280 - Julia Freeland Fisher and Mahnaz Charania on Social Relationships and Networks

<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">In today’s episode, Tom is joined by Julia Freeland Fisher and Dr. Mahnaz Charania. Julia is the Director of Education Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute <em>and</em> the author of the important 2018 book, <em>Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students’ Networks.</em> Dr. Mahnaz Charania is a Senior Research Fellow, also at the Clayton Christensen Institute.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Recently, Julia Freeland Fisher and Dr. Mahnaz Charania co-authored an incredibly important new paper together called, “The Missing Metrics: Emerging Practices for Measuring Students’ Relationships and Networks.” The paper outlines how measuring for diversity and social capital can open new doors and perspectives for students at various junctures in their education journey. Through this, education systems can start to build an evidence base for closing the social side of opportunity gaps and ensure that all students are supported equitably in their path to economic prosperity.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Join in for the conversation as Tom, Julia, and Dr. Mahnaz discuss the four-dimensional framework for measuring students’ social capital they’ve proposed in their paper, “The Missing Metrics,” and why social capital needs to be taken into account when addressing equity, access, and more.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[:10] About today’s episode.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[:55] Tom welcomes Julia Freeland Fisher and Dr. Mahnaz Charania to the podcast.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[1:28] Dr. Mahnaz Charania shares why she decided to study experimental social psychology.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[2:02] What sparked Dr. Mahnaz Charania’s interest in education?</span></p> <p><span style="font-famil