Faculty social networks fostering pedagogy reform: A case study from prince of Songkla University

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: This study examined the social networks of faculty's strong ties and weak ties and their impacts of those associations upon faculty's learning of pedagogical progressives in the ongoing context of the National Education Reform in Thailand. The case study was conducted at a government-owned, multi-campuses university in Thailand. Four faculty staff from different faculties in health sciences were selected according to their outstanding reputation in teaching with learner-centered approach and were assigned as subunits for the study. Documentation, direct observations, and interviews were used in data collection. Pattern matching data analysis was undertaken through the lenses of Granovetter's (1973, 1983) strength of ties and Perpetuation Theory (Braddock, 1980; Wells & Crain, 1994).

Findings and Conclusion: Results indicated that weak ties were developed in faculty's networks across the subunits and only these weak ties possessed bridging ability to distant critical information and influences for pedagogical progressives. Multiple realities were evidenced in the study including the interpretations of short-term and long-term outcomes of the university's policy and strategies, the social phenomenon of perpetuation among faculty, the possible loss of the pedagogical relation in the system designed of teaching model, the necessary and usefulness of naturalistic inquiry for study Thai context, and how to unfold the invisible web of personal relationships among faculty and the macrosocial of pedagogy.