OverviewThese case studies of the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence-Ocean Communities And social Networks (COSEE OCEAN) and the New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative (NEOSEC) use social network analysis (SNA) to help understand the effectiveness and sustainability of education networks that have been developed to promote the learning of ocean sciences. We have taken a scale-up approach to these analyses so that we can identify optimal strategies at differing scales, with a goal of revealing key characteristics of sustainable networks and determining relative resiliency. This small-scale investigation of education networks may be of interest as a model for this approach.

Findings• *NEOSEC and COSEE OCEAN increased their

connectedness as a result of the formation of their networks.

• *Keys to the success of NEOSEC are the lack of hierarchy, the high degree of interaction of the member organizations prior to the formation of NEOSEC, and the geographical distribution.

• *The NEOSEC network’s increased complexity and interconnectedness is reflected in its growth in membership, audience and significant funding, having recently attracted over $1 million dollars in Federal grants. In other words, an increased capacity.

• *Resources are being shared, such as money, materials, people, and knowledge.

• *More complex networks are better at addressing more complex problems. A network such as COSEE OCEAN would probably do well at solving higher-level conceptual problems.

*Our preliminary results raise additional questions: What is the role of key players? Does geography affect the network? What is the ideal size for a small education network to remain effective and sustainable? What is the optimal lifespan of such a network?

Ripple Effects: Small-Scale Investigations Into the Sustainability of Ocean

Education NetworksR.F. Chen, S. M. Uzzo, R. Faux, C.B. Cramer*

*Catherine Cramer, catherine.cramer@gmail.com, 508.274.1354

What is NEOSEC and What Does SNA Tell Us?The New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative (NEOSEC) is a diverse networked collaboration of more than forty institutions, including aquariums, museums, universities, government entities, and science and research centers throughout New England. The SNA conducted in September 2011 revealed that NEOSEC has been able to leverage its pre-existing informal network of relations and significantly increase the levels of interaction among participating organizations. Additional preliminary results:*There is a robust increase in density from Time 1 to Time 2. *There is improved overall cohesion. *Centralization values remain somewhat high.*An almost non-existent hierarchy value indicates a lack of a “pecking order” among organizations.*There is significant correlation between centrality and egonet density.*Funding and centrality are poorly correlated.*Key players for Times 1 and 2 were identified. Their removal would maximally fragment the network.By any measure, the network has become significantly more complex and interconnected over time.

What is COSEE OCEAN and What Does SNA Tell Us?

COSEE OCEAN was established in October 2010, and is a focused team of research scientists, formal and informal educators, and network science experts. COSEE OCEAN is a well-defined, peer-reviewed project, funded by NSF to accomplish its goals, with named participants, a strategic plan, and a limited time (3 years) of activity. The SNA data show that the frequency of interactions among the participants in the COSEE OCEAN network significantly increased in frequency and social complexity over the June 2010 - June 2011 year. The overall gains in centrality, as well as the increases in the size of the participants’ ego networks, clearly show that the network is becoming a highly interactive structure.

COSEE OCEAN SNA Russell Faux, Ed.D.

Davis Square Research Associates (DSRA)

Data were collected from the COSEE OCEAN network in June, 2011. The survey gathered information on the patterns of relationships among 14 network individuals at two time points: July 2010 and June 2011. The questions asked of the respondents referred to varying levels in the frequency of interactions, relying on a 5-point scale. Data were downloaded by Davis Square Research Associates (DSRA) for cleaning in Excel. Most analyses were conducted with UCINet and SPSS, with additional visualization support conducted with NetDraw.DSRA found that the COSEE OCEAN network increased significantly in terms of common network metrics from Time 1 to Time 2.

NEOSEC SNAA social network analysis was conducted by Russell Faux of Davis Square Research Associates in September 2011. A survey was sent to 43 member institutions; responses were received from 38.

Metric Time 1 Time 2

Density 1.46 2.55

Centralization (out) 35.65% 38.18%

Transitivity 41.75 74.48

Time 1 Centrality Time 2 Centrality

Time 1 and Time 2 sociograms by state (color)

Time 2 by state (color) and funding levels (size).  Funding and centrality are poorly correlated

Time 1 and Time 2 Ego Density

Mean Std. Deviation Effect SizeT1_Ego_Density 72.85 6.66

0.88T2_Ego_Density 88.51* 1.38

*Significant at p<.05 (paired samples t test).The ego density refers to the extent to which the ties of one organization are linked to one another. The effect size here is very large.

CorrelationsComposite_

FundingMeetings_Attended OutDegGAIN

EgoDensityGAIN

Composite_Funding

Pearson Correlation 1 .109 .151 -.114Sig. (2-tailed) .528 .366 .494

Meetings_Attended

Pearson Correlation .109 1 .100 .160Sig. (2-tailed) .528 .562 .350

OutDegGAIN Pearson Correlation .151 .100 1 -.577**

Sig. (2-tailed) .366 .562 .000EgoDensityGAIN

Pearson Correlation -.114 .160 -.577** 1Sig. (2-tailed) .494 .350 .000

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The only significant correlation is between centrality and egonet density. In other words, from T1 to T2, one organization tends to increase its collaborations with other organizations that are also collaborating with one another.

Previous SNA performed by Troy Hartley, University of New Hampshire, 2007