Online learning communities are becoming increasingly popular as they are known to support collaborative dialogue and knowledge building. Previous studies have typically focused on small, closed learning communities from an individual, static, and aggregated perspective. This research aims to advance our understanding of open and large online…

Although researchers recognize the importance of discussing support for math learning within online learning communities, there is a lack of relevant network classifying methods and analyses at the group level to understand the behavioral differences between groups with varying levels of activity, including their mathematical literacies. In this…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine an essential component of enacting an improvement network: facilitation. In it, the author surfaces "synthesizing" as a core, power-laden facilitation practice that brought together network members from disparate institutions to converge on a shared network aim and theory of improvement.…

This study aims to identify the formulation differences of groups in two online activities in a university course with different strategies by using social network analysis. Specifically, the connections within the members and identification of brokers were analyzed. Whilst the group enhancing a "community of practice" in WeChat by…

Group cognition is a cognitive science concept that studies how groups think, learn, and work. Most research investigates group cognition as a qualitative-oriented phenomenon. From a quantitative perspective, this research proposes a measure equation of group cognition, conducts empirical research during online collaborative problem-solving, and…

The network is a key concept which has been highly valued in connectivism. Research about the static characteristics of social networks in connectivist learning has been carried out in recent years, however, little knowledge exists regarding the principles of network evolution from a dynamic perspective. This article chose the first connectivist…

Social networks play an important role in creating positive outcomes for members of social structures, for example, highly networked individuals experience increased performance, productivity, and scholarly outputs in academia. Social network analysis (SNA) provides researchers with an effective method to evaluate the functionality of teams and,…

Transnational research involves research in one country that benefits that country, and where the findings are compared to the extant studies in the larger field. It also involves the search for common effects and situational influences (i.e., country and culture-specific) toward a particular research topic. In this study we examine the…

Studying the functionality and dynamism of long-term research networks makes it possible to discover underlying collaborative strategies and outcomes, including research productivity. Using a mixed methods approach, we employed social network analysis (SNA) technique, original network indices, and qualitative interviews to operationalize the…

This study combines research methods from student approaches to learning research and social network analysis (SNA) to examine patterns of students' collaborative learning based on their learning orientations amongst 193 postgraduates enrolled in a blended course. The study identified two distinct learning orientations, namely 'understanding' and…

Large-group (n > 8) co-located collaboration has not been adequately studied because it demands different conceptual framings than those used to study small-group collaboration, while also posing pragmatic constraints on data collection. Working within these pragmatic constraints, we use video data to devise an indicator of the current…

The recent model of Networked flow (NF) mapped out factors underlying optimal creative collaboration in blended spaces (physical and digital). NF conceives creativity as an evolving network bridging material and symbolic resources of the creative collaboration process at both inter and the intra-group levels. First, this model posits that optimal…

This paper examines how social isolation in a non-Anglophone context where English is not the main language of instruction for local students but is for international students, has unintended consequences for social capital formation among the latter. What factors influence international student network formation in such places where linguistic…

This study primarily applied social network analysis (SNA) to explore the relationship between friendships, peer social interactions and group work dynamics within a higher education undergraduate programme in England. A critical case study design was adopted so as to allow for an in-depth exploration of the students' voice. In doing so, the views…

Background/Context: As a major area of civic decision making, public education is a central arena for advocacy groups seeking to influence policy debates. An emerging body of research examines advocates' use of social media. While debates about policy can be thought of as a clash of large ideas contained within frames, cognitive linguists note…