Purpose: School leaders are central to the development of work-related ties among school staff. Although prior work has examined the predictors of the presence of work-related ties, little is known about the breakup or dissolution of ties among school staff. This study examines the extent of tie dissolution among school staff, as well as both the…

This study concerns peer selection and influence dynamics in early adolescents' friendships regarding academic achievement. Using longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena), both selection and influence processes were investigated for students' average grades and their cluster-specific grades (i.e., language, exact, and social cluster). Data…

A fundamental objective of environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) is the promotion of critical thinking, through which learners could resist messages (e.g., from TV), leading to unsustainable lifestyles and practices. The analysis of messages from media was used for: identifying influencing techniques;…

As mobile computing and smartphones become an integrated part of our lives, the time individuals spend on social networks has significantly increased. Moreover, a link has been established between the uncontrolled use of social networks to the development of undesirable habits and behaviors including addictions. One such behavior, namely, fear of…

Self-regulated learning is an important means of supporting students' self-awareness and self-regulation level so as to enhance their motivation and engagement. Interaction Analysis (IA) contributes to this end, and its use in studying learning dynamics involved in asynchronous Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) activities has…

School choice policies are often based on the idea that competition will generate better outcomes for all students. Yet there is limited empirical research about how school leaders actually perceive competition and whom they view as rivals. Drawing on concepts from economic sociology, I study principals' competitive networks and the sets of…

The University of Helsinki established a Teachers' Academy to reward excellence in teaching. This study focuses on teachers' significant networks and their meaningful conversations about teaching and learning before the establishment of the Teachers' Academy. The research data consisted of answers to open-ended questions, and were examined using…

In this paper, we propose a grouping strategy to enhance the learning and testing results of students, called Pairing Strategy (PS). The proposed method stems from the need of interactivity and the desire of cooperation in cooperative learning. Based on the social networks of students, PS provides members of the groups to learn from or mimic…