Stages+Related+to+Adoption+of+Technology

Apple Classroom of Tomorrow conducted extensive research in the use of technology in schools and one of the research studies was entitled: Teacher Beliefs and Practices Part I: Patterns of Change [|The Evolution of Teachers’ Instructional Beliefs and Practices in High-Access-to-Technology Classrooms First–Fourth Year Findings] Within this study, there are five developmental stages that teachers go through as they adopt technology tools that enhance student learning and instruction. For each teacher, these levels change as research shows and experience proves that each time you try a new technology tool or web application, you are likely to start back at the Entry viewpoint or level. What are the five developmental stages?


 * //Entry//:** The teacher is aware of the technology but chooses not to get involved in it. Teachers at entry may be fine teachers otherwise but they simply do not buy into a connection between technology and their core mission of teaching kids the curriculum. They would love to leave the technology to the technology teacher.


 * //Adoption://** The teacher adopts one or two technology tools that make sense to her/him. These are usually personal productivity tools that make work easier for the teacher. The tools involved rarely have anything to do with teaching and learning and are ones that allow the teacher to accomplish a productivity task that is more difficult to accomplish without technology.


 * //Adaptation://** This is where the rubber meets the road! The teacher finally begins to try and use some technology with the students. Often, the first attempts are using word processing and having the every student in the class create the same kind of document in the same traditional way as before but then adding the typing/printing on the computer. There is no value-add to using the technology so the teacher often goes back to Adoption stage to build confidence.


 * //Appropriation://** "This is a stage of excess, where the teacher, now filled with confidence and mission, embeds technology in every possible curriculum activity. This is the teacher who manages to appropriate all the technologies in the building, try them out, and make them central to his/her daily classroom life."


 * //Innovation:// "**The Innovation teacher knows when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em. This teacher is more selective in the use of technology and has returned to the curriculum-focus that is central to good teaching. Technology is just one of the tools in the classroom, not the only tool. Students have a choice of presentation methods: digital slide shows, skits, dioramas, etc. The important thing is the curriculum: has the student demonstrated an understanding of the topic at hand?"

Source: [|Teaching with Technology] and ACOT research

//**So, where are you in your current stage of implementing technology within your classroom or school? What resources and support do you need to move to another stage?**//

Stage 1: Awareness I am aware that technology exists but have not used it; perhaps I'm even avoiding it. Stage 2: Learning the process I am currently trying to learn the basics. I am sometimes frustrated using computers. I lack confidence when using computers. Stage 3: Understanding and application I am beginning to understand the process of using technology and can think of specific tasks in which it might be useful. Stage 4: Familiarity and confidence I am gaining a sense of confidence in using the computer for specific tasks. I am starting to feel comfortable using the computer. Stage 5: Adaptation to other contexts I think about the computer as a tool to help me and am no longer concerned about it as technology. I can use it in many applications and as an instructional aid. Stage 6: Creative application to new contexts I can apply what I know about technology in the classroom. I am able to use it as an instructional tool and integrate it into the curriculum.

Another way to look at your current technology level is through this five segment technology adoption life cycle. //**How would you describe yourself based on this diagram (and descriptions) below? Do you feel this is an accurate way to describe the technology adoption life cycle? Why or why not?**//



In Geoffrey A. Moore's //Inside the Tornado// -- a book from 1995, he defined the 5 segments as follows:

These are the people who are fundamentally committed to new technology on the grounds that, sooner or later, it is bound to improve our lives. The person you turn to with technology questions is likely someone that falls in to the innovators group. These are the true revolutionaries in business and government who want to use the discontinuity of any innovation to make a break with the past and start an entirely new future. Their expectation is that by being first to exploit the new capability they can achieve dramatic and insurmountable competitive advantage over the old order. These people make the bulk of all technology infrastructure purchases. They do not love technology for its own sake, so are different from the techies, whom they are careful, nonetheless, to employ. Moreover, they believe in evolution not revolution. they are interested in making their companies' systems work effectively and look to adopt innovations only after they have established a proven track record. These consumers are pessimistic about their ability to gain any value from technology investments and undertake them only under duress -- typically because the remaining alternative is to let the rest of the world pass them by. They are very price-sensitive, highly skeptical, and very demanding. Rarely do their demands get met, in part because they are unwilling to pay for any extra services, all of which only reconfirms their sour views of high tech. This group delight in challenging the hype and puffery of high-tech marketing. They are not so much potential customers as ever-present critics. As such, the goal of high-tech marketing is not to sell to them but rather to sell around them.
 * Innovators**
 * Early Adopters**
 * Early Majority**
 * Late Majority**
 * Laggards**

Source of description: http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/blog/technology-adoption-life-cycle/