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BernadetteBrereton
nuancedconsiderationofmeaningconstructioninsocialrelations.Terefore,inthis
project,SNAwascombinedwithmixedmethodsapproachestoexaminesocialroles
andnetworkpatternsinsocialnetworkdatagatheredfromonecompleteclassgroup
oflearnersinahighereducationsetting.Teclassgroupwascategorisedintogroups
accordingtothestructureoftheirsupportnetworksinordertodiscoversocialisolation.
Testrengthofsocialtieswasexaminedtofindoutthesupportactivityofthislearner
sub-group,withaparticularcomparisonbetweenmaturelearnersandotherlearners,
andfemaleandmalelearners.Temeaningofonlinesocialrelationshipsandthesocial
strengthofthesetieswerealsoexamined.
Inferencesweredrawnaboutthesupportnetworksavailabletoandaccessedby
learnersinaneducationsetting.Interestingfindingsincludedthatsuccessfulaccessto
suchsupportsisinfluencedbyalearner’spositioninthesocialstructureandalsothat
accessingsuchsupportsisdescribedbythelearnersthemselvestohaveasignificantim-
pactontheirHEexperience.
Takingageandgenderasdefiningcharacteristics,anotherfindingincludedthedis-
coveryofsocialisolation,aswellassocialintegrationwithinthenetwork,withcertain
individuals,ornetworksofindividuals,keytofunctioningsupportnetworks,whileoth-
ers,inparticularmaturestudents,werefoundtoexperiencesocialisolation(Brereton&
Hurley,2021).
CaseStudy4:PandemicProjects
Telastcasestudyisanexampleofanonlinecollaboration,aspartoftheresponseto
COVID19restrictions.Inearly2020,theCOVID19(C-19)pandemicreachedEurope
andtriggeredawaveofcountry-widelock-downrestrictionswhichresultedinapause
onmostsocial,economicandindustrialactivityandinteraction.TeEUvsVirusproject
wasarapidresponse,large-scaleonlinephenomenon,organisedbytheEuropeanCom-
mission,asameanstoreflectonandreacttothiscrisis.Centralwasthepan-European
Hackathon,carriedoutinApril,2020,whichconnectedaglobalspreadofindividuals,
organisations,companies,communitiesandnetworks.Teauthor’smentoringexperi-
enceonthisEuropeanproject’s‘RemoteWorkingAndEducationChallenge’
,supporting
teamsparticipatinginboththe‘E-Learningmethodsandtools’and‘University-Specif-
icchallenges’categories,providedusefulinsightsintothewaysthatcollaborationand
co-operationcanbringsuchpositiveimpacts,evenintimesofcrisis(Brereton,2020).
Conclusions
Casestudy1(academicscholarship)showedhowusingpersonalandprofessional
relationshipsandnetworkshelpedtofosterconfidenceandbuildskills,inbothnational
andinternationalcontexts,asameanstopromoteexcellenceinscholarship,research
andinnovation.
Casestudy2(professionaldevelopment)showedthepositiveoutcomesofareflective
andcollaborativeprojectwhichledtothebuildingofmentorshipskillsinacommunity
