Adopting Educational Technology: Implications for Designing Interventions

Abstract

This in-depth case study tracks the development of a district's adoption of an educational technology plan over the course of a three-year time span. The site consisted of an urban city school district implementing a technology-supported curriculum involving support from administration, teachers, students, and parents. Key activities included technology planning, professional development training, development of technology supported curriculum, and technology implementation in the classroom. Analysis of the process allowed identification of a six-stage cycle of intervention: planning, applications training and learning styles, product development, implementation, assessment, and redesign. Further review indicated that the model was cyclical in nature, allowing for “loops” or cycles within and across stages. The model, as developed, is believed to be generalizable to other settings, being bounded only by the time frame and resources available for implementation.