Revised emergent-growth model of technology adoption integrating voluntary activities with maintained early concerns¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article proposes a revised theoretical conception in which adoption is not a linear, sequential progression but an emergent growth process: voluntary adoption activities initially motivated by early concerns are sustained and increased by later concerns, while reinterpretations of complex innovations refresh early concerns. The authors state this conception "moves beyond a linear, sequential model of developmental change", representing "a more complex developmental process in which teachers' adoption activities have been interrelated with an expanding repertoire of experienced concerns" and contextual features including training, change strategy, school culture, and innovation complexity. The process has no definite end but continues as growth for individuals and the organization.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• An adoption environment allowing voluntary, self-initiated individual and collegial activities; increasingly complex and powerful technologies that present emerging characteristics over time

Constraints¶

• Derived from a single exploratory case study at one magnet elementary school; the authors present it as a reconceptualization based on this case

Target Learners¶

• elementary school teachers adopting classroom technologies

Target Learning Objectives¶

• sustained voluntary engagement in adoption of complex educational technologies

Claims¶

• Early Concerns Maintained Alongside Later Concerns [+M]
• Increasing Collegial Interaction Across Concern Stages [+M]

Related Theories¶

• Fuller Teacher Concerns Theory: three developmental stages of teacher concerns
• The five-stage teacher technology adoption process: Entry, Adoption, Adaptation, Appropriation, Invention
• Seven Stages of Concern About an Innovation

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Wesley, Marion T., Jr. and Franks, Melvin Eugene. (1996). Advanced Adoption of Computer Technology in the Classroom and Teachers' Participation in Voluntary Innovation Adoption Activities. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED402907