Adoption, Diffusion,Implementation...

Chapter 11 deals with the process innovations go through to become accepted or rejected. The past has shown that there has been a lack of widespread acceptance of innovations in the field of educational technology. Studying theories and models of adoption, diffusion, implementation, and institutionalization we can gain insight into the reason for the latter statement.

Adoption is a process that occurs over time and is broken into five stages: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. Furthermore, there are adopter categories. When an innovation is presented there are innovators which are very quick to adopt the innovation, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and finally laggards. Almost 70% of the adopters are made up of the early and late majorities (as the label implies). These categories are important because they are very similar in accepted innovations and show that innovations go through a predictable process in becoming adopted. Potential adopters base their feelings on relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observavility: basically whether or not the innovation offers them a better way to do something.

Knowing why certain innovations meet resistance is also helpful in understanding how to implement innovations. Yet studying the reasons behind successful implementation may be even more beneficial. Studies have found eight conditions that contribute to implementation(Ely, 1999).

Whereas the emphasis used to be on adoption and diffusion, the trend is tending toward implementation and institutionalization. Implementation should not be the final stage. The final stage should be when an innovation is assimilated into the structure of an organization and changes that organization in a stable way(Miles, Eckholm, and Vandenburghe, 1987):institutionalization. Innovation becomes the norm and a routine part of an organization, it is institutionalized.

As instructional designers we need to provide an environment where innovation is accepted and institutionalized. We need to develop use of technology that meets the intended users needs. Context of its use should be given as much, if not more, importance than instructionally sound and technologically superior products. The perceived attributes of the users should be considered carefully.