The Social Continuum of Educational Leadership: Exploring Offline and Online Social Networks of Elementary Principal

• In Event: Educators Meet the Fifth Estate: Social Media in Education

Abstract

Objective. Leadership is a widely discussed topic in educational science (e.g. Briggs & Coleman, 2019), and while the study of social networks in (informal) educational settings is also gaining interest in recent years (e.g. Author A, 2020, Author B, 2020), we still have a dearth of work that examines that the role of the educational professionals, such as (elementary) school principals, particularly in terms of accessing and leveraging virtual and face to face networks around high quality practices/tools/approaches (e.g. Cho & Jimerson, 2017).

Perspectives. In this context, a growing number of studies have shown that educational professionals use social media, e.g. Twitter, to access and share information that helps them and others to face their everyday challenges (e.g. Author A, 2020; Author B, 2020). Being embedded in their immediate (work) environments, these spaces depict a social continuum, reflecting a complex, interconnected web of connections that link people who share a wide variety of information and resources in a real-time, immense, networked communication system (Author B, 2020). Consequently, principals can benefit from participating in social media to help them (and their colleagues) in their efforts to engage in high quality practice (Author A, 2016). Moreover, accessing these social media networks provides a record of the flow of practices/tools/approaches that can be traced, examined, and quantified.

Methods. This work provides valuable insights into the complex relationship structures that emerge online and offline, in which (elementary) principals engage in the access, use, and diffusion of practices/tools/approaches. Using a mixed-methods design, we collected offline and online data from one urban mid-size public school district in the United States that serves approximately 76,000 diverse student populations. More specifically, using a social network survey, as well as Twitter data from over 1.5 years, we collected data on 97 school leaders, comprising central office administrators (i.e., superintendent, director, supervisor, and coordinator, etc.), secondary, and elementary principals.

Results. Based on the survey data, we found that, in general, elementary school administrators are less sought out than their central office and high school administrator peers for advice and collaboration. This finding was in stark contrast with the results of our Twitter analyzes, where elementary school administrators held central positions and actively contributed to the information exchange. Additionally, we found two types of key users. On the one hand, we found school leaders that were part of both networks, but apparently focusing on the offline network. On the other hand, we discovered school leaders that were actively engaged into acting as a bridge between the on- and offline realms.

Significance. The (practical) implications of this are manifold. First, this study provides an innovative and unprecedented insight into how online and offline networks interact with each other. Second, we have started to unravel the types of information that are actually being shared and diffused online. Finally, we found that despite their connections in virtual space, elementary principals were unused resources in the offline network. This is particularly important given that elementary principals comprise the majority of educational leadership in the district.

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