digital learning market by bringing together researchers working on NSF-funded cyberlearning projects. "We need to integrate what computer scientists, scientists and mathematicians, learning researchers, and educational leaders know in order to make significant and lasting improvements to learning," explains Janet Kolodner, leader of Cyberlearning: Transforming Education program, in a prepared statement from SRI. Researchers working on NSF-funded projects will meet and collaborate online to "identify synergies among approaches," according to a statement from SRI. The center plans to launch a website this June to support the collaborative efforts.
CIRCL will advise NSF program officers on new opportunities for research and investment in cyberlearning.
Researchers and key stakeholders will convene in Washington DC this June for a meeting with leaders from CIRCL. A second meeting, to be held in the Silicon Valley, is planned for this fall.
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Kanoe Namahoe is online editor for 1105 Media's Education Group. She can be reached at [email protected].