ACTION FOR COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN SOCIAL SCIENCES Erasmus Project

Project Title

ACTION FOR COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Open and distance learning; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

ACTISS-ACTION FOR COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN SOCIAL SCIENCES is an educational project that introduced a teaching innovation in the area of computational social sciences by developing a comprehensive open online course programme, consisting of five introductory courses on the subject.

CONTEXT:
Computational Social Science (CSS) is developing rapidly as a paradigm that allows for causal computer modelling of behavioural processes, ranging from processes within the individual to society at large, hence providing an interdisciplinary approach to the social sciences (Cioffi-Revilla 2014). In the current digital era, with an increasingly complex and turbulent society, DEMAND IS RISING FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS CAPABLE OF ANALYSING BEHAVIOURAL DYNAMICS, be it in PUBLIC POLICY MAKING, IN SCIENTIFIC PROJECTS, OR IN BUSINESS SECTORS. Traditional methods used by social scientists or market researchers (e.g. surveys) are not sufficient to understand complex problems. CSS enables to systematically explore complex behavioural dynamics in social systems and allows for interdisciplinary linkages. This contributes to addressing multidisciplinary challenges (Jager 2017). At the same time this approach is hardly found in social sciences programme and social sciences students are not aware of developments in modelling and social simulations and often they are apprehensive towards this approach, fearing that it requires advanced mathematical and programming skills.

OBJECTIVE
Our project helps tackle this mismatch by developing educational resources INTRODUCING SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDENTS TO THE WORLD OF COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCES IN AN ENGAGING AND EASILY ACCESSIBLE MANNER.

MAIN RESULTS:
-a MOOC programme that consists of an introductory course and four thematic courses that can be used independently = a vast and comprehensive set of high-quality OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: 5 open online courses, each consisting of diverse digital materials (videos, interviews, articles, exercises, quizzes, educational models):
–>People, Networks and Neighbours: understanding social dynamics (main introductory course)
–>Social Network Analysis: The networks connecting people
–>Understanding Human Behaviour: Introduction to Game Theory and Shared Resources
–>Why do ghettos form in a tolerant society? Schelling’s model and the introduction of cellular automata
–>Decision Making in a Complex World: Using Computer Simulations to Understand Human Behaviour
-the programme does NOT require prior knowledge of any advanced mathematics. E.g.students can learn some basic concepts and tools of Social Network Analysis without learning mathematical graph theory first
-the programme is available on FUTURELEARN and on the project’s website (15 units-weeks of materials, equivalent to a 2 ECTS points course)
-60 educational videos on ACTISS YouTube channel and 21 educational NetLogo models in ACTISS model repository
-the programme is INNOVATIVE because it is an introductory programme on computational social sciences TAILORED to the needs of people interested in SOCIAL SCIENCES, esp. social sciences students beginning their studies. Learners can take the courses without any prior mathematical or programming background.
-a TEACHER’S GUIDE prepared for each course containing the main information about the course and additional materials to be used in a classroom setting or as homework. With these additional materials the course may be equivalent to 3 or 4 ECTS points
-a CURRICULUM describing the whole programme
-MOOC participants- over 2000 participants of Futurelearn courses in 2021 and a prospect of reaching out a much bigger audience in future
-students at UW and UG learning from ACTISS materials on courses and workshops each year
-a study visit in the HIIG-Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society that helped the team gain skills related to the production of high-quality attractive digital educational content
-management activities that helped build a strong team spirit and achieve the project goals despite pandemic-related difficulties
-newly acquired skills of the team, related to the educational design, to international collaboration, organisational and managerial skills
-publications, conference presentations and blog posts about the project
For more details, please visit: https://actiss-edu.eu/

MAIN OUTCOMES:
-Raising awareness of the emerging field of COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCES and its potential both within and outside the academia (STUDENTS, ACADEMIC TEACHERS, GENERAL AUDIENCE)
-Acquiring knowledge and skills: learning basic concepts and tools of computational social sciences that are highly relevant both inside academia and the job market (STUDENTS and GENERAL AUDIENCE)
-Acquiring skills related to the production of engaging, online teaching content (TEAM MEMBERS AND PARTNER INSTITUTIONS)
In the long term we hope that ACTISS will increase the number of people who use computational methods in and out of academia.

Project Website

http://actiss-edu.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 239182 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI & Country: PL

Project Partners

• RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
• ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT-INSTITUT FURINTERNET UND GESELLSCHAFT GGMBH