Students Circle Network

Students Circle Network was a global social networking service for university and secondary school students that provided over 10,400 academic courses of various levels from over 200 OpenCourseWare members worldwide, as well as study groups in various academic disciplines with online chat, and social-network games.[1] The platform was an OpenCourseWare consortium member.[2]

Students Circle Network
Type of site
Social networking service
Founded2010 (2010)
HeadquartersKyrenia, Northern Cyprus
Founder(s)Gossy Ukanwoke
Key peopleSamora Reid, CEO
Chika Uwazie, VP of Channels
Amby Uche, Products Development

The platform was free to students studying business, computing, engineering, sciences and humanities. It had members from over 120 countries and 200 universities as well as many secondary schools. Membership was open to students, researchers, and teachers. It was self-funded.[3]

Users were able to create a "something akin to a Facebook profile for [their] academic interests".[4]

History

The network was started as a personal project of Gospel "Gossy" Ukanwoke, in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, in June 2010, as a collaboration tool for students at Girne American University, where he was studying.[5][6]

Gossy Ukanwoke was referred to as the Mark Zuckerberg of Nigeria[7][8][9] and as "Africa's top technology entrepreneur".[10]

In December 2010, the platform was launched worldwide and reached 1 million visits. By January 2011, it reached 2 million visits and was averaging over 50,000 visits daily.[11]

In April 2012, Gossy Ukanwoke resigned from active management of the platform to focus on the creation of Beni American University, with a goal of creating affordable education in Africa.[12][13][14]

In 2012, Students Circle Network was a finalist at the Future Africa Awards in the Innovation in Education Category.[15]

Students Circle Network won the People's Choice Award from Study.com.[16]

Partnerships

In addition to the OpenCourseWare member universities, Students Circle Network partnered with non-OpenCourseWare member universities, including:

References
  1. Poore, Megan (October 10, 2012). Using Social Media in the Classroom: A Best Practice Guide. SAGE Publishing. ISBN 9781446268841.
  2. OMERUO, KENNETH (December 13, 2011). "TechTrends Nigeria – The Leading Technology Blog In Nigeria". TechTrends Nigeria.
  3. Okeke, Nnenna (March 30, 2016). "Men We Should Know- Gossy Ukanwoke, Founder of nigerias-first-online-university". ConnectNigeria.com.
  4. Croce, Nicholas (December 15, 2012). Enhancing Your Academic Digital Footprint. Rosen Publishing. ISBN 9781448883790.
  5. "Global Eğitim Merkezi Student Circle Genişliyor" [Global Education Center Student Circle Expands] (in Turkish). Girne American University.
  6. Uwazie, Chika (March 17, 2011). "Students Circle Network takes Global Education by the horns". YNaija.
  7. Nsehe, Mfonobong (September 30, 2011). "Meet Nigeria's Budding Mark Zuckerberg". Forbes.
  8. Kermeliotis, Teo; Ellis, Jessica (April 7, 2014). "'Nigeria's Mark Zuckerberg' puts tech into higher learning". CNN.
  9. Olanrewaju, Lekan (March 26, 2012). "Nigeria's Mark Zuckerberg? Students Circle creator set to launch online university". YNaija.
  10. WAKAMA, AS (October 6, 2011). "Q&A Who is Africa's Top Tech Entrepreneur". IT News Africa.
  11. van Vugt, Bertil (February 1, 2011). "Venture profile: Students Circle Network". vc4a.
  12. Abayomi, Amaka (March 29, 2012). "Nigerian launches online varsity for African students". Vanguard (Nigeria).
  13. De Waal, Mandy (18 April 2012). "Hi-tech solution to Nigeria's education chaos".
  14. "Nigeria's Entrepreneur Introduces First Online University". Channels TV. April 30, 2013.
  15. Jaiyesimi, Doyin (August 22, 2012). "The Future Awards 2012: Meet the nominees that made the final shortlist". YNaija.
  16. "Best Non-Video Free Courses: Study.com's People's Choice Award Winner". Study.com.
  17. "Students Circle Network Selects InfiniteGraph to Enhance Educational Offering" (Press release). PR Newswire. October 25, 2010.
  18. "Girne Amerikan Üniversitesi 'Student circle' ile dünyayı kucaklayacak" [Girne American University will embrace the world with its 'Student circle']. Star Kıbrıs (in Turkish). November 9, 2011.
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