The Stages of Diffusion: Education Style

While the integration of technology into education is exciting for many of us “tech nerds,” not everyone feels the same way. Today, we will be discussing a weakness of Virtual Education due to the Diffusion of Innovations theory. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology states, "factors other than the attributes of the innovation affect diffusion of innovations. One factor is the amount of previous experience people have had with similar technologies” (page 52). This plays into how quickly – or slowly – people are willing to adopt new technology. There are 5 stages of this Diffusion of Innovation: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. For example, in the integration of virtual education, innovators will be the first group of people to jump in and try the new software or technology. If a “new and improved” software system that uses videos and live streaming is the first to come out on the market, the innovators will have already bought it and will be beta testing it in the classroom. Early adopters and the early majority are the next to follow suit. Early adopters will try it out and post about whether they liked the new software or not, and the early majority will buy the access to the software just as it is becoming “mainstream” or popular. Larger universities looking to integrate new technology without risking the quality of their education will most likely be in the early to late majority categories. They will wait until they have seen the software or innovation prove its success and usefulness in smaller universities or through statistics before jumping on board and dragging the thousands of students along with them. Finally come the laggards. In the broader technology world, the laggard is your Grandpa Joe who still has his flip phone he has been using for years and was reluctant to get it in the first place. He has a phone, but nonetheless it is from 2005. In the virtual education realm, the laggards are mostly primary or high schools that we would consider to be “stuck in the past.” They rarely use computers, notes are still hand-written, and grades are still printed out and handed out in the classroom.

This theory proves a weakness in the adoption of virtual education because not everyone is equipped with the technology skills to easily navigate online sites such as Blackboard. This lack puts these students at a disadvantage, not because they don’t know or understand the material being taught for the class, but because it is too difficult for them to even find the material or their assignments. This proves to be difficult for teachers as well, who may be used to a completely paper and in-person style of teaching. Not having the skills to use sites like Blackboard and Canvas to their potential doesn’t mean they’re bad teachers, but it fogs up communication with students which inhibits learning.

Straubhaar, Joseph; LaRose, Robert; Davenport, Lucinda. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology (Page 52). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

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