Teaching-Focused Social Networks Among Postsecondary Instructors: Exploring Conditions for the Development of Social Capital

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Job Satisfaction in Faculty Careers

Abstract

While research has shown that social ties give educators access to valuable information, knowledge, and advice—or “social capital”—that improves teaching and student learning, very few studies have investigated the necessary conditions for developing such ties among postsecondary instructors. Focusing on college educators in one U. S. city, this mixed-methods study explores the association between educator characteristics and their teaching-focused social networks. Survey responses (n=244) indicate that teaching and work experience, institution type, and teaching preparation time, among other factors, are correlated with social network dimensions linked to improved teaching. Interview data (n=22) supplement these findings with instructor descriptions of their social network ties as well as how and why they developed them (or not) in their professional lives.

Authors

• Ross J. Benbow, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Changhee Lee, Vanderbilt University