e-Learning, Social Networks Analysis and the Diffusion of Innovation

The present paper is an attempt to analyze the dynamics of the diffusion of an innovative model of learning within a classroom of medical students. The role of structure in the direct and indirect ties among the students, their personal characteristics, and their participation to the e-learning activities in the spreading of innovation have been modeled like the diffusion of a contagion within a social network. The students’ social network spontaneously self-organized in several “factions” of like minded students, and the diffusion of the adoption of an innovation have been conditioned by indirect infuences and by the general cultural level. The role of web based interactions in the adoption of an innovation has also been analyzed.