1.

4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change

Candidates research, recommend, and implement strategies for initiating and sustaining technology
innovations and for managing the change process in schools.

Reflection

The Action/Evaluation Plan was written based on my previous research of policies, procedures, and
programs, and recommends how to effectively initiate and sustain a process for more effectively
integrating technology at my school. The Action/Evaluation Plan outlines five goals based off of my
findings in the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) Analysis I conducted about the
current use of technology in my school. I carefully examined our greatest weaknesses and determined
potential solutions using our areas of strength and opportunity. The five goals I outline in the
Action/Evaluation Plan create a realistic method for implementing the technology change we wish to see
in our school. I completed this project independently.
Standard 1.4, Diffusion of Innovations and Change, establishes the expectations for candidates to
research, recommend, and implement strategies for initiating and sustaining technology innovations and
for managing the change process in schools. The Action/Evaluation Plan and SWOT Analysis
demonstrates my ability to research and recommend strategies for initiating and sustaining technology
innovations and managing the change process in schools by their research based nature. Each section of
the SWOT Analysis was supported by evidence and research, and therefore, the strategy
recommendations I provided through the Action/Evaluation Plan were based in research as well. The
Action/Evaluation Plan demonstrates my ability to implement strategies for initiating and sustaining
technology innovations and for maintaining the change process by the columns labeled Strategies,
Timeline, Funding, Person(s) Responsible. These carefully planned sections demonstrate my ability to
implement strategies that will initiate and sustain the chance process. The strategies, timeline, and
funding sources are reasonable to ensure the plan can be fully implemented. In addition, I included an
evaluation section and a Success Indicator and Evaluation method to track the effectiveness of the plan to
ensure the school sustains the new uses of technology.
Completing this SWOT Analysis and Action/Evaluation Plan helped me to see just how complicated the
successful integration of technology is. Because of that, there are seemingly countless factors to consider
when creating a plan for technology to ensure successful implementation in a school setting. The
template provided for the Action/Evaluation Plan also taught me to the importance of careful
organization. I used the template to create a plan that would be clearly understood by not only the future
Technology Team and Administration at my school, but teachers with little technology experience.
In the future, to improve my skills in diffusing innovations and change, I would like to tackle a
collaborative technology plan with teachers at my school. I feel we all learn more when presented with
authentic challenges when provided the opportunity to work in a team. I also feel the plan will be better
received and implemented if teachers feel they had a part in creating it. This will increase their feelings
of ownership, accountability, and motivation.
The work that went into creating this artifact will impact school improvement. The school does not
currently have a technology vision or plan in place, and the Action/Evaluation Plan will serve as a
jumping off point for a new Technology Team. This team will not have any experience in creating
technology visions or plans, and my work provides a foundation to build upon and modify to best fit the
needs of our school.