Ripple effects: Small-scale investigations into the sustainability of ocean science education networks

Education Networks are an important way for educational institutions to develop and share knowledge and resources. Yet, methods of evaluating what makes them successful have been elusive. Here, we present a network analysis of the New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative (NEOSEC), a successful ocean science literacy collaborative and an effort to reveal characteristics inherent to successful education networks. NEOSEC is a network comprised of more than 40 institutions, with a stated goal of advancing ocean literacy in the region. Analysis of the evolution of this network suggests that network analysis adds an important dimension to evaluating education networks, and that successful educational networks may exhibit network characteristics that could aid in understanding their functionality and sustainability. Preliminary results also indicate that as these networks increase in complexity they may exhibit characteristics of other kinds of complex networks.