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posted by: Melissa
| August 14, 2014, 04:25 PM
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Last week, I attended a webinar on differentiating professional development in relation to the needs of the audience. One of the interesting concepts brought out was that in education, there was an ‘adoption curve’ much like in technology.
The concept of the technology adoption curve – laid out below - has been around for a while, and says that people are divided into several groups:
Innovators – These are the people who know about a new technological advance before anyone else. They are enthusiastic about it and try it out, even before it’s benefits have been proven. They’re quick to move on and look for the next new thing.
Early Adopters – These types of people are just one step behind the innovators. Once a technology starts to get some buzz, they’re right on top of it.
Early Majority – The early majority follows the lead of the early adopters. They’ll adopt new technology, but only if they see a clear use for it.
Late Majority – The late majority will eventually adopt a new technology, but not until it’s been proven. They are very skeptical.
Laggards – The laggards fear change and will fight any new technology kicking and screaming.
It’s easy to recall a technology that we’re all familiar with now after it’s initial release, and see these different groups at work. However, imagine a faculty meeting where some new educational initiative is being introduced. These same groups also appear in the education world…
The innovators and early adopters have been following this trend since its conception. They’ve been on twitter and blogs and have begun implementing it in their classroom even without a district initiative. They’re quick to point out its benefits to the early majority, and the early majority is listening to them and nodding their heads. It’s the early majority that has all the philosophical questions in fact. They want to know the big idea and how this will impact their classroom. They’re mostly positive and open to the idea, they just want to understand it first.
It’s the late majority and the laggards that are bringing the skeptical voice to the meeting. They’re the ones asking all the practical questions about the details of implementation. They worry about added workload and whether or not the initiative will have the impact that the district claims it will. They want to see some studies and proof, and they probably won’t be completely convinced until they’ve seen the success first hand.
The interesting thing about putting this curve in the world of education is that all of these voices are important. The skeptical voice demanding proof that something works is just as essential as the voice that rallies enthusiasm for the project. Also by knowing where we fall on this curve, we can begin to think more critically about our approach to new education initiatives. Do we dive in head first without thinking things through? Are we so skeptical that we don’t allow something time to work? By knowing our tendencies and what we bring to the table, we can make ourselves a better teacher and a more professional voice in the education sphere.
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