This study attempts to determine if a relationship exists between first-to-second-year retention and social network variables for a cohort of first-year students at a small liberal arts college. The social network is reconstructed using not survey data as is most common, but rather using archival data from a student information system. Each…

The author presents an historical account of scientific work conducted at a commercial biotech firm in San Diego called Hybritech. It tells of disruptions in research programs following the acquisition of the company by the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly in 1986. The story centers on responses to an organizational challenge that research managers…

This paper uses social network analysis to evaluate how the formation of an interdisciplinary brain research institute affected interaction and collaboration among neuroscientists at one Canadian university. The research institute, formed in 2004, has about 100 members representing ten different departments across the university campus. We…

This hypothesis-generating case study investigates the naturally emerging roles of technology brokers and technology leaders in three independent schools in New York involving 92 school educators. A multiple and mixed method design utilizing Social Network Analysis (SNA) and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FSQCA) involved gathering…

There are many indications that social mobilization and political participation have been transformed by Information Communication Technologies (ICT), and, more recently, by Social Media. In spite of many studies which have attempted to grapple with their interrelationship, we still know little about the degree and complexity of those…

This article examines the role that social network theory and social network analysis has played in assessing and developing effective primary prevention networks across a southeastern state. In 2004 the state began an effort to develop a strategic plan for the primary prevention of violence working with local communities across the state. The…

Teacher professionalization has been focused too strongly on external experts and a one-size-fits-all set of solutions that often fail to distinguish between the needs of different teachers. This article describes a research into teacher networks that might be more successful vehicles for professional development of teachers. The results show that…

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students comprise the most rapidly expanding, and among the most educationally marginalized, group in the United States. CLD students' opportunities to learn are often diminished through service delivery models that are deficit-oriented, viewing linguistic diversity as a challenge to overcome, not a…

In this study we investigate the underlying relational structure between student evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETEs) and achievement of student learning outcomes in 116 business related courses. Utilizing traditional statistical techniques, a neural network analysis and a Bayesian data reduction and classification algorithm, we find…

The national network of Science Learning Centres is a co-ordinating partner in the Getting Practical--Improving Practical Work in Science programme. The principle of training provision for the "Getting Practical" programme is a cascade model. Regional trainers employed by the national network of Science Learning Centres trained the cohort of local…

Recent scholarship suggests the importance of school district offices in supporting reform. These studies provide strategies for building relations between central offices and sites in order to improve change efforts. However, what is frequently overlooked is that organizational reform efforts are socially constructed. Therefore, examining the…

How is the link between learner and technology made in mobile learning? What is the value of the concept of "affordances"? And how does research articulating this concept act to position mobile devices as "technologies for learning"? This literature review used both unstructured and structured search samples of published research on mobile…

Set within the socio-political context of standards-based education reform, this article explores the constitutive role of teaching standards in the production of the practice and identity of the "accomplished" teacher. It contrasts two idioms for thinking about and studying these standards, the representational and the performative. Utilising the…

The present study examines the professional growth of three Chinese English teachers by analyzing their interactional patterns and their social and cognitive presence in an online community. The data from social network analysis (SNA) and content analysis revealed that computer-mediated communication (CMC) created new opportunities for teachers to…

In times of increasing skills shortage, regions and particularly non-core regions, need to attract highly-skilled workers. It is better for these regions to (re)attract highly-skilled workers that gained knowledge and contacts elsewhere and because they once lived in the region for study have already ties to the university region than trying to…