Emergent achievement segregation in freshmen learning community networks

Abstract

A common assumption about Freshmen Learning Communities (FLCs) is that academic relationships contribute to students' success. This study investigates how students in learning communities connect with fellow students for friendship and academic support. Longitudinal social network data across the first year, collected from 95 Dutch students in eight FLCs, measure both social and academic relational choices within and beyond the FLCs. Using stochastic actor-based models, the study tests two competing hypotheses. The alignment hypothesis states that students connect with their similar-achieving friends for both academic and social support, leading to an alignment of both types of networks over time. In contrast, the duality hypothesis states dissimilarity between academic support networks and friendship networks: Institute for Analytical Sociology, Linköping University, Kopparhammaren 2 Norra Grytsgatan 10, 601 74 Norrköping, Sweden students should connect with better-achieving fellow students for academic support and to more similar peers for friendship. The data support the alignment hypothesis but not the duality hypothesis; in addition, they show evidence of achievement segregation in FLCs: the higher the students' achievement level, the more they connect with other students for both academic support and friendship, relating in particular to peers with a similarly high achievement level. The results suggest that lower-achieving students are excluded from the support provided by higherachieving students and instead ask similar lower achievers for support. They thus cannot benefit optimally from the academic integration FLC offer. The article concludes with recommendations of how to support students in an FLC so that they can reach optimal achievement potential.

Turnover prevention: The direct and indirect association between organizational job stressors, negative emotions and professional commitment in novice nurses

“…Two nurses completed less than 20 reports, 13 nurses between 21 and 40 and 3 nurses completed between 41 and 50 reports. The 580 weekly reports were inductively explored using content analysis (See ten Hoeve, Brouwer, et al, 2018). The qualitative codes were quantified in dichotomized values of zeros and ones and were used as raw scores in the model together with the commitment and emotion measures of the survey.…”

“…Participants were recruited in cooperation with the head of nursing at all wards in a University Medical Center in the Netherlands. The inclusion criteria were a Bachelor's degree in nursing, aged under 30 and with no more than 1 year's work experience (see also ten Hoeve, Brouwer, et al, 2018). A convenience sample of 18 novice nurses filled out 580 weekly records in total.…”

Beyond grades: developing knowledge sharing in learning communities as a graduate attribute

“…Analysis of longitudinally collected student networks can provide insight in how students share their knowledge in their networks, depending on their structural positions, personal characteristics, and factors such as trust and social norms in the learning community (cf. Brouwer, Flache, Jansen, Hofman, & Steglich, 2018). Further research should investigate actual knowledge sharing, perhaps by using video observations in LCs.…”

An empirical study of continuous use behavior in virtual learning community

“…The ultimate goal of the construction and development of VLCs is the continuous expansion and use of quality education and learning resources by users in the communities. Other goals include the popularization of quality education resources and the promotion of online education [19]. Therefore, the present study intends to build a research model of the continuous use behavior of users in VLCs on the basis of relevant learning behavior theory and to explore the mechanism of users' continuous use behavior and its influencing factors [20].…”