Title: Enabling inclusive education in structured learning environments through social network analysis

Authors: Hema Banati; Nidhi Arora

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi 110003, India ' Department of Computer Science, Kalindi College, University of Delhi, Delhi 110008, India

Abstract: Social network analysis (SNA) techniques have widely been studied in varied domains such as business applications, e-learning and political endeavours. This paper explores the viability/application of SNA in a structured school environment and proposes a model for applying SNA techniques to identify children with learning disability (LD) who are generally labelled as slow learners. Such children when identified on an early stage can benefit from revised assessment schemes and evaluation criteria to strengthen the idea of inclusive education in schools. A model for SNA is proposed in this paper for children in primary schools. The model was tested on 10 children in a structured learning environment and was able to identify children with symptoms of dyslexia, which are otherwise not identified in structured learning environments by direct observations.

Keywords: e-learning; SNA; social network analysis; learning disabilities; inclusive education; dyslexia; structured learning environments; electronic learning; slow learners; primary schools; primary education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIE.2014.067933

International Journal of Innovation in Education, 2014 Vol.2 No.2/3/4, pp.151 - 167

Received: 04 Sep 2014
Accepted: 11 Dec 2014
Published online: 09 Mar 2015 *

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