Filling the Gap?! What Type of Content Are Principals Brokering in Social Networks?

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Teaching, Teacher Preparation, and Teacher Professional Development in the Content Areas: A Poster Session

Abstract

While the study of social networks in settings of educational leadership is gaining interest in recent years, the intersection between leadership and online social networks has received limited attention. This contribution investigates how principals engage in social networks, in this case Twitter, in order to share, access, and diffuse information. More specifically, using bibliometric analyses and web-scraping techniques, our results shed light on the predominant type of information and resources within principals’ social networks. Showing that the applicable information tends to be contextualized and local, while the resources being shared exhibit a degree of boundary crossing provides valuable insights into how school leaders use social networks, such as Twitter, to inform and enhance their decisions.

Authors

• Martin Rehm, University of Regensburg

• Alan J. Daly, University of California - San Diego

• Peter Bjorklund, University of California - San Diego

• Yi-Hwa Liou, National Taipei University of Education

• Miguel Del Fresno, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia