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Abstract:
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Academic peer relationships can offer students diverse perspectives, knowledge sharing, social support, accountability, and valuable interpersonal and social competencies, advantageous to future professions. This study uses Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to investigate the drivers of peer collaborations in two undergraduate statistics courses at the University of Rhode Island. Data collected in Spring 2017 contains student demographics, study habits, learning preferences, course attitudes, and collaboration links. The modeling suggests students are more likely to collaborate in their recitations and with students sharing similar characteristics, namely athletes, students living on/off-campus, in/out-state students. Male students are more likely to collaborate with other male students than females with females. The statistically significant geometrically weighted edgewise shared partnerships statistic in the model suggests the presence of transitivity, meaning that there is a substantial proportion of students studying in small, connected groups. These findings can help to tailor course structure, for example, by including small-group activities as part of the curricular.
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