Catalyzing change through networks: Influence of network leadership and social capital in the spread of postsecondary competency-based education practices

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Catalyzing change through networks: Influence of network leadership and social capital in the spread of postsecondary competency-based education practices

While policymakers, practitioners, philanthropists, and researchers promote networks as important in scaling educational innovations, there is limited higher education research on how inter-organizational networks spread new ideas. Social network analysis (SNA) is used to explore how network leadership and social capital influence the diffusion and development of new practices across postsecondary institutions. This study focuses on the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) as a network initiative supporting the spread of higher education innovations. C-BEN is a membership network formed to catalyze and support adoption of new competency-based education (CBE) programs and practices. SNA and relational network leadership theories guide the inquiry with research questions aiming to describe: (a) the association between inter-organizational collaborative ties and implemented CBE practices; and, (b) how the network organization(s) influence social capital and the generation and spread of new practices. The study is operationalized with a mixed methods explanatory sequential research design. Data is drawn from the project’s CBE Social Network Survey, the National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (a confidential survey from the American Institutes for Research), the US DOE’s IPEDS, over 35 semi-structured interviews, and archival research. It is expected the study will lead to: expanded theories on inter-organizational network leadership; new knowledge on the interplay of national and sub-national networks with philanthropy, government, and other actors in communities of transformation; and, a case study of the CBE ecosystem with strategic insights for those in the field. It will serve as one of the first SNA studies of change in higher education.

Author

• Bruce William Haupt, University of Kentucky