EMERGENT SOCIAL LEARNING NETWORKS IN ORGANIZATIONS WITH HETEROGENEOUS AGENTS

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 169-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
MYONG-HUN CHANG
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Learning Mechanism ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Decentralized Search ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact

Two distinct learning mechanisms are considered for a population of agents who engage in decentralized search for the common optimum. An agent may choose to learn via innovation (individual learning) or via imitation (social learning). The agents are endowed with heterogeneous skills in engaging in the two modes of learning. When the agents choose imitation, they also choose whom to learn from. This leads to the emergence of a social learning network among agents in the population. This paper focuses on the impact the endowed learning skills have on the individual's choice of learning mechanism as well as the micro and macro structure of the evolving network. Finally, it explores the impact the degree of environmental volatility has on the structure of such networks.

scholarly journals Investigating the educational value of social learning networks: a quantitative analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Dafoulas ◽  
Azam Shokri
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Educational Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Moderation Model ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Enhanced Learning

Purpose The emergence of Education 2.0 enabled technology-enhanced learning, necessitating new pedagogical approaches, while e-learning has evolved into an instrumental pedagogy of collaboration through affordances of social media. Social learning networks and ubiquitous learning enabled individual and group learning through social engagement and social distribution of knowledge. Nevertheless, these developments have not been supported with extensive studies focusing on quantifying the impact of technology-enhanced learning on students’ progress and achievement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a quantitative overview of Facebook’s influence on students’ progress can be incorporated in a proposed e-moderation model of teaching and learning. Design/methodology/approach The approach is based on extending Salmon’s (2003) e-moderation model, which provides an emphasis on the theoretical perspectives that support socially situated learning environments of social networks such as Facebook. The findings revealed that students’ grades were positively influenced by the complementary use of Facebook on their courses of study. Findings The use of a social learning network also triggered a significant increase in student participation in learning activities delivered over Facebook. Research limitations/implications The main research limitations were due to the fact that a single social network was chosen for conducting the experiments. Furthermore, the investigation was narrowed down to a selected range of sessions offered to college and university students as part of their course. Originality/value The paper’s contribution is twofold, as it offers an original set of guidelines for conducting social learning network experiments and provides valuable quantifiable findings on the educational value of such networks.

scholarly journals Online Learning Communities in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Learning Network Analysis of Twitter During the Shutdown

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
David John Lemay ◽  
Tenzin Doleck
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Conventional Teaching ◽  
The Social

This paper presents a social learning network analysis of Twitter during the 2020 global shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Research concerning online learning environments is focused on the reproduction of conventional teaching arrangements, whereas social media technologies afford new channels for the dissemination of information and sharing of knowledge and expertise. We examine Twitter feed around the hashtags #onlinelearning and #onlineteaching during the global shutdown to examine the spontaneous development of online learning communities. We find relatively small and ephemeral communities on the two topics. Most users make spontaneous contributions to the discussion but do not maintain a presence in the Twitter discourse. Optimizing the social learning network, we find many potential efficiencies to be gained through more proactive efforts to connect knowledge seekers and knowledge disseminators. Considerations and prospects for supporting online informal social learning networks are discussed.

scholarly journals The Impact of Reflective Teaching Applications Supported by Edmodo on Prospective Teachers’ Self-Directed Learning Skills

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cigdem Hursen ◽  
Funda Gezer Fasli
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Reflective Teaching ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Face To Face Learning ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of reflective teaching applications supported by Edmodo on prospective teachers’ self-directed learning skills. Also, the views of prospective teachers’ regarding the use of Edmodo in education, which is a social learning platform, are determined. For the research, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 36 prospective teachers within the scope of the “Teaching Practice” course. A 12-week application has been conducted online with the support of Edmodo; however, classroom settings using face-to-face learning methods have also taken place. The results of the research reveal that the reflective teaching applications supported by Edmodo had an impact on the prospective teachers’ self-directed learning skills. Furthermore, the results indicate that the prospective teachers who participated in the research were extremely satisfied with the Edmodo applications. Keywords: Teacher education; self-directed learner; blended education; social learning platform; view

scholarly journals Testing the individual and social learning abilities of task-naïve captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes sp.) in a nut-cracking task

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Neadle ◽  
Elisa Bandini ◽  
Claudio Tennie
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Baseline Condition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Nut Cracking ◽  
The Individual

Nut-cracking is often cited as one of the most complex behaviours observed in wild chimpanzees. However, the cognitive mechanisms behind its acquisition are still debated. The current null hypothesis is that the form of nut-cracking behaviour relies on variants of social learning, with some researchers arguing, more precisely, that copying variants of social learning mechanisms are necessary. However, to date, very few experiments have directly investigated the potentially sufficient role of individual learning in explaining the behavioural form of nut-cracking. Despite this, the available data provides some evidence for the spontaneous acquisition of nut-cracking by chimpanzees; later group acquisition was then found to be at least facilitated by (unspecified) variants of social learning. The latter findings are in line with both suggested hypotheses, i.e., that copying social learning is required and that other (non-copying) social learning mechanisms are at play. Here we present the first study which focused (initially) on the role of individual learning for the acquisition of the nut-cracking behavioural form in chimpanzees. We tested task-naïve chimpanzees (N = 13) with an extended baseline condition to examine whether the behaviour would emerge spontaneously. After the baseline condition (which was unsuccessful), we tested for the role of social learning by providing social information in a step-wise fashion, culminating in a full action demonstration of nut-cracking by a human demonstrator (this last condition made it possible for the observers to copy all actions underlying the behaviour). Despite the opportunities to individually and/or socially learn nut-cracking, none of the chimpanzees tested here cracked nuts using tools in any of the conditions in our study; thus, providing no conclusive evidence for either competing hypothesis. We conclude that this failure was the product of an interplay of factors, including behavioural conservatism and the existence of a potential sensitive learning period for nut-cracking in chimpanzees. The possibility remains that nut-cracking is a behaviour that chimpanzees can individually learn. However, this behaviour might only be acquired when chimpanzees are still inside their sensitive learning period, and when ecological and developmental conditions allow for it. The possibility remains that nut-cracking is an example of a culture dependent trait in non-human great apes. Recommendations for future research projects to address this question are considered.

scholarly journals A Guttman-Based Approach to Identifying Cumulativeness Applied to Chimpanzee Culture

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-314
Author(s):  
Robert Bates Graber ◽  
Dean R. De Cock ◽  
Michael L. Burton
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Type Statistic ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Chimpanzee

Human culture appears to build on itself—that is, to be to some extent cumulative. Whether this property is shared by culture in the common chimpanzee is controversial. The question previously has been approached, qualitatively (and inconclusively), by debating whether any chimpanzee culture traits have resulted from individuals building on one another’s work (“ratcheting”). The fact that the chimpanzees at different sites have distinctive repertoires of traits affords a different avenue of approach: determining whether the traits accumulate, site to site, in a structure more orderly than would be expected by chance. Here we use Guttman scalograms and a gamma-type statistic to bring the first quantitative evidence to bear on the question. We show that while traditional methods provide apparent support for a cumulative tendency, our more rigorous methods do not. This may be because cumulativeness requires human-like social-learning mechanisms, or because culture generally is not sufficiently unidimensional to scale well. A cumulative tendency would be expected, however, under rather weak assumptions; therefore it seems more likely that chimpanzee culture is cumulative, but this data set is simply too small to evidence it.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Bandini ◽  
Claudio Tennie
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
The Individual

The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document