Making the connection between technology and social capital

[John-Paul Hatala]

I'm now in North Carolina at a conference for technology in education. I'm here to present the concept of social capital development as a mediator for technology use. I find this to be quite interesting. Many educators have found technology adoption to be minimal when it comes to implementing it within a set curriculum. The need to foster a community of technological support is at the forefront of many educators minds and their goal is to get students to adopt technology for learning purposes.

My goal is to blend the adoption of technology in education with a student's desire to achieve academic and career success. If they can see the advantages of technology and then have it reinforced by the network, the belief is that they will be more likely to use it as a means of learning. My goal here is to talk about the benefits of social capital and how it can be leveraged for technology adoption by students so that learning can be enhanced.