College Faculty Experiences with Technological Innovation: An Exploratory Case Study

• Main Author: Lumpkin, Peggy A
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2012
• Subjects: Instructional Technology; Teacher Education; Higher Education
• Online Access: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/msit_diss/91; http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1097&context=msit_diss

This exploratory case study examined faculty members’ experiences with the introduction of technological innovations. The introduction of LiveText, a web-based learning, assessment, and accreditation system, to a department in All Star Research University’s (ASRU) College of Education was examined to explore how faculty members navigated this event. Teacher educators are role models for both current and future educators. Therefore their experiences matter as more technological innovations are incorporated in education at all levels. Rogers’s (1995) generalizations about the diffusion of innovations provided the conceptual framework for understanding the factors that influenced the adoption of LiveText as an innovation. A qualitative research approach was used to examine faculty members’ experiences with the introduction of this technological innovation. Data collection methods combined questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and document reviews. Six participants were selected and interviewed about their experiences with the introduction of LiveText. Themes reflected the adoption process of LiveText in one department of ASRU’s teacher education program. The primary themes revealed were a climate of accountability in teacher education, an initiating event, the acknowledgement of a need for change, the process of selecting a solution, communications, utilization, and an evaluation of whether the chosen solutions fixed the problems that initiated their introduction. In addition, a new model, trigger, transition, utilization, and perceptions (TTU-P), was introduced to describe the adoption process. Experiences detailed in this case study will provide valuable insight for other groups in similar situations or circumstances.