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Learning in Faculty Development: The Role of Social Networks
Heather Buckley1, Laura Nimmon2
1H. Buckley is clinical assistant professor, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Summary
Informal professional social networks significantly impact health professions faculty learning about teaching. Understanding social embeddedness is key for effective faculty development programs.
Area of Science:
- Health Professions Education
- Social Network Analysis
- Faculty Development
Background:
- Faculty development has evolved from individual skills training to an organizational model.
- Contemporary models emphasize relationships and networks for knowledge mobilization.
- Empirical evidence on social networks' role in faculty learning is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how informal professional social networks influence faculty development learning in health professions.
- To understand the mechanisms through which social networks shape teaching faculty's learning.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative social network approach.
- Study conducted in an undergraduate course at a Canadian medical school (2018).
- Data collected via semistructured interviews, sociograms, and questionnaires from 11 faculty.
Main Results:
- Social networks influenced faculty learning in four key dimensions.
- These dimensions include knowledge acquisition, identity formation, vulnerability expression, and learning scaffolding.
- Faculty's social embeddedness impacts their learning about teaching.
Conclusions:
- Faculty developers should consider faculty's social embeddedness in professional networks.
- Findings support reorienting faculty development as a dynamic social enterprise in health professions.
- Social networks are critical mediators in health professions faculty learning.
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