Asyncronous Group Activity – Ely’s Conditions of Change
If you haven’t had time to take a look at our asyncronous group activity on Ely’s Conditions of Change I have provided a snippet of the activity below. The concept was to role play different characters in a high school that was attempting to implement tecnology at a hight level. Each character had a specific set of motivational factors and challenges to work though as they attempted to implement the project. Below is a consolidation of the character I provided for the activity and a summary of “lessons learned’ through informative dialogue with other students while using Ely’s framework as the guideline for these discussions.
If you would like to view the full project follow this link – http://elyhigh2.wordpress.com/
Consolidation post on Evan Wells – by Kris Felstead
Ely’s conditions of change theory examines factors that exist within the change environment while implementing new technology (Ely, 1990). These factors are not focused on the innovation itself but all of the “other” factors present that shape this change.
Using Ely’s conditions of change to examine this case study has exposed many factors that affect the overall success on the intended change initiative. Since the school received the educational grant motivation was high to implement technology at a high level and to become a “model” for other high schools looking to integrate technology.
My character “Evan Wells” was a new Instructor to the high school with a large amount of technical savvy and enthusiasm for technology integration. As you discovered by reading the case study Evan had some significant challenges as he implemented his initiative in the classroom.
Using the framework Evan’s analysis looks like this:
Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo:
Ely high was offered an educational grant to embed technology into the school and integrate all activities (i.e. evaluation, presentation and organization) into this technology using the iPad as the primary vehicle. This initative was met with a high level of enthusiasm by the Faculty and Administration and was presented at the Faculty “kick-off” meeting in September.
Evan was excited because his demographic for technology has an extremely positive outlook on its impact and his personal level technological integration is at a high level as an early adopter.
Evan was extremely focused on technology integration and was happy to more forward with the initiative, but was unaware of the prior status of the schools technology integration (as a new hire).
Evan discussed his classroom project with Administration, Faculty and I.T. and felt that all of the necessary pieces of the puzzle were present as he moved to the testing phase of his project.
Sufficient Knowledge and Skills:
Evan adopts and uses technology at a much higher level than many of the Faculty in the school. His ability to work with a technology and leverage its strengths in the classroom were all necessary (and present) factors so there was no apprehension from his viewpoint impeding the success of the project.
In his enthusiasm to roll the project out Evan missed a key element that centers around communication and skills. This element was his ability to communicate his needs to the Administration effectively in order for them to provide the appropriate resources. If he is discussing the technology at a level Administration has difficulty following (due to a lack of knowledge in this area) they are unable to address the technological requirements to ensure all elements are present for successful implementation.
Evan assumed all players involved in the project would have the necessary skills and enthusiasm for the project. As he discussed the project with Faculty and Administration a key component of the project would be to ensure everyone involved in the project had the appropriate skill-set or is provided with the appropriate training.
Availability of Resources:
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Evan neglected to do research in this area and discovered that upon implementation there was an insufficient number of iPads available for the project. This was because of student sign-outs and late returns, as well as technology that needed repair rendering them ineligible for sign-out. Even though the school ordered enough iPads, due diligence in this area would have meant Evan reserved the necessary number of iPads for the project before hand and communicated the need to the resource department.
One area that Evan did do allot of research before project implementation surrounded the performance of the network and if it would support his learning goals. He discovered that there were some significant network performance issues and addressed them immediately with the Administration. During these discussions Evan was assured the network would be able to handle the requirements of the project and that I.T was confident there was enough bandwidth available. This was the area of greatest frustration for Evan because not only was there inadequate bandwidth but problems with overall connectivity implementing a project of this scale. When this project is implemented in it’s next evolution this is a key area Evan has been addressing ensuring he documents all of the challenges he faced from the technological component out of his control (school network). After doing so it is recommended he facilitate a meeting to discuss the issue with everyone involved, including the I.T. department directly which was overlooked during the last implementation.
Evan will also be researching bandwidth requirements for a project of this scale and providing documentation (and examples) of other high school networks that are able to support this type of initiative.
Availability of Time:
There wasn’t enough time for Evan to take care of all components of the project and expect a successful implementation. His experience trying to handle all aspect of the project were extremely frustrating and time consuming. This lead to a decreased enthusiasm for the project because he didn’t have the ability to delegate responsibilities from his position and was simply promised that everything would come together. This is an overpowering factor when examining the success of the project because without the support of the “time” element he was unable to address all of the impending hurdles he faced.
One area Evan is going to rely on is discussing the initiative with other high schools and examining best practices around delivery of this type of project. This will enable Evan to advise on the distribution of responsibilities for the next implementation of the project at Ely High and free-up some necessary time to nurture the project from within the classroom.
Evan is going to meet with everyone involved to see where and how this “allocation” of time plays out during the school year. It is imperative everyone has definable goals and the necessary time to reach these goals or he will be facing another unsuccessful implementation.
Rewards or Incentives:
Evans role for the project was met with enthusiasm at the beginning but as he requested time, resources and funds to support the project the mood started to sour a bit. From his perspective the greatest reward would be a seamless integration of the technology and a successful implementation in the classroom. Rewards are nice but a gift card is simply viewed as a penance when looking at the bigger picture. One reward that would be useful is relief time to allow the Instructor to attend technology seminars to see how this new technology is shaping the learning landscape.
Evan also could have used some moral support in the form of gratitude and appreciation for pioneering this type of technology implementation project. The net cost to the school is $0 but the value to the individual is priceless.
Participation:
Evans had a high level of “buy-in” for the project and the schools new vision for technology implementation. His next challenge is to get everyone necessary to the success of the project involved and working toward a common goal. One lesson learned from Evan is that its difficult, if not impossible to facilitate this level or change from the bottom up. He must get everyone feeling they are key components to the success of the project and share in the success equally as a group and on a larger scale as the institution as a whole.
Commitment:
Evans commitment to the initiative was exemplary but there was allot of different levels of commitment visible from the Administrative component of the project. A big part of the learning here came from the lack of communication on all levels and understanding of the required resources and elements that need to be present for successful integration. With more exposure to Ely High’s commitment to delivering a cutting edge curriculum through technology implementation the more success they will have in raising the overall commitment level. Once they realize how important this type of initiative is, the more involved everyone becomes in the process.
Leadership:
Ely High has become a leader in technology integration in the classroom but shouldn’t lose sight that just because you have technology, doesn’t mean you are using it utilizing it effectively in the learning environment. There is allot of work to be done around best practices for technology integration, training, and delivery to ensure everyone feels proficient and part of the process of this change. If they are able to address the shortcomings exposed by Ely’s framework the high school will become the model for successful technological integration for years to come.
Even thought the project from Evans perspective wasn’t prefect there were many positive outcomes from this initiative. This first positive outcome is the school in now moving toward technology integration at a much higher level than ever before. This will open many doors in learning and provide opportunities for learning not previously possible. It will take some time to integrate the technology at a level where it is transparent in the process, but the overall concept and goal provide an exciting groundwork for the future.
Ely, D. P. (1990). Conditions that facilitate the implementation of educational technology innovations. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, v. 23, 298-305.