Cirip.eu is a microblogging platform designed for formal and informal learning. It allows users to collaborate through sharing multimedia objects like videos, images and documents. Key features include public and private groups for courses, projects and communities of practice. Educators can use Cirip.eu to enhance courses by sharing announcements, materials and facilitating discussions. Learning contexts include using the platform for entire online courses, collaborative projects and developing open educational resources. The platform supports mobile learning through creating and joining mobile groups and accessing resources on the go.

1. Cirip.eu:
Microblogging Platform for Formal and Informal Learning
Carmen Holotescu Gabriela Grosseck
University Politehnica/ Timsoft
#synergy
West University
Timisoara, Romania
EDEN 2013 Synergy Workshop
Budapest, Hungary, 19-21 October 2013

2. Microblogging as a new trend
in education
Cirip.eu – platform around
objects2.0/smLMS
(Mobile) Learning contexts on
Cirip.eu
Formalizing PLE
Learning designs as metaobjects
Please check BoP - page 31
image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/atmosphear/

3. What is Microblogging?
And why should I care?

4. Microblogging is a new form of blogging, with brief text updates of 140
characters, via Web, SMS, email, IM or 3rd party applications, which allows
real-time interactions between users.

5. Microblogging is a collaborative technology
photo: http://media2.lelombrik.net/13501-14000/13845.jpg

6. Diagrammr at diagrammr.com/edit?key=dy4NKMc8XsZ embedded
in the note at cirip.ro/status/1644841

7. Microblogging platforms used in education
photo: http://www.heikkironkko.com/images/yolehti_jaiku.jpg

8. Overview of the Microsphere Timeline
Mar 2006
Oct 2007 Dec 2007 Jan 2008 Mar 2008 Jul 2008
Sep 2008
4 platforms in Tops 100 Tools for Learning 2009-2013: Twitter, Cirip, Yammer, Edmodo
http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/
Elizabeth Koh, An overview of microblogging, http://www.slideshare.net/elizabethkoh/an-overview-of-microblogging, slide 16

9. From Grosseck & Holotescu “Academic research in 140 characters and more”
http://slideshare.net/ggrosseck

10. Cirip.eu - a microblogging platform specially designed for education;
launched in March, 2008, by Timsoft, a Romanian company specialized in
eLearning and mobile applications
- 120,000 users
- interface in Romanian, English,
German
- Finalist at Seedcamp Zagreb, Jan
2010
- In Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009
- Nominations for:
-
"UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for
the Use of ICTs in Education”, April, 2012;
-
“Innovative Education Award”, WCES 2013, Rome,
5-8 February.

11. Facilities Cirip.eu (1)
• public and private groups
(courses, internal training,
projects, events, internal
communication, service,
family, hobby, etc);
• group communication via SMS
• polls, quizzes – online or via SMS
• feeds monitoring
via SMS / sites / blogs /
social networks / search feeds
- jobs, weather, reactions)
• statistics, visualizations, tags,
assessment.
Cirip.eu TUTORIAL

12. Facilities Cirip.eu (2)
social network around multimedia objects
multimedia objects embedded in messages (part of the communication flow,
created/recreated, openess to (small) OERs - Weller, Martin (2010)):
- livestreaming,
- images (flickr, tinypic),
- audio (eok, trilulilu, deezer, blip.fm, vocaroo, mp3),
- (live) video (youtube, dotsub, vimeo, screencastle, screenjelly, screenr,
220.ro, myvideo),
- presentations/learning design (slideshare, capzles, voicethread, flowgram,
photopeach, picasa,
notaland, prezi, diagrammr, mindomo, mindmeister, spicynodes),
- documents (odf, odt, pdf, doc, xls, txt, ppt, google docs/forms/spreadsheets)

13. Mobile learning features
On technological level
create, localize and join mobile groups
access social media and open educational resources
share opinions
work collaboratively on multimedia objects
participate in polls and quizzes
On pedagogical level
receive/send updates via SMS
develop multimedia educational resources /
create and manage mobile PLEs;
learning objects by using mobile technologies specific
recover password via SMS.
for different subject areas,
build mobile social learning environments engaging
students in PBL, case studies, and collaborative
projects
capture and formally represent experience and new
pedagogical approach as learning design objects shared, discussed, validated, improved, and reused.

14. Educational uses
information and knowledge management
courses enhancement
delivering entire online courses for universities/schools/companies
learning from the stream
collaborative projects in universities
communities of practice
Social networks
ePortfolios
social mobile LMS
Feeds
MOOCs.
Users
Personal Learning Environments ( Networks ) - PLE/PLN

15. Learning contexts on Cirip.eu

17. Course materials
in a dedicated
group:
•announcements
•materials as
LOM/SCORM
objects
•multimedia
messages

18. Course elements:
announcements
modules LOM/SCORM
objects
polls/quiz/
comments via
SMS (f2f)
validations interactions with
users/experts/
groups
collaborative
exercises
learning from the
stream
multimedia
messages
specific features for
running MOOCs
Cirip as a social
network of smLMS
(social mobile LMS)

19. Formalizing PLE on cirip.eu

Continuos
Persistent

Relevant

Connecting / integrating


Mobile
Scalable

Open to OERs

Fiable

Distributed



Universal
Cirip.eu - social network of PLEs
Mindmap at http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show_public/29895908
embedded in the note at http://www.cirip.ro/status/11937282

20. Activating in Learning Design group
cirip.ro/grup/lds

21. Thank you!
Carmen Holotescu
cirip.ro/u/cami13
twitter.com/cami13
Gabriela Grosseck
cirip.ro/u/gabriela
twitter.com/ggrosseck
Looking forward to find synergies/possibilities to collaborate in future
projects focused on:
• Learner support (with the use of ICT)
• Open Educational Resources and their use in education
• Teacher training (communities of practice)