Blog — Page 26

The Diffusion Game: Test your change management skills

November 5, 2012 By Jason Rhode @JasonRhode 1 Comment

The Diffusion Simulation Game is a game developed by Indiana University in which players explore strategies that result in the adoption of innovation in a fictitious junior high. The goal is to get stakeholders (the school principal, teachers, and support staff) to adopt peer tutoring. As a player, you can decide whether to gather information, talk to people, visit places, or ask for help as various prompts are presented.

Diffusion innovation as a model for change

The game’s underlying model is the diffusion innovation theory. “Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system” (Rogers, 2003, p.11). According to this theory, each member in the social system follows a certain process in adopting innovation.

Knowledge: The member learns of the innovation and its attributes
Persuasion: The member adopts either a favorable or unfavorable view of the innovation
Decision: The member engages in activities that lead either to adoption or rejection of the innovation
Implementation: The member adopts and uses the innovation
Confirmation: The member evaluates the results of innovation implementation and integrates it into his/her life

Within a given social system, there will be different innovation adopter types: innovators, early adopters, late majority, and laggards. Opinion leaders and gatekeepers will also influence the uptake of innovation by a social group. When a certain number of members of the social group become adopters, innovation begins to spread rapidly.

How to influence people

Not surprisingly, there’s a certain calculus that informs adoption—primarily a cost-benefit analysis. Do members of the group perceive that the innovation has value? What are the costs of the innovation? How disruptive will it be? Is it compatible with existing values and work flows? How hard is it to use? The likelihood of adoption also is influenced by a group’s tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty and different stakeholders will have different views of costs and benefits.

Implications

The Diffusion Simulation Game illustrates the practical impact of innovation diffusion. Innovation requires both a change agent (you, in this game) and the willingness of a particular social group (the stakeholders in a high school) to adopt innovation. This willingness can be manifested in all sorts of practical ways—just see how difficult it is to even schedule an interview with the prinicipal in this game! Individual members of this social group will be more or less receptive to the idea of change and can be change agents in their own right.

Why should instructional designers care about this?

Instructional designers design learning experiences with change in mind (or they should). This typically implicates stakeholders at multiple levels:

To obtain initial buy-in for the learning experience
To make sure that what’s bought into includes integrating the learning experience into the larger organizational framework so that change is sustainable
To perform the analysis required to make sure that the learning experience can be a vehicle for this change
To connect to learners in a meaningful way so that change is valued and recognized as a participatory effort

Even if you’re not likely to ever try to influence the members of a school to implement change, the game is worth playing for the more far-reaching lessons it offers.

Reposted here from Dianne Rees

References

Diffusion simulation game. (2009). Retrieved from https://www.indiana.edu/~simed/istdemo/guest.html

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations (5th ed.). New York: The Free Press

Filed Under: Blog, Resources Tagged With: change, diffusion

Learning in the 21st Century: Mobile Devices + Social Media = Personalized Learning

October 29, 2012 By Jason Rhode @JasonRhode Leave a Comment

Each year, Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit organization, facilitates the Speak Up National Research Project and, as part of this initiative, tracks the increasing interest and growth in the use of emerging technologies to address the specific needs and aspirations of students, parents and educators for 21st century learning environments. Since 2007, Project Tomorrow has partnered with Blackboard Inc. to create a series of annual reports that focus on key trends in the use of technology to increase student achievement, teacher productivity and parental engagement.

As outlined in the Speak Up 2011 national reports, many emerging technology products and services are not only addressing instructional needs, but are also enabling greater personalization of the learning process, both in school and out of school. Within this context, the use of mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones combined with wireless accessibility and social media tools stand out increasingly as a game changer in this movement to more personalized learning.

This new special report examines the Speak Up 2011 national findings to both answer some of the questions first posed two years ago but also to present an updated perspective on the role of mobile devices within K-12 education.

The key findings from this report include:

Mobile devices when combined with social media and wireless connectivity are enabling more personalized learning opportunities for both students and educators.
Driven by several factors, the incorporation of student owned devices within classroom instruction is quickly becoming a viable solution for many schools and districts.
Increasingly parental support for mobile learning is changing the district conversation.
Changing teacher practice is the critical challenge today to expanding mobile learning.
The future of mobile learning depends upon a shared vision for how to personalize learning.

Here are a few more interesting stats and takeaways from this study:

In 2011, two-thirds of parents of school aged children (67 percent) noted that they have a personal smartphone; an increase of almost three times from 2006.
In the past three years, teachers’ access to a smartphone has more than doubled from 20 percent in 2008 to 54 percent in 2011.
District office administrators are almost twice as likely now to be carrying a tablet computer (55 percent) than a simple cellphone that does not have Internet access (31 percent).
and administrators’ interest in using a smartphone or a tablet computer is not dependent upon their years of experience. administrators with 1 to 3 years of experience are only slightly more likely to use a smartphone or tablet than their peers with 16 or more years of experience.
87 percent of parents say that the effective implementation of technology within instruction is important to their child’s success (50 percent label it as “extremely important”).
But only 64 percent say that their child’s school is doing a good job of using technology to enhance student achievement (and only 12 percent strongly agree with that statement).

Download the complete report here.

Filed Under: Blog, Resources, Trends

Keeping Pace with Online and Blended Learning: A Guide to Policy and Practice 2012

October 28, 2012 By Jason Rhode @JasonRhode Leave a Comment

Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning: An Annual Review of Policy and Practice (2012) is the latest in a series of annual reports that began in 2004 that examine the status of K-12 online education across the country. The report provides an overview of the latest policies, practices, and trends affecting online learning programs across all 50 states. Highlights from this year’s report include:

Blended learning continues to be an important story in K-12 online learning (and is reflected in our report title for the first time this year). Once-fully online schools are adapting to student demand for in-person services, school districts are responding to student desire for flexibility, and full-time blended schools (typically charters) are opening around the country.
275,000 students were enrolled in fully online K-12 programs around the country in school year 2011-12. As of fall 2012, 31 states allow multi-district fully online schools.
State virtual schools reported 619,847 course enrollments (one student enrolled in one semester-long course) in school year 2011-12, an increase of 16%. State virtual schools continue to bifurcate into two groups: those that are well-supported and growing (Florida Virtual School reported 303,329 course enrollments) and those that are not well-supported and shrinking or closing (Tennessee and Kentucky both closed state virtual schools in the last year).
Keeping Pace 2011 included a Planning for Quality section that offered guidance to leaders who are starting and growing online and blended programs. Keeping Pace 2012 offers three possible timelines as a companion to that guide.

The complete report can be downloaded from http://kpk12.com/reports.

Filed Under: Blog, Resources, Trends Tagged With: K12, online

Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants Now Available in Mobile and eBook Formats

October 22, 2012 By Jason Rhode @JasonRhode Leave a Comment

The NIU Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants is a brief compilation of teaching-related information from several sources, including instructional guidebooks from other institutions, journals, and contributions from master teachers and academic support units at Northern Illinois University. The guide is meant to be a quick reference rather than a comprehensive source on teaching-related information. Topics include teaching preparation, effective instruction, assessment, classroom management, and more.

The Instructional Guide is now available for download as a PDF, or in mobile and eBook formats: EPUB or MOBI. The EPUB format is a universal eBook format that can be read easily on tablets and smart phones. The MOBI format is optimized specifically for Kindle and other dedicated eBook readers.

For more details and to download the guide, please visit niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide.

Filed Under: Blog, Resources Tagged With: guide