Learning in Faculty Development

The Role of Social Networks

Bibliographic Data

ID21614123
AuthorsHeather Buckley (0000-0003-4211-1959, University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Laura Nimmon (0000-0002-7291-603X, University of British Columbia)
Year2020
Volume95
Issue11S
PagesS20-S27
Publication date2020-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAcademic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1040-2446 • E-ISSN: 1938-808X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/acm.0000000000003627
PMID32769458
OpenAlexW3048137827
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited26

PURPOSE: Faculty development is increasingly acknowledged as an important aspect of health professions education. Its conceptualization has evolved from an individual skills training activity to contemporary notions that draw on an organizational model. This organizational model recognizes relationships and networks as important mediators of knowledge mobilization. Although such conceptual advancements are critical, we lack empirical evidence and robust insights into how social networks function to shape learning in faculty development. The purpose of this study was to understand how informal professional social networks influence faculty development learning in the health professions. METHOD: This study used a qualitative social network approach to explore how teaching faculty's relationships influenced their learning about teaching. The study was conducted in 2018 in an undergraduate course at a Canadian medical school. Eleven faculty participants were recruited, and 3 methods of data collection were employed: semistructured interviews, participant-drawn sociograms, and demographic questionnaires. RESULTS: The social networks of faculty participants influenced their learning about teaching in the following 4 dimensions: enabling and mobilizing knowledge acquisition, shaping identity formation, expressing vulnerability, and scaffolding learning. CONCLUSIONS: Faculty developers should consider faculty's degree of social embeddedness in their professional social networks, as our study suggests this may influence their learning about teaching. The findings align with recent calls to conceptually reorient faculty development in the health professions as a dynamic social enterprise

Conceptualization · Embeddedness · Faculty Development · Medical education · Pedagogy · Professional development · Social learning · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Innovations in Medical Education · Medicine · Mentoring and Academic Development · Psychology

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