Session 2 Neo (Hao Qiang)

Requirement: Identify a model of change to help explain change within an organization you have experienced.

The model that my workplace can fit in is the Technology Adoption Model. The following content will cover the background information of my workplace, the analysis of my workplace based on Technology Adoption Model and Diffusion of Innovation Theory.

1. Background Knowledge about my workplace

I worked as an English teacher in the largest language training school in Beijing, which is named New Oriental Technology & Education Group (NOG). It went public in New York Stock Exchange in 2006, and successfully got more than $10 million investment to further its infrastructure construction, human resource reservation, curriculum development and advertisement.

As for the ICT implementation of the whole school, the objective was stated as to “take advantage of the power of ICT to make the information presentation clearer and more attractive”.

By the end of 2006, every classroom in NOG is successfully equipped with one computer for the teacher, one projector and wall-mounted screens, one interactive whiteboard to facilitate classroom teaching.

Besides that, NOG recruited and built up an IT supportive team to solve all the technical problems met in the classroom, and to train teachers about how to use classroom electronic devices. By now the IT supportive team is composed of only technicians, and they have nearly no further contact with teachers except for training sessions and classroom “e-emergency”.

The technical training for all teachers was organized once a month, and there is no mandatory school discipline for teachers to participate in the training.

2. The analysis of NOG based on Technology Adoption Model

2.1 Matched Characters of NOG and Technology Adoption Model Schools

Law and Yuen’s case study(2000) revealed that technology adoption model schools are usually characterized by the following points:

1. No strong school tradition or culture regarding a distinctive school vision and mission
2. Main objectives of ICT implementation: enhancing teacher effectiveness and efficiency and student ICT competence
3. Strong top-down (autocratic) leadership - the principal is the main change agent
4. Focus on infrastructure and technical training of teachers.  The school often has clearly defined targets and schedules for achieving specific ICT technical competencies

According to the stated information in “Background Knowledge about My Workplace”, NOG suits most of the above characters, but there is still some difference. NOG’s objectives of ICT implementation do not mention anything about students’ ICT competence; because NOG is a private school that stresses making profits more than actual effective learning, and if something is not directly related to making money, NOG would not include it into its objectives, just like “students’ ICT competence”.

2.2 The analysis based on Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Diffusion of innovation Theory (1997) clearly described the process of technological adoption, which can be applied to NOG’s ICT implementation process to make the explanation easier.

The decision to implement ICT on a large scale can be counted as “authority-based innovation” (1997), for NOG’s management structure is strong top-down management, but whether to implement ICT devices is not mandatory for teachers.

The training given by technicians to teachers started immediately after installment of all devices in classrooms in 2006. The discussion content of each department’s teacher meeting also made how to implement classroom devices effectively an important part since 2007, which is believed to spread relevant knowledge more effectively.

The above conditions fit well with technological adoption description of Diffusion of innovation Theory. However, as for the gradual change in NOG, I have not enough data to check whether NOG’s staffs’ ICT implementation condition matches the following bell curve graph.

3. The problem the current ICT implementation of NOG

NOG is currently using ICT as tools that facilitate information presentation and processing. The very pedagogy all curriculums are based on has no big changes. The approach of teaching/learning is still in the old way: One teacher continuously speaks to students, and the interaction between teacher and students is strictly controlled by the teacher. The phenomenon is described as “old wine in new bottles” by Lankshear (2000).

In such a condition, whether learning efficiency is enhanced due to ICT implementation is hard to conclude. However, NOG is more a corporation seeking profits than a school that aims at educating students. The solution to the current predicament will be systems approaches that involve the whole education system outside NOG.

Reference:

Law, N., Yuen, H.K., Ki, W.W, Li, S.C., Lee, Y. & Chow, Y.  (2000).  Changing Classrooms: A Study of Good Practices in Using ICT in Hong Kong Schools.  Hong Kong: Centre for Information Technology in School and Teacher Education, The University of Hong Kong.

Lankshear, C., Snyder, I. and Green, B. (2000). Teachers and Technoliteracy: managing literacy, technology and learning in schools. St. Leonards, NSW. Allen & Unwin.

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations. New York: Free Press.