The way that any new thing spreads through a society has been pretty well studied in marketing. What we do with the innovation, of course, depends on the innovation itself, but the pattern of adoption is almost universal.
Every new thing goes through the cycle that starts with “doing the familiar” with it. Whatever the technology might be, it was conceived and produced in a context that dictates that whatever it was intended for has a direct relationship to something that’s already being done. Early adopters will use the innovation to see if it makes their efforts – somehow – better. It might be that they can do it faster, or with more consistent results, but whatever the tool is, the early adopters will give it a kind of “test drive” for the rest of society. If the outcomes are at least promising — they don’t have to be demonstrably better, but they do have to hold some kind of promise — more and more people will try out the innovation.
As the new thing spreads through the population, very slowly at first, people will begin to try to do “other things” with it. Once people see what a given tool might do on existing problems, they quite often begin using that tool on problems they didn’t know they had — or knew they had, but for which they had no answer. Over time, people change the way they use a particular innovation until the situation arises that they are using it to do things that would be impossible without the tool. They start doing new things.
Eventually the new things become the norm. Before you know it, people are making changes to the innovation — refining it, modifying it, even replacing it — and the cycle begins again. The cycle always begins with “doing the familiar” and it always ends with “doing that which wouldn’t be possible.”
It’s important to recognize that the cycle can break down at any point along the line and if it does, then it’s not “really” an innovation — more like “new and improved” than a real innovation. Innovations provide for the ability to do something new — not just doing the old stuff better. Adding hand lotion to dishwashing liquid isn’t an innovation because ultimately, you don’t change the basic application of the liquid. You’re still using it to get clean dishes.
One of my favorite examples of innovation is “the Movies” because it demonstrates the cycle pretty clearly in ways that most people can grasp. The idea of moving pictures has been around for almost 120 years. Edison started things rolling with his one-person viewers in the early 1890s and Louis Lumiere is credited with the invention of the Cinematographe in 1895 which was a combination of camera, film processing, and projector that made the process of creating film simple enough that you didn’t need to be a chemist and a mechanic to make it all work and the Lumiere brothers are credited with exhibiting a film to a paying audience of more than one. Welcome to the age of the movie theatre.
The early films were the same kinds of subjects that still cameras were being used for — that is, they filmed the familiar — pictures of every day life, of people going about their business. The promise of movies was perhaps foreshadowed in the Lumiere short that featured a train pulling into the station. The viewers – unused to seeing the kind of represention – were momentarily frightened that a run away train may actually be plowing into the cafe. A kind of ‘GOTCHA’ effect that horror movie directors have been using ever since. But the quest for content soon had movie production companies writing “screen plays” and producing films that borrowed heavily from the theatre of the time, particularly the “common” theatre of burlesque. The common theme of “doing the familiar” even in the face of such a transformative technology.
Sound and film were merged in the 1920s and the nature of the film changed again. The silent film with attendant musical performance became something different as sounds which would have been expensive – if not impossible – to produce live in the theatre became the norm. Early films again built on “the familiar” by using stories from literature and productions from the stage. Busby Berkeley films are the benchmark for lavish stage productions with costumes, dancing, and scores derived from the Broadway productions of the day. Whole careers were built on movies that were shot in and around radio studios — in large part because the microphones didn’t need to be disguised. Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, and Shirley Temple all had significant careers in films that all contained variations on the line, “I know! Let’s put on a SHOW!” Even the Bing Crosby classic “White Christmas” was based on the show-within-a-show.
Eventually, we started getting into films that were not based on the familiar – on the common place. Even in the earliest days of film, there were people doing productions that were not “the familiar.” One of the first horror films was a silent movie titled “The Cabinent of Dr Caligari” … and today we think nothing of watching movies set in places that don’t exist and in times that haven’t yet happened.
So, what innovations have happened in Education? What lessons can we take away from the idea that we always start with the familiar and move into things that wouldn’t be possible? How is that related to Blackboard and correspondence courses? What might an innovation LOOK like in Education? And why aren’t there more innovations happening?
September 13th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
I think one of the main reasons why innovations aren’t happening very often in education is because in order for innovations to occur, one must be able to “think out of the box” and in my experience, educators have a very difficult task doing just that.
An innovation in education that could occur would be that of monitoring your students visually and auditorily even when you can not be in the classroom. Take for example, you have to go to a four day conference (which i do in October), wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could log onto a website where video feed was available in my classroom for the purpose of monitoring my students when a substitute must be put in my place. I would love to have this capability. I know that this type of technology is available and has been for sometime but why has it not been brought to the educational setting? I get very upset when I have been gone for four days and have left work for my students and they did not accomplish the task I have set before them. If I had this type of “innovation” within my classroom along with old school innovation of submitting assignments on-line I could not only monitor their behavior while I was gone, I could also check their work as each day progressed.
This class has provided me with many ideas as to how I plan on having my students communicate and submit work to me while I am gone for four days. I plan on using distant learning for the purpose of keeping them on task but I would love to also be able to monitor their behavior which I know will not be the best while I am gone. As we all know: when the cat’s away, the mice will play!
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
[...] settings. There’s actually a reason they do that. It’s explained in this article: Adoption of Innovation The way that any new thing spreads through a society has been pretty well studied in marketing. [...]
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Innovation in the classroom would look more individualized rather than the pre-set, predetermined, curriculum mapped Core Content/Program of Studies hit all the content in sequential order in order to score on a test mass delivery system that we have right now. We would probably start with the students, ask them what they want to learn about, and what they want to do, and work in reverse-build practical, applicable skills, while moving back towards the basics that are often overlooked like reading comprehension, grammar, and mathematics. Individualized education determined by the preferences of the student, but guided with an experienced educator (that need not neccessarily have a paper certificate, but practical skills in the field in which the students are interested. It doesn’t take much to teach basic reading, writing, and mathematics. Those basics especially don’t require someone who has a piece of paper from a University. The mentor role only takes a person interested enough in the student to do the job right.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:35 pm
What innovations have happened in Education?
There are several innovations in education that come to mind. Classrooms have gone from being strictly lecture based to more interactive. Studies have shown that students learn by doing, instead of the old sit and get method. The trend has also been to evaluate and and incorporate multiple intelligences/learning styles into the class; whether they exist or they have been popular in education. Students individual needs are being addressed in regular education classrooms and differentiation is a popular theme. Something else that has changed since I was in elementary school is the wide range and availability of technology. There are computers in nearly every classroom and most classrooms have enough computers so that several students can use them at once. Classrooms also have internet access, promethean boards, CD players, projectors, etc. The internet had also made it possible to access a wide range of information that was not readily avaliable before Internet.
What lessons can we take away from the idea that we always start with the familiar and move into things that wouldn’t be possible?
When you start with the familiar you start making sure that everyone feels successful and then you build upon those successes. It is important to have success and feel good so you have confidence before you take risks. After the confidence is built, people are more likely to try something new. EX: I teach first grade and almost all students know they learn to read in first grade, but I don’t start the year by giving them a book and telling them to go at it. We start each year reviewing skills they learned in kindergarten so they have the condifence and self assurance that they will be able to read. EX: In sports, basketball for example, kids start out learning the basic fundamentals. They do not start with the 3 point shot.
How is that related to Blackboard and correspondence courses?
My first experience with Blackboard was in undergrad. I had a few classes that used Blackboard to post reminders or some assignments, but BB was used in those classes just to get us experimenting and building comfort with BB. None of my assignments were soley on BB and I could always check with the teacher of the class at our next meeting. When I started my online masters I was somewhat familiar and was very thankful that I had been at least introdced to BB and could navigate it. Now that I am in grad school my expectations on BB have intensified.
What might an innovation LOOK like in Education?
I am going to try to explain this idea…here goes the attempt. I have used the internet to take virtual field trips of different landmarks. The educational innovation that I am thinking of is virtual field trips jazzed up a little. I can see students really taking virtual field trips where they appear and feel like they are actually in the experience. It could be like a video game where they seem to be walking through the White House, visiting other countires, etc. I can really seem this happening in education at some point in the future.
Why aren’t there more innovations happening?
People resist change. Most people do not want to step outside of their comfort zone. If we see something that is working just good enough, then we want to leave it alone even if it can be better.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I think one reason why innovations in education aren’t happening is the fact that people are afraid of change and many resist. I think it is hard for a lot of teachers to change and do something different especially when they have always done it a certain way. I also think that educators tend to teach the way they were taught and it is hard to break that cycle. I think an innovation in education would look like something that would change the way we look at learning and how we go about teaching.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
We are definitely resistant to change, especially when it comes to things like education. I can think of numerous changes to education, but they all fall under the “improvement, not innovation” category. When I think back to my experiences in school, they are very different than what my students experience today. But, the changes have all been based on they ways that we have been able to make the old ways better (maybe not even better in some cases).
I think it takes one person or group of people who want the change to make it happen. Most of us are just to scared to be the first to do anything. I admit that I would love to be one of these pioneers who change education as we know it today…but sometimes its just easier and safer to stick to what I know. I have always believed that if its not broken, don’t fix it, but obviously thats the mind set that too many of us have.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
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September 4th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Innovation is a bad word in some schools. Its difficult to change something that has been static for so long. I made the analogy earlier that it is much easier to patch a few potholes in a highway that to build a new one.
An innovation in regards to time required to complete school programs or diplomas would be interesting. As online learning becomes more available and schools offer programs that allow students to make up failed credits, we will students who graduate earlier from middle school or high school. Maybe not, but it is an interesting idea. What if schools were based on the level of education that a person actually attained rather than a timeline. Schools now use grade categories all based on attending the school for a certain number of days while in each grade. What happens when a student is way behind but passes anyway? What happens when a student is way a head but can’t move on. Perhaps well see the ability for say 10th graders to study 11th grade content if they are on that level. Maybe someone has a great deal of expertise in math but very little in English. Should that student be held back or be allowed to move on in Math and complete the other credits in English later, more like in the college system.
Of course organization and the traditional classroom would have a difficult time existing like this. Schools would not have an easy way to group people anymore. I’m sure some of this occurs on a very small scale in some places, but I am referring to a full scale change. A talented student would be able to move forward rather than be in a low level class for an entire year. Is their a reason that that students must sit in a classroom for a certain number of days a year seeing content that may be way above or below them. This would be almost like an independent study for some students, it would also cause them to take respsonsibilty for their own education. If they want to graduate they will, if not they’ll lag around and not move forward. Will this work? Probably not but an experiment would be interesting.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Change is difficult in education. Innovations can sometimes be seen as long battles. We have been doing things for so long that some think why change it. I feel that change can be a good thing and is needed. Things are not the same as it was back then and we need to make things accessible to all students, not just those that go along with the plan.
With the use of technology classrooms are slowly changing. But don’t think that this is an easy process because something as simple as going from a chalk board or dry erase board to a smart board has been a rocky road for the school that I teach at. You have this great technology that is available, but you have teachers that have been teaching since the building was open that just refuses to change.
You also have the use of hands on activities and teaching through exploration. These too are things that some teachers will not accept. I personally love using manipulatives in my classroom, but you have those that do not. Students are learning in different ways now a days. You as a teacher need to use different techniques to reach these students. It is really hard to change your way of teaching after using the same teaching style or way of presenting material for years.
So with struggles such as these, I feel that moving to classes that are offered online or outside of the classroom is going to be a long battle for most. I really feel that this could be a great way to move forward with education and make it better for all, but with the lack of technology in some of the homes and with older teachers that are stuck in their ways I feel that this is one of the reasons why innovations are battles.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Thinking back to when I was in elementary school, there have been many changes in education. We have gone from individualized learning to group/center learning. Some classrooms have gone from being teacher centered to student centered. We realize that children might learn differently and have tried to incorporate different styles of learning for our students in order to help them learn better. There has been so much occur in education over the years. However, there is still much that needs to be done. Times have changed dramatically and education still seems to be behind those times. Technology is a big issue today and children love it, but many of us are still scared of technology (other than our traditional projector and such).
All of us probably started our educational careers with the traditional way of being educated in the classroom. Who would have thought that one day we would be educated by sitting in our living room conversing with people many miles from us? This shows that innovation happens. Thanks to those people who can think outside the box, we can now earn degrees that might not have been possible (due to our location) years ago. We now have so much more opportunity than before.
I think that it is difficult for teachers to get out of the traditional mind set and do things different and that is why more innovations aren’t occuring in education. Doing things differently than others is sometimes a hard task so we tend to keep doing the same ol’ thing.