Mark Federman provides a summary of a talk by Karen Stephenson – Organization beyond social networks:
Stephenson considers an organizational network as the “genetic code” that can be used to unlock any organizational culture…Networks cut through the official hierarchy and essentially map out who communicates or consults with whom, who enables or prevents information flow and access to whom, and who are the most and least effective disseminators of knowledge, influence, and social norms.
The post goes on to explore the importance of identifying the true (often hidden) structure of information exchange in an organization. I’m interested in how to extend network-thinking to the learning process. Which interactions contribute to deeper understanding of a subject? How often do different learners interact with each other and what is the quality of that interaction? As educators, we have imported network concepts from other fields (sociology most prominently). We need to develop our own learning-related concepts of networks. I think it’s important that educators understand (even think in) networks.