Modeling Education as an Information Network

This paper explores the modeling of an education system as an information network. This perspective focuses on how instruction and learning rely upon the distribution of information between instructors and students. A case study involving five courses using an online learning management system is described. The objective of the case study was to parameterize and instantiate an information network by examining how students and instructors in a range of courses use the same learning management system. The potential uses of an information network are explored in three examples that focus on situations derived from the case study. This model provides a unique ability to examine the impact of educational technologies that can change the distribution of information in an education system. The proposed use of such a model is to aid course designers in identifying distribution mechanisms that will promote effective instruction and learning