With more and more students taking online classes, Big Sandy
Community & Technical College (BSCTC) has taken steps to add a missing ingredient
to online education: Studying with classmates. This advancement is a natural evolution
to virtual classes, as BSCTC has offered virtual courses for many years.
As of this fall, students receiving online or virtual classroom instruction will be able to
collaborate with fellow students on projects, and other class assignments or just
exchange class notes through a new app created by CircleIn. This app is just another
advancement of the virtual classroom space, where students are engaged and learning
from their peers.
Especially during this age of COVID, students are becoming increasingly familiar with
how the workplace operates through CircleIn. As students learn from one another,
they collaborate on class assignments and learn collectively.
CircleIn's website describes the app as "remote studying. Students connect and
brainstorm together just like they would in a coffee shop, but online, and they stay
productive, even at a distance."

Studying together remotely, Circlein claims, "makes students feel normal again, and
part of a community." The app provides relief from the ever-growing avalanche of
"emails and in-boxes."
The CircleIn app also allows BSCTC tutors to provide support to students
individually and through study groups.
CircleIn is a recipient of a National Science Foundation Innovation and is used in
more than 20 states and will be made available at more than 30 colleges and
universities this fall.
The colleges and universities that have used CircleIn have found that 66 percent of
students experience an increase in productivity, an 80 percent increase in academic
performance, and 71 percent of students reporting that they would recommend
CircleIn to their classmates.
"Mirroring the college experience online has been a critical step in best practices for
student learning across the United States. CircleIn is an important addition, as it
allows students to interact directly with their instructors and classmates. This new app
also enables them to work with their classmates outside of online instruction."