Turning Groups Inside Out: A Social Network Perspective

Most research related to learning in groups focuses on the unit of the group and/or group members. However, students may benefit from crossing the boundaries of their own group, as students in different groups may provide access to new, nonredundant knowledge and opportunities for learning. Whether boundary crossing between groups is beneficial for learning and academic performance has received limited conceptual and empirical attention. Using social network analysis and structural equation modeling, we contrasted pre/post network developments among 693 students (132 groups) across 4 modules at a UK business school. We examined whether it is better for students to invest in social relations in groups to learn and enhance academic performance or to (continue to) invest in social relations outside groups. Our findings indicated that students seemed to learn more from learning relations outside their group than from their own group members. Students with more intergroup relative to intragroup learning relations performed better on module assessments and throughout the academic year than students with more intragroup learning relations. Boundary crossing and intergroup learning deserves more empirical attention and experimentation on how to balance boundary crossing and effective group learning strategies.