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Using Ad Hoc Transient Groups to Strengthen Social Capital: Design Considerations Sibren Fetter, Adriana Berlanga & Peter Sloep CELSTEC, Open University of the Netherlands. Overview. Social Capital The eTwinning Network Our Goals Ad Hoc Transient Groups Design Considerations
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Using Ad Hoc Transient Groups to Strengthen Social Capital: Design ConsiderationsSibren Fetter, Adriana Berlanga & Peter SloepCELSTEC, Open University of the Netherlands
Overview • Social Capital • The eTwinning Network • Our Goals • Ad Hoc Transient Groups • Design Considerations • Expected Effects • Screenshots (mock-up) • Summary • Next Steps
Social Capital • Social Capital represents the capabilty of gaining benefits by having relationships with others. • People need to be connected • People need to stay in the network by feeling a sense of belonging to the network • People need to use these connections in order to gain the benefits
The eTwinning Network (1) • Network of 70.000+ teachers • Teachers are from all over Europe • Through the network teachers do projects together • Learning different teaching methods • Getting their students to know different cultures • Building up their contacts with colleagues • However many teachers in the network are not connected
Our Goals • Stimulate the teachers to connect to many other teachers • Make them feel part of the network • Let them help each other • And to get from to • We propose to use Ad Hoc Transient Groups
Ad Hoc Transient Groups (AHTGs) Private Communication Environment
Design Considerations • Finding the right participant with a matching system • Calculate a matching score based on: • Availability • Language spoken • Content competency • Participant accountability • Everyone has a score of ‘number of satisfactory answers given’ • Showing participants’ contacts and previous activity • Imoprove their sense of belonging • Making the tool easy and accessible • As easy as possible so the threshold to use is as low as can be
Expected effects AHTG • Decentralized network • Higher sense of belonging to the network • Increased mutual support
Summary • The eTwinning network needs its teachers more connected • By letting teachers help each other for a short periods of time thorugh Ad Hoc Transient Groups we expect: • Decentralization of the network • Improved sense of belonging • More mutual support • We can do this by providing a communication service usign Ad Hoc Transient Groups that: • Matches teachers • Uses ratings • Shows previous activity / contacts • Is easy to use
Next Steps • Assess the state of the eTwinning Network using social network analysis and surveys • Run simulations in Netlogo and if neccessary adjust our model • Building a prototype • Implement and test within the eTwinning network
Questions? • Thank you for your attention • For more information see my articles on: • http://www.dspace.ou.nl • Or email me at: sfe@ou.nl