Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning (CIRCL)

Happy multiethnic kids learning programming for robot vehicles sitting at table at STEM education science engineering class.

Connecting and exploring researchers’ perspectives in digital learning to make significant and lasting improvements to STEM education.


SRI managed the Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning (CIRCL) with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and in collaboration with Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and NORC at the University of Chicago. 

CIRCL connected high-quality research with the rapidly growing market for digital learning, an area of intense need and investment in Silicon Valley and throughout the country. The Center’s key goal were to:

  • Accelerate progress in cyberlearning by connecting the perspectives and insights needed to make a difference in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. 
  • Maximize the potential of NSF-funded projects in cyberlearning, an emerging field that integrates technology and learning sciences insights to improve education. 

To accomplish these goals, CIRCL organized leaders from research and innovation projects to identify synergies among approaches and to synthesize findings. This included convening thematic meetings, online working groups and virtual events to share and communicate results more effectively. CIRCL provided recommendations to NSF about promising new directions for future research and investment in cyberlearning. 

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IIS-1233722. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. 

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