Building social capital for constructive adaptive capacity under social stress
Journal of Professional Capital and Community
ISSN: 2056-9548
Article publication date: 22 October 2020
Issue publication date: 25 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how a school progressively built its social capital for agile adaptation to provide inclusive and effective fully online learning provisions through intentionally enhancing its architecture for learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a case study to examine how school A was able to respond rapidly and progressively to the demand for quality online learning provisions in the face of unanticipated school closure with an uncertain end date. Video recordings of online school sharing sessions, interviews and documents provided by the school constituted data sources for this study.
Findings
In creating a collective new norm for the implementation of online learning, a school needs to enhance both structural and cognitive aspects of its social capital. School A achieved this through intentional changes to its architecture for learning (i.e. organizational structure, interaction mechanisms, mediating artifacts and technology) when deliberating measures to deliver the changes under periods of serious social stress.
Originality/value
Adaptive capacity is a core demand on the social capital of schools and organizations under the “new normal” when the future is unpredictable. This paper uncovers the connection between a school's architecture for learning and its adaptive capacity.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge that this research is conducted as part of the Jockey Club Self-directed learning in STEM Programme organized by the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE) in the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, and funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The authors are grateful for the support provided by CITE colleagues, the principal and teachers in the case study school.
Citation
Wang, Y., Ko, P. and Law, N. (2020), "Building social capital for constructive adaptive capacity under social stress", Journal of Professional Capital and Community, Vol. 5 No. 3/4, pp. 247-253. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-07-2020-0057
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited