Ripple Effects: Small-Scale Investigations into the Sustainability of Ocean Science Education Networks

Developing effective networks is critical to the success of educational programs, the spread of excellence across scales of educational practice, and the sustainability of communities devoted to a shared mission (Austin 2000). Yet common metrics have not been established to evaluate the evolution of these networks. The evaluation of consortia in general has tended to look at the effects of the efforts of individuals or individual organizations rather than attempting to investigate the structures of networks (Cross, et al. 2002). Here, we present a pair of case studies utilizing social network analysis (SNA) to examine the health and sustainability of two ocean science education networks: the Center of Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Ocean Communities in Education And social Networks (COSEE OCEAN), and the New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative (NEOSEC). In this paper we analyze these two networks at both the network and node levels. Educational networks appear to be structured much like corporate ones, yet there have been relatively few attempts to look at the structure and dynamics of these systems and the resulting effects and sustainability of these communities through a network lens (Durland & Fredericks 2005). Over the last year COSEE OCEAN has assembled an interdisciplinary team to look at the effectiveness and sustainability of two networks of education communities developed to increase ocean literacy among multiple audiences. It has been well documented that the United States has slipped from first place in the areas of science and math education and discovery (Holdren et al. 2010). One initiative developed to address this issue is the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE): a large-scale experiment by the National Science Foundation (NSF) intended to enhance ocean science education and increase awareness of the importance of ocean science research.