학술논문
Una mirada hacia comunidades de aprendizaje con lentes apropiadas: sugerencias e ideas desde ciencia de redes
Looking at learning communities with the appropriate glasses: hints and ideas from network sciences
Looking at learning communities with the appropriate glasses: hints and ideas from network sciences
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Spanish
Abstract
El nivel de network thinking en la educación - definido como la capacidad de considerar a los sistemas de aprendizaje centrándose en las relaciones entre los actores involucrados (principalmente profesores y alumnos) y no sólo en las características de los mismos – esta sin duda creciendo, con intensidades diferentes en función de el sector educativo, pero no al ritmo necesario. En el artículo argumentamos como la investigación y las prácticas educativas deben aumentar su capacidad de mirar a las comunidades de aprendizaje a través de “lentes” capaces de ver a las redes, apoyadas por métodos apropiados como la Social Network Analysis. La aplicación de la Social Network Analysis a la educación, especialmente en el caso de la educación a distancia, puede facilitar la comprensión de los patrones de interacción de los alumnos entre sí y con los profesores, y puede facilitar la consolidación de los nuevos enfoques para comprender los mecanismos de aprendizaje colaborativo. El artículo presenta y discute - desde un punto de vista educacional - un breve resumen de las principales aportaciones teóricas y prácticas de la Social Network Analysis - como las teorías de los "random networks", de los "small-world networks " o los "weak ties" - junto con algunas propiedades generales de las redes, pensando que el dominio de estas dinámicas es muy importante para los investigadores y profesionales de la educación, para entender y apoyar el aprendizaje colaborativo de manera significativa.
The level of network thinking within education – intended as the capacity to look at learning systems and communities by focussing on the relations among the involved actors (primarily teachers and learners) and not only on the actors characteristics – is growing, with different speeds depending on the educational sector, but not at the pace needed to keep up with the increasingly network nature of our societies. We claim that educational research and practices should increase their capacity to look at learning communities through appropriate “networking-sensitive” glasses, and get equipped with tools and methods – such as Social network Analysis - to properly understand and support these networks. The application of Social Network Analysis to education, especially in the case of distance learning, can allow understanding the patterns of interactions between teachers and learners, and can facilitate the consolidation of new approaches to understand collaboration mechanisms. The paper presents and discusses - from a learning viewpoint - a brief overview of the main theoretical and practical contributions coming from Social Network Analysis – such as the “random graphs”, the “small-worlds” or the “weak-ties” theories – together with some general properties and dynamics of networks, believing that mastering these dynamics is extremely important for educational researchers and practitioners, when it comes to understanding and supporting meaningful collaborative learning.
The level of network thinking within education – intended as the capacity to look at learning systems and communities by focussing on the relations among the involved actors (primarily teachers and learners) and not only on the actors characteristics – is growing, with different speeds depending on the educational sector, but not at the pace needed to keep up with the increasingly network nature of our societies. We claim that educational research and practices should increase their capacity to look at learning communities through appropriate “networking-sensitive” glasses, and get equipped with tools and methods – such as Social network Analysis - to properly understand and support these networks. The application of Social Network Analysis to education, especially in the case of distance learning, can allow understanding the patterns of interactions between teachers and learners, and can facilitate the consolidation of new approaches to understand collaboration mechanisms. The paper presents and discusses - from a learning viewpoint - a brief overview of the main theoretical and practical contributions coming from Social Network Analysis – such as the “random graphs”, the “small-worlds” or the “weak-ties” theories – together with some general properties and dynamics of networks, believing that mastering these dynamics is extremely important for educational researchers and practitioners, when it comes to understanding and supporting meaningful collaborative learning.