Networks and Education
Overview
This Researchers Without Borders project grows out of a National Science Foundation funded project called “The Ohio STEM Learning Network: A Study of Factors Affecting Implementation, Spread and Sustainability.” Read more about this NSF project here.
How do networks support education? The purpose of this Researchers Without Borders Networks and Education Project is to understand how networks can support improvements in education as well as the nature of interactions that occur among individuals at all levels of the education system. Though an immense body of research on networks in organizations has accumulated over the past two decades, there is still a wide gap between the attention and expected potential of networks and our understanding of network functions and effects. Networks often lack the “glue” of authority and hierarchy that gives cohesion to traditional organizations. What holds them together? Why do networks produce certain outcomes and what are the processes that lead to them? Do outcome vary with or depend upon the degree to which a network is an emergent phenomenon or the product of strategic decisions? These have been important questions in management research and are equally important in examinations of STEM education innovations and education innovations in general.
