Over 70 distinctly different characteristics of innovative programs in educational technology have been named thus far. 70! Again, this is striking to me given that I am using a snowballing technique to generate participants; frequently respondents are working or have worked together professionally; and yet, answers continue to vary substantially.
I've been grouping answers about what are characteristics of innovation into major categories:
- relation to student,
- relation to teacher,
- operational characteristics of innovation (i.e. scalability, sustainability),
- goal or purpose of innovation,
- 'other' characteristics, (still working on these)
- and a group that I currently call "the negatives" - you'd be surprised the answers (by whom and about what!) that fall in this category!
There are repeated threads in the answers. I will shy away from describing any of the subsequent findings I talk about as "themes," as none of these were discussed by anywhere near a majority of respondents; it may be better to call them "key dialogues" as frequently both the topic and the converse of that topic were found among the answers (even sometimes among the answers of a specific respondent).
That's another main finding; the direct contradictions that arise within what we see as characteristics of innovation. I think these results will point to the main dialogues going on currently in educational technology; possibly the issues the field has yet to resolve.
Stay tuned tomorrow where I'll discuss findings around one of the main "key dialogues" in the answers. Hint: It's an old conversation, but with lots of strange(?) angles found in questionnaire answers. Second Hint: We as a field don't agree! Surprise.
Fill out the questionnaire here! Pass it on to individuals you know!!! Please!
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