SOCIAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY AND COLLABORATIVE KNOWLEDGE CREATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE UK AND TURKEY

The paper presents the second phase of international (three countries) study that explores the influence of social capital and personal learning networks (PLN) development approaches utilized by international students in the multicultural learning environment and the types of the social and academic networks they develop. It also addresses the influence of learners choice on their collaborative knowledge increase, in particular, the knowledge related to preparation for international careers. A comparative analysis has been conducted within three international programs (in Turkey, Ecuador, and the UK) that offer international education in the English language. The paper presents the preliminary results of a comparison in two locations - Turkey and the UK. The study applies the concepts of collaborative knowledge development, social capital, and social networks. It uses the constructivist grounded theory [1] to uncover the process of social capital and collaborative knowledge creation. Based on the data, collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through dimensional analysis [2]; [3], an updated process model is developed. The model takes into account the core social identity of the learner, and the stability of this identity, as well as the existing and emergent social, personal and institutional learning ties, built on social capital. An additional goal of the study is to uncover the overlapping social and personal learning networks International and local students participate in and develop, to trace the knowledge sharing routes and to pinpoint knowledge creation hubs in these networks. While we are not proposing the final theoretical model until the completion of the full cycle of the continuous comparison analysis process, it appears that the learners who are engaged in multi-dimensional and loosely connected [4] personal earning networks (PLN) [5] characterized by multiple networks consisted of weak ties and who utilize problem-solving models of knowledge creation are more likely to become cross/interculturally competent and are more likely to be prepared for global careers.