Work-in-progress: Social networks analysis in the transition of an educational model among groups of stem teachers

This work-in-progress research focuses on understanding and describing how nineteen groups of university engineering and science educators learn and assimilate the new educational model being adopted in a private Mexican university. Their role is to face the forces of globalization that are transforming the system of higher education in the university. This investigation adopts the notion of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to characterize and visualize the patterns of interactions among the different teams of teachers. Education research has been supported more frequently in recent decades by the analysis of social networks, which is a tool to quantify and visualize connections and structures of relationships and interactions within organizations. With this perspective, it has been possible to deepen the study of the nature and the determinants of interactions among teachers [1]. The data from a questionnaire applied to the team of participating educators was used at the beginning of the deployment of the new educational model known as the Tec21 Educational Model. The support patterns and collaborative networks of the educators are represented from the data through sociograms and descriptive social network indicators such as density, transitivity, and reciprocity in the network [2]. This approach is a methodological and pedagogical innovation because it has the potential to inform and provide feedback about the participants' work, promote reflection on their collaborative practices and contribute to cohesion, dialogue and the flow of knowledge within the team to continuously improve the internalization of the new educational model.