The University of Texas at Arlington is offering a free online course on Social Network Analysis (SNA). The course will review foundation concepts and applications of social network analysis in learning analytics.

In this three week course, applicants will learn how to conduct a social network analysis to better understand how people seek and share information in learning settings. This course will start on May 21, 2018.

Course At A Glance 

Length: 3 weeks
Effort: 5-7 hours per
Subject: Data Analysis & Statistics
Institution: the University of Texas at Arlington and edx
Languages: English
Price: Free
Certificate Available: Yes, Add a Verified Certificate for $99
Session: Date to be announced

Providers’ Details

The University of Texas at Arlington is one of the nation’s most dynamic centres of higher learning, setting the standard for educational excellence in the thriving North Texas region it calls home. An academic centrepiece in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for nearly 120 years, UT Arlington was founded in 1895 as a private liberal arts institution.

About This Course

In this course, students will learn how relationships between people, artefacts, and ideas within learning settings can be analyzed and interpreted through social network analysis (SNA). Students will learn how to prepare data and map these relationships to help you understand how people communicate and exchange information.

Why Take This Course?

The course will review foundational concepts and applications of social network analysis in learning analytics. You will also learn how to use igraph and statnet R packages to manipulate, analyze, and visualize network data.

Learning Outcomes

You will learn to:

• Apply the basics of social network analysis (SNA) at the network level (density, clustering, degree distribution, etc.); at the node level (degree, betweenness, closeness); at the sub-graph level (triads, communities);
• Design a research study using relational data;
• Conduct SNA of data collected in a learning setting;
• Apply basic functions of igraph and statnet R packages to analyze data.

Instructors

Sasha Poquet

Sasha Poquet is a Research Fellow at the School of Education, University of South Australia, where she completed her PhD.

Shane Dawson

Dr Shane Dawson is a Professor of Learning Analytics and a Director of Teaching Innovation Unit at the University of South Australia.

Requirements

We highly recommend that you take the previous course in the series before beginning this course:
Learning Analytics Fundamentals

This course is intended for those who have a bachelor’s degree and are interested in developing learning analytics and data science skills for employment in education, corporate, nonprofit, and military sectors. Experience with programming and statistics will be beneficial to participants.

How To Join This Course

• Go to the course website link
• Create an edX account to SignUp
• Choose “Register Now” to get started.
• EdX offers honour code certificates of achievement, verified certificates of achievement, and XSeries certificates of achievement. Currently, verified certificates are only available in some courses.
• Once the applicant signs up for a course and activates their account, click on the login button on the edx.org homepage and type in their email address and edX password. This will take them to the dashboard, with access to each of their active courses. (Before a course begins, it will be listed on their dashboard but will not yet have a “view course” option.)

Apply Now