1. Diffusion of Technology to
Improve Academic Readiness
Skills for Pre-Kindergarten
Students
and Teacher Effectiveness
A Case Study
Brett Mahan, James De Lane
& Melissa Smith
2. Introduction
• Increasingly, schools are seeking to incorporate
technology into their curricular programs in order to
• improve the quality of learning activities for the students in order
to enhance school readiness
• expand the efficiency and effectiveness of the teachers in order to
complete additional pertinent work
• Research for the last few decades has proved that high
quality early child care is a key factor in laying a solid
foundation for school readiness.
• Recently, schools nationwide have reported an increase
in student achievement occurring concurrently with
the execution of effective instruction utilizing technology.
• These schools realize the added benefits of
diffusing technological innovations within the core
curriculum.
3. • Forever Growing learned about the reported rise
in student school success and confidently elected
to begin the process to adopt technology-based
instruction.
4. • The director of Forever Growing plans to coordinate with
representatives from the University of Houston Clear
Lake, Instructional Design Technology Department.
• UHCL will analyze, design, and develop web and DVD-based
learning modules for instructional use at the school
• This case study illustrates how Forever Growing
will develop a strategy to share the details of the DVD
and webpage among the teachers, instruct the teachers
on the function of the modules, gain teacher
acceptance, and certify the proper use of resources,
throughout the process of diffusion.
5. Background about the School
• Forever Growing
• 1990 in Alvin, Texas by Denise West
• Originally founded as an in-home daycare and
after school program
• Curriculum designed to integrate academic
skills as well as social interactions in children
ages 2-5.
• Teaches academic and reading readiness
through situational problem solving,
phonological and phonemic awareness,
and social dialogue.
6. • School employs five full time teachers and
one half time teacher in order to split the
classrooms according to developmentally
appropriate age groups.
• Expenditures
• 40% on teacher training and salary
• 30% on curriculum materials
• 20% on office upkeep
• 10% on miscellaneous (marketing, billing, etc.)
• Mission statement: support small class
sizes, teacher guidance, and the
perception that the attainment of
knowledge is a continuous process.
7. Specific Area of Interest
• Forever Growing
• small, privately owned
preschool
• total of 6 teachers on staff
• close-knit family of
coworkers
• The small size can be an
advantage or a
disadvantage when it
comes to the diffusion of
the technological
innovations.
8. • 5 categories of “adopters” (people/employees)
identified during the adoption phase
• innovators
• early adopters
• early majority
• late majority
• laggards (Robinson, 2009, p.9).
• In large organizations, the distributions of these five
categories generally follow an S-curve type pattern
consisting of a few innovators and early adopters, an
increased number of early and late majorities,
followed by a few laggards.
• However, in a very small organization such as Forever
Growing, only one or two teachers to significantly
skew this pattern either positively or negatively.
9. • Smart to plan a strategy for disseminating
information about the impending technology
in order to ensure success.
• Forever Growing case study specific area of
interest
• create a strategy for the “adopters” that
constructs awareness of the technology in
addition to its functions and purposes.
• identify how the proposed innovations satisfy
the teacher needs, increase teacher
effectiveness, and improve the quality of
educational programs for the children.
10. School’s History and Growth
• Doors opened embracing an
optimistic vision and a
determined outlook.
• Experienced many challenges
and numerous triumphs.
• Staff has learned from these
obstacles and victories and now
believe that the school can
overcome any adversity
to succeed.
11. • Timeline of History and Growth
• 1990 - Began with 5 students and grew to 12
students in just a couple of months.
• 1991 - School was becoming overcrowded and had
to reluctantly turn away children
• 1994 - After-school program abandoned order to
better assist the future progress of the school.
• Currently – Supports a wonderful staff, a great
facility and a prominent curriculum. Enrolls
almost 100 full and part time students each
year in their pre-kindergarten program.
• Forever Growing has witnessed periods of
difficulty and hardship as well as stages of
remarkable prosperity and growth.
12. Strengths and Weaknesses
• Strengths
• Strong management system
• High quality curriculum
• Effective teacher training and staff development
• Weaknesses
• Obtaining financial capital
• Utilizing media instructional technology
• Developing effective marketing materials
13. Responses and Results of the
School’s Current Strategy
• Largest challenge is obtaining the financial capital which:
• Maintains the operations
• Supports the acquisition and implementation of resources
• Improve the educational quality of its programs
• Addressing these challenges
• Implements a mixture of initiatives to both raise funds and avoid
costs.
• Obtain full and partial scholarships from local businesses
to help off-set tuition costs
• Receives assistance with fund raising activities and
donation matching from the community
• Acquires one time financial gifts
• Teachers have voluntarily given up their pay raises
14. • In spite of everything, there is not sufficient
capital to acquire additional educational
resources (technology implementation,
training)
• Additional resources are needed
• to support the school’s over-all efforts
• to help students especially from lower socio-economic
family environments
• These additional resources will be
leveraged to overcome the knowledge
gap which many students possess when
they first enroll in Forever Growing.
15. The Specific Problem
• The teachers at Forever Growing are acutely
aware of the school’s resource shortages
and have performed a remarkable job of
maintaining the quality of the academic
program in spite of these limitations.
• Under most circumstances gaining
acceptance of additional teaching tools
would be relatively easy.
• Conversely when these teaching tools
include a new technology solution, new
problems arise that may impede the intended
diffusion.
16. Fichman argues in his case study:
“some technologies can not be adopted as a
"black-box" solution, but rather, impose a
substantial knowledge burden on would be
adopters. While classical diffusion focuses
on the determinants of a would-be adopter's
willingness to adopt, in circumstances where
knowledge barriers are high the more telling
issue can be an adopter's ability to adopt”
(Fischman, 1992, p. 6).
17. • Largest diffusion impediment encountered by Forever
Growing:
• the uneven technical background knowledge base retained by the
teaching staff.
• The strategy to address this issue should be included
within the technology diffusion plan.
• The strategy should:
1. identify the levels of comfort the teachers possess working with
technology
2. then scaffold the teachers requiring technology training.
• Adopter innovativeness is defined as the amount of
time it takes an individual to adopt the new
technology (early or late).
• In order to increase the probability of experiencing a
successful implementation project, the school will:
• Attain a confidence level embracing the new technology
as early as possible
18. Alternatives
• The following action based alternatives are more
suggestions for an iterative process than mutually
exclusive alternatives.
• These alternatives would comprise of a plan to:
• carry the school through the technology diffusion
progression, addressing each stage of that process.
• provide early solutions to the potential uneven
technical sophistication and technophobia of the
teachers.
19. Teachers work with UHCL instructional
designers in the analysis and design.
• UHCL involves the Forever Growing teachers in the
early analysis and design phases of the project.
• Results
• Enhance teacher awareness of the impending implementation
• Address teacher perceptions and needs
• Allay teacher fears and concerns of the less technically
sophisticated
• Present opportunity for teachers to have a voice
in the final product
• Activate interest, even enthusiasm, for the impending
technology diffusion
• Create a sense of ownership which may stand as the strongest
asset for gaining acceptance and adoption.
20. Identify an innovator or early adopter among
the teachers to start peer to peer
conversations plus act as mentors and tutors
• Peer mentors and tutors are teachers who possess
the most comfort using technology
• Peer conversations provide
• an informal, less threatening support
structure
• an expert to answer questions,
demonstrate concepts, and facilitate
reassurance
• This apprenticeship relationship (using an
innovator teacher to support those less technical) is
the ideal resource to bond the proposed technical
innovations with the academic programs.
21. Establish a trial period before going “live”
with the students
• Teachers explore the learning modules before
introducing them into the classroom.
• This discovery learning process helps
• alleviate many fears and concerns the teachers may express.
• provides the opportunity for the teachers to “see” the benefits the
modules bring forth for improving and encouraging the students
• permits the teachers to initiate the formation of a plan on how to utilize
the modules to improve their own efficiency and effectiveness in the
classroom
• affords the opportunity to detect any issues with the
product such as malfunctioning operations or unreliability
in meeting the teachers’ needs.
• After the trial period is finished, the teachers should
be comfortable with implementing the technology
into their classrooms.
22. Create baseline against which learning
improvements are measured after
implementation
• This part of the adoption stage of
diffusion includes a strategy to
confirm that the new technology
meets the identified needs of the
teachers and students.
• If there is an observed measureable
increase in learning evaluation,
which is valid and reliable, then all
hesitations will cease among the
adopters.
• The adopters will have quantifiable
proof that the new technology is an
enhancement to the curriculum
activities at the school.
23. Recommendations for Future Changes
• The school director should adopt the above
iterative strategy as soon as possible prior to
initiating the diffusion of the technology
• The school environment becomes both
accepting and supportive of innovative changes.
• The school director should institute additional
technical training (when finances allow it) to
enrich technological intelligence throughout the
school staff.
• Training will improve the teacher’s expertise in
regards to a broad-spectrum of technology which will
in the end yield a smoother method in support of the
next diffusion project.
24. How the Alternatives and
Recommendations Relate to AECT 3.2
• The
following slides are included to help delineate
how the case study relates to AECT’s standard 3.2
• “Diffusion of innovations is the process of
communication through planned strategies for the
purpose of gaining adoption” (Seels & Richey, 1994, p.
46). With an ultimate goal of bringing about change,
the process includes stages such as awareness,
interest, trial, and adoption.” (AECT, 2001).
25. Diffusion Innovation Sub-Standard 3.2.1
• According to the AECT standard, the diffusion of
innovations process is a plan of action to exercise a
technological solution amidst a social environment
with the intention of bringing about change.
• The process of the diffusion of innovations includes
four stages
• Awareness
• Interest
• Trial
• Adoption
• The alternatives and recommendations
illustrated in this case study directly addresses
each of these four stages.
26. • By involving the teachers in the analysis and design process of the
project, they will become aware of both the project itself and the
details of the proposed innovative products.
• Appointing one or more teachers for peer to peer conversations
and mentorship supports communication regarding the diffusion
project.
• Setting up a trial period for teacher exploration of the technology,
allows the teachers to become more familiar with the technology
before implementing it in the classroom.
• Forever Growing devised a fundamental plan with the intention of
achieving adoption of the technological innovation.
• The school’s strategy progresses through the
four stages of diffusion.
• These strategies facilitate the approval and
distribution of the new technology throughout
the school environment with the aim of
initiating change affecting student success.
27. Conclusion
• This case study illuminates several issues that
can impede a successful diffusion of technology
innovations.
• In this study, Forever Growing is considering
implementing the fusion of DVD and Web-based
learning modules in conjunction with its current
academic program with the purpose of
enhancing instruction.
• The alternatives and recommendation
of the study provide the school with a
framework or strategic plan for
successfully completing the stages
of the diffusion innovation process.
28. References
• Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (2001). What are the initial standards?
Retrieved from http://www.aect.org/standards/initstand.html
• Carr, V.H. (n.d.). Technology adoption and diffusion. Retrieved from
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/innovation/adoptiondiffusion.htm
• Congressional and Budget Office. (2011). The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2011 to
2021. Retrieved from http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/0126_fy2011outlook.pdf
• EDTC Curriculum Project. (n.d.). AECT rubric for the curriculum project (reflective journal). Retrieved
from http://www.udel.edu/education/edtc/CurriculumProject.html
• Fichman, R. G. (1992). Information Technology Diffusion: A review of empirical research. Retrieved
from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.24.5209&rep=rep1&type=pdf
• Reiser, R. & Dempsey, J.V. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd
ed.). Allyn and Bacon.
• Robinson, L. (2009). A summary of diffusion of innovations. Retrieved from
http://www.enablingchange.com.au/Summary_Diffusion_Theory.pdf
• Seels, B., & Richey, R. (1994). Instructional technology: The definition and domains of the field (p. 46).
Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
• Smith, M (Producer). (2011). Forever growing: Interview with Denise West [video]. Alvin, Texas.
• Welcome to the Texas prekindergarten guidelines. (2008, May). Revised Texas prekindergarten
guidelines [TEA release]. Retrieved October 19, 2009, from University of Texas System and Texas
Education Agency website: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/ed_init/pkguidelines/PKG_Final_100808.pdf