"Be aware of the social wake you make." - Dr. Alan J. Daly
In this episode of AuthorED & InspirED, author and professor Alan J. Daly shares about the necessity of relationships we share with people and how those networks impact our access to everything.
It was inspiring to learn about Alan’s experiences and what put him on this path of research. Check out his book, Social Network Theory and Educational Change which delves deeper into these connections.
Here’s a short summary of the book:
Efforts at improving public educational systems in support of better achievement for students are commonplace across the globe. In an effort to improve outcomes educators typically enact reforms using a variety of formal structures, processes, and accountability levers to improve performance. However, while these more formal, technical approaches at improving education are important and have been well-documented, what appears to be missing in the change equation, is attention to the relational linkages between actors through which reform flows. Social resources such as knowledge, information, and expertise are exchanged through informal networks of relations between actors in a system. Change, therefore, does not result solely through technical plans and blueprints, but through the interaction of participants as these change processes emerge and are maintained through interpersonal relationships.
To learn more about Dr. Alan J. Daly’s work with the Core Collaborative, check this out.
Author bio:
Alan J. Daly, Ph. D is a Professor and the Director of Educational Leadership Doctoral
Programs in the Department of Education Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Alan’s research and teaching are influenced by his 16 years of public school experience in a variety of instructional and leadership roles. His research primarily focuses on the role of social networks, leadership, educational policy, and organization structures and the relationship between those elements on the educational attainment of traditionally marginalized student populations.
In support of that effort, Professor Daly has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles with the vast majority drawing on social network theory and analysis, four books (Social Network Theory and Educational Change, Using Research Evidence in Schools, Thinking and Acting Systemically: Improving School Districts Under Pressure, and Leading Holistically.), and over 200 peer-reviewed papers at international conferences. He was most recently the Chair of the Department of Education Studies and a Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand and South Africa.