Mind Map/ Social Networking Blog

To begin my discussion on social networking I would like to submit these conclusions from the following  article: Ties With Potential: Social Network Structure and Innovative Climate in Dutch Schools by Nienke M. Moolenaar, Alan J. Daly & Peter J. C. Sleegers — 2011

Their stated objective and conclusions:

Background/Context: Similar to the United States, government efforts to improve education in the Netherlands are focused on innovation and the development of collaborative structures to support the generation of new knowledge. However, empirical evidence of the relationship between social linkages and innovation in education is scarce.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine the impact of social network structure on schools’ innovative climate, as mediated by teachers’ involvement in decision-making.

Conclusions/Recommendations: Findings indicated that the more densely connected teachers were in regard to work-related and personal advice, the more they perceived their schools’ climate to be supportive of innovation. Highly dense work-related network structures also typified teams that perceived strong teacher involvement in decision-making. Moreover, results suggested that the positive relationship between density of work-related advice networks and innovation-supportive school climate could be partially explained by increased shared decision-making. Implications of the study for teachers, organizations, leadership, and policy are discussed.

This additional information to their conclusion I thought very striking and significant:

The relationships around work-related and personal advice have at their core a willingness to be vulnerable and engage in a level of risk-taking. It is this willingness to be vulnerable and engage in risk-taking with multiple others in the organization that appears important for the development of innovations and the creation of new knowledge at the school level. Risk-taking and vulnerability are central to trusting relations, which have been found to support productivity, leadership, and a more responsive climate in schools (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Daly, 2009; Frank et al., 2004; Tschannen-Moran, 2004). Our findings build on this work and suggest that relationships based in trust may also be associated with the generation of new knowledge and practices. Therefore, efforts to create trusting environments within a school may also improve the school’s innovative climate.

My developing thoughts on Social networking involve three points:

• ·      New knowledge is only as good as the old knowledge it was built upon.
• ·      Trust is the base for all relationships.
• ·      Our culture demands the use of technological social networking tools.

      The first, demonstrates the need for good foundational skills obtained through traditional education, which needs to include lessons on good judgment, and the second, the application of good judgment to building our ideas on solid research or proven wisdom.  We could certainly build very expensive castles on sand through social networking.  The British Journal of Educational Technology,  the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, and the Teachers College Record are resources I have discovered since becoming a Walden University student which I feel I can trust to help me develop instructional design projects.

      The second, involves good management, which can create and guide environments where creativity is fostered.  In our class on organizations, this became apparent that organizations had to create a culture of creativity to maintain growth, competitiveness and to meet employees’ needs.  “Fostering Education” by Dr. Michelle Bligh, a video lecture through Walden University, highlights these needs within organizations and some of the challenges.

      While reading our discussion posts from this week on adult learning it could not be more evident the challenge we have with time and distance (Week 5 discussion between Shelia and Jeff, 2011). Our responsibilities are no longer bound by the geography of our local communities which thrusts us into the use of technology to save time, to access and share information, and to increase productivity in groups spread throughout the globe.  Thomas Friedman painted a clear picture of global productivity in “It’s a Flat World after All” published in the New York Times, April 3,2005, and this is dated. 

      Social networking aided by technology is our culture.  Functioning effectively within this domain requires the same etiquette and grace relationships have always required from the first hello.  It was the foundational requirement of trust,  that struck me in the conclusion from the study, Ties With Potential: Social Network Structure and Innovative Climate in Dutch Schools.  The need for social grace is also stated by my fellow students in the week 5 postings between Shelia, Jeff and Sonia that included this statement, “The key is to disagree without being disagreeable”.   Yes, much has changed technologically in our society, but the Golden Rule will always be applicable whether you are trying to be a good manager, a good teacher, or a good colleague: 
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, (ESV (©2001). If we abide by this axiom and use good judgment, technology based social networking can be a fabulous tool for advancing connections within our field of work, within our families and between friends!