This page will contains notes, materials, and resources for the faculty learning community.
-
What the FLC is about:
FLC Goals
Build interdisciplinary, cross-institutional community centered around teaching
Discuss exemplars in network science education and applications
Contribute the development or evaluation of modules
Discussion:
The concept to build on network science and complexity because a solution to one problem can solve problems in a lot of areas; communication across fields isn’t always as strong
Example of education level is the Northwestern Network Institute of Technology and Organization (All Engineering Students Must Take Intro Level Course and want to make it mandatory for all freshmen)
Theoretical aspect: relational approach to understanding the world
A good focal point for interdisciplinary work because it can be introduced easily by social sciences
Discussion: Can network science be applied to all fields?
Discussion: Agent Based Models
Small Groups: 3 interesting questions a student with no background in networks would want to address
Group 1:
Can a network (structure or network relationships) affect/influence behavior?
Which types of characteristics matter for networks? What types of features are important? Strong/weak ties? Centrality? Context?
Network scale and what you can do with networks. Affects what you can do.
Boundary specification. Who’s in your network?
Networks as static or dynamic processes? What types of questions can you ask from each perspective?
Context: everyday lives, putting it in terms of their disciplines, (Facebook)
Group 2:
Group 3:
Students gather and map their own data (Facebook friends/University network)
DARPA Weather Balloon Experiment at
MIT (asking students to design a similar experiment
Using data (How are Wikipedia articles linked together, information transversal)
Kaufman paper (Biological Boolean networks used to replicate differences in cells)
Best time:
Expected Outputs:
Courses
Feedback
Contributions
-
Social Networks
Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades By Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and Matthew Brashears
Usage of the General Social Survey to obtain national data that was then analyzed to answer a relevant research question
Can do temporal or demographic comparisons with the survey, which has been conducted since the 1970s
This particular article, looks at core social networks and how the number of confidants one shares important information changed within a twenty year span
More people in 2004 than 1985 discuss important matters with a spouse, yet fewer discuss important matters with other family or non-family members
People are more likely in 2004 to have a confidant of a different race
Loss of community or neightborhood confidants and stronger bonds within the nuclear family
Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks By Peter Bearman, James Moody, and Katherine Stovel
Analyses the structure of teenage romantic and sexual network in one local
compares generated simulations to real life outcomes
Carries implications for disease transmission and public policy
Explains specific models of disease transmission
Partner choices are not random and models should take this notion into account (homophily principle)
Types of models: The Core Model, Bridging Processes Model, and Spanning Tree Model
Has implications for preventative measures and how they could/should ne modeled
Centrality and Power Revisited: Actor Success in Group Decision Making By Mark Mizruchi and Blyden Potts
Behavior and attitude are relational
Uses group decision making to analyze the power of centrality and how easy it is for a central individual to obtain desired outcomes
“The model is based on a distinction between what we call ‘individual’ and ‘structural’ interests. An individual interest is a preference, for a particular outcome, that is exogenously formed. A structural interest is a preference, for a particular outcome, resulting from identifiable social constraints or influence, that may differ from what one’s preference would be in the absence of such constraints or influence. In this formulation, an actor has an initial preference for an outcome.”
Used the zero-sum principle to event the playing field
Findings:
Centrality matters in understanding an actor’s power, but not always matter in the same way
Exactly how centrality affects an actor’s power is heavily determined by the structure of the network
A significant aspect of the network structure involves the number of subgroups, and whether the central actor is in a position to break a deadlock among competing groups
Compared to other online systems, Facebook’s tools for groups are limited. Facebook offers no wiki, no real group notifications, no applications you can install on a group page. Despite the current limitations (which we all hope will change soon), Facebook has big potential for teaching and learning. Facebook offers three clear advantages over any other solution: Teaching & Learning with Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2408370557
Our students use Facebook and like it
In most cases our students are already on Facebook. They hang out here. They like it. As teachers we bring our expertise and learning processes into their world.
The social connections are built in
Facebook maps out students’ social connections. This can be used in many ways, such as having students get peer feedback on their work. (The value of Facebook’s Social Graph is a big topic, which we’ll explore together in the coming weeks.)
New applications launched daily
Facebook is adding applications faster than any other company. It seems that most days someone posts a new app that benefits teaching and learning. Soon we’ll have a wealth of options. Most important: All this functionality will be integrated with social connections. (This last idea probably should be point #4.)
