Technology’s Achilles Heel

TLDR

Technology education continually develops new and innovative applications, yet educators often struggle to implement them effectively. The article introduces the Implementation Bridge metaphor and four constructs of the Concerns Based Adoption Model to guide technology implementation. The constructs serve as diagnostic tools to assess implementation levels and to study their relationship with student outcomes.

Abstract

An inherent characteristic of technology education is the continual development of new technologies and creating innovative applications of already existing technologies. As exciting as these innovations can be, technology educators and school staffs are frequently challenged to accomplish high levels of implementation. The metaphor of the Implementation Bridge and four research-based constructs of the Concerns Based Adoption Model are introduced in this article. Each can be used to evaluate the extent of implementation and as diagnostic tools for facilitating implementation. Each also can be applied in studies of relationships between extent of implementation and student outcomes.