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. (PSC 1.4/ISTE 1d)
ITEC 7460 Coaching Journal
The Coaching Journal represents the experience of coaching one colleague through the successful adoption and use of a new tool in his classroom. While the technology itself was not new, the use of it in his classroom was new to him. Coaching one team leader through that change began a process of sharing the tech tool with everyone else in our department. My colleague was seeking a way to improve the seminar discussion model in his teaching. Although I worked with him one-on-one to suggest and implement a tool on our LMS, he ultimately shared the experience with others and was observed by administration while using it with students. He received recognition for the work he did improving his seminar process. My contribution, then, directly influenced a colleague’s professional reputation. Further, by recognizing this colleague’s status as an opinion leader in our department (Orr, 2003), I have hopefully propelled the diffusion of this innovation forward.
The Coaching Journal project invited me to research ways to include a colleague in the change process in our school. According to Knight (2007) finding a teacher’s deepest concerns in the classroom leads to better coaching relationships because the identity of the teacher is honored that way. Further, I identified my colleague as an opinion leader, and so working with him is a strategic choice for initiating and pushing along the diffusion of innovations (Orr, 2003). The coaching journal details my thinking and searching for ways to help my colleague be his best teacher self instead of simply choosing a project I wanted to implement in the school. The assignment demands researching and processing how to develop a new disposition - one of peer cheerleader instead of another administrator that tells teachers what programs they will implement next. In working with my colleague over one semester, I did recommend an innovation to his practice that our whole school can benefit from, as well. Increased use of our existing online learning management system is a target that our school is already working toward. So, I recommended a tool in that LMS that could support my colleague’s personal goal of increasing the effectiveness of the traditional seminar discussion format. I suggested he use the discussion tool feature which allows individuals and groups to talk amongst one another during and after the seminar. So, the students held the seminar as usual, but then during the activity, there was a backchannel of discussion, and after the seminar, the students used the discussion tool to sustain the discussion beyond the place and time of the actual seminar. Because we implemented the change together, we were able to tailor the questions directly to the needs of his students, and we were able to group the students how he liked. To sustain the change, my colleague and I debriefed after the seminar to reflect on the success of his use of the tool. He received kudos from the administration, and so other colleagues became interested in his success. Thus, as Orr (2003) points out, we can together push our department toward the tipping point of change. It is likely that these department-wide innovations can sustain the progress he and I saw in his classroom.
Although I would absolutely have worked with my colleague even without prompting from the demands of an assignment, the exercise of researching and reflecting in the Coaching Journal pushed me to new areas of thought and disposition. For instance, I would have previously not thought about only making the colleague better at his own practice. I would have focused on making a product together or making an innovation seem important to our school. However, research in coaching a colleague helped me to understand the importance of truly listening to a colleague’s concerns and aiming for those as a focal point. Further, the act of writing a reflection and intentionally setting meetings with my colleague to discuss successes forced me to stay with the targeted change for long enough to see results from it. The Journal required patience, foresight, and a gentle disposition to complete, and these are all the “soft skills” of becoming a coach. Looking back, I might have arranged my interactions with the colleague to also include another person, possibly for an additional section of the Journal. I would want to see if my colleague could recommend a strategy to a friend, or if I could help the two of them find ways to innovate as a team.
The Coaching Journal has impacted our school positively through our English department first. Students success was clear: my colleague reported that student mastery of the ideas in the discussion was far more widespread than before where only certain students talked. He also assessed their learning as higher when he read their papers that resulted from the seminar thinking, and he reported more engagement in the next seminar. Then, my colleague was able to give a talk about his experience with the discussion board at our AP/IB PLC meeting. Our fellow teachers expressed interest in using the tools for themselves, and my colleague was able to take credit for the innovation. Then, those teachers wanted to know ow to use the discussion tool more efficiently for their classes, too. After our AP/IB PLC team implements the tool sin their own classrooms, we may have a chance at seeing it go school-wide.
References:
Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Orr, G. (March 2003). Diffusion of innovations by Everett Rogers (1995). Retrieved from: https://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm. 4 January 2019.
The Coaching Journal represents the experience of coaching one colleague through the successful adoption and use of a new tool in his classroom. While the technology itself was not new, the use of it in his classroom was new to him. Coaching one team leader through that change began a process of sharing the tech tool with everyone else in our department. My colleague was seeking a way to improve the seminar discussion model in his teaching. Although I worked with him one-on-one to suggest and implement a tool on our LMS, he ultimately shared the experience with others and was observed by administration while using it with students. He received recognition for the work he did improving his seminar process. My contribution, then, directly influenced a colleague’s professional reputation. Further, by recognizing this colleague’s status as an opinion leader in our department (Orr, 2003), I have hopefully propelled the diffusion of this innovation forward.
The Coaching Journal project invited me to research ways to include a colleague in the change process in our school. According to Knight (2007) finding a teacher’s deepest concerns in the classroom leads to better coaching relationships because the identity of the teacher is honored that way. Further, I identified my colleague as an opinion leader, and so working with him is a strategic choice for initiating and pushing along the diffusion of innovations (Orr, 2003). The coaching journal details my thinking and searching for ways to help my colleague be his best teacher self instead of simply choosing a project I wanted to implement in the school. The assignment demands researching and processing how to develop a new disposition - one of peer cheerleader instead of another administrator that tells teachers what programs they will implement next. In working with my colleague over one semester, I did recommend an innovation to his practice that our whole school can benefit from, as well. Increased use of our existing online learning management system is a target that our school is already working toward. So, I recommended a tool in that LMS that could support my colleague’s personal goal of increasing the effectiveness of the traditional seminar discussion format. I suggested he use the discussion tool feature which allows individuals and groups to talk amongst one another during and after the seminar. So, the students held the seminar as usual, but then during the activity, there was a backchannel of discussion, and after the seminar, the students used the discussion tool to sustain the discussion beyond the place and time of the actual seminar. Because we implemented the change together, we were able to tailor the questions directly to the needs of his students, and we were able to group the students how he liked. To sustain the change, my colleague and I debriefed after the seminar to reflect on the success of his use of the tool. He received kudos from the administration, and so other colleagues became interested in his success. Thus, as Orr (2003) points out, we can together push our department toward the tipping point of change. It is likely that these department-wide innovations can sustain the progress he and I saw in his classroom.
Although I would absolutely have worked with my colleague even without prompting from the demands of an assignment, the exercise of researching and reflecting in the Coaching Journal pushed me to new areas of thought and disposition. For instance, I would have previously not thought about only making the colleague better at his own practice. I would have focused on making a product together or making an innovation seem important to our school. However, research in coaching a colleague helped me to understand the importance of truly listening to a colleague’s concerns and aiming for those as a focal point. Further, the act of writing a reflection and intentionally setting meetings with my colleague to discuss successes forced me to stay with the targeted change for long enough to see results from it. The Journal required patience, foresight, and a gentle disposition to complete, and these are all the “soft skills” of becoming a coach. Looking back, I might have arranged my interactions with the colleague to also include another person, possibly for an additional section of the Journal. I would want to see if my colleague could recommend a strategy to a friend, or if I could help the two of them find ways to innovate as a team.
The Coaching Journal has impacted our school positively through our English department first. Students success was clear: my colleague reported that student mastery of the ideas in the discussion was far more widespread than before where only certain students talked. He also assessed their learning as higher when he read their papers that resulted from the seminar thinking, and he reported more engagement in the next seminar. Then, my colleague was able to give a talk about his experience with the discussion board at our AP/IB PLC meeting. Our fellow teachers expressed interest in using the tools for themselves, and my colleague was able to take credit for the innovation. Then, those teachers wanted to know ow to use the discussion tool more efficiently for their classes, too. After our AP/IB PLC team implements the tool sin their own classrooms, we may have a chance at seeing it go school-wide.
References:
Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Orr, G. (March 2003). Diffusion of innovations by Everett Rogers (1995). Retrieved from: https://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm. 4 January 2019.