Educational change in the age of social networks
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22422720 |
|---|---|
| Authors | N Kolleck (0000-0002-5499-8617, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Educational Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1389-2843 • E-ISSN: 1573-1812 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10833-026-09559-2 |
| OpenAlex | W7167255104 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
This paper argues that educational change can no longer be understood as a process confined to schools, policy systems, and formal educational institutions. As young people’s learning, orientation, and experiences of recognition are increasingly shaped within social media environments, educational change unfolds under conditions that extend beyond institutional control. Drawing on social network perspectives, the paper introduces the concept of digital closeness to describe forms of connection that are experienced as immediate and continuous, yet remain unstable, visibility-dependent, and shaped by platform dynamics. The paper shows how social media environments reorganize educational processes by shifting learning from instruction to exposure, orientation toward visibility, and recognition toward attention. It then argues that these changes transform the mechanisms of educational change itself. Under conditions of digital closeness, change becomes more selective, volatile, decentered, and fragmented. Rather than emerging primarily through formal implementation, educational change increasingly depends on the circulation, uptake, and stabilization of ideas, norms, and practices across networked environments. The paper concludes by suggesting that research on educational change needs to broaden its analytical frameworks beyond institutions and attend to the wider relational and platform-mediated ecologies in which educational processes increasingly unfold.
Closeness · Educational technology · Formal education · Social change · Social learning · Social media · Digital Education and Society · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Impact of Technology on Adolescents
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |