Education Innovation Clusters (EdClusters) are rooted in the belief that partners who operate outside traditionally siloed sectors are uniquely poised to accelerate innovation. This is especially relevant in education: With complex ties to federal and local government, community organizations, businesses, parents, and students, the education sector only sees lasting improvements when it has buy-in and support from a diverse, interwoven group.
As networks, EdClusters are most effective when they have a deep understanding of the social connections between schools, researchers, technology developers, and community members working to solve local education challenges. To aid EdClusters in developing this understanding, Digital Promise has created a new toolkit that delivers a crash course in Social Network Analysis (SNA). By engaging with this toolkit and the provided resources, EdClusters will be better equipped to build an SNA and leverage their connections in their local education ecosystem more effectively.
This toolkit is intended to help individuals understand:
- The basics of an SNA
- How to make a plan to conduct an SNA
- Ways to collect and analyze data
- Options for mapping network data
- Where to go to learn more about SNA
In addition, our toolkit links to several free and paid tools that can be used to enhance learning about social network analysis, conduct surveys, and visualize network data and connections.
As the education sector moves forward, it is more critical than ever that organizations in the space continue to tackle the sector’s most pressing issues, including educational equity and closing the opportunity and achievement gaps. By involving diverse community members in EdClusters work, we can increase students’ access to the institutions, resources, and social capital that are necessary for strong, healthy futures.
Over the next few months, Digital Promise will release additional tools and toolkits designed to help EdClusters further improve their networks. These tools focus on identifying assets within a community and provide guides to help strengthen them. By using these guides, communities will be better equipped to develop and maintain strong EdClusters, with the goal of delivering equitable, innovative education for all students.
For questions or feedback about the SNA Toolkit, reach us at clusters@digitalpromise.org.
