Educational Innovations-Project One

Landria Cash

September 12, 2017

Introduction

Educational innovations are found worldwide as the technology revolution continues to expand

and grow in order to improve the delivery of education. Many definitions exist but I would agree that it is

simply defined as “a social transformation occurring when a certain group adopts a new educational

practice” (Pernaa & Aksela, 2013). Villa Rica Middle School is a Title 1 school located in the Carroll

County School district. In an effort to decrease the student achievement gap, the school has taken the

necessary steps to modify the delivery of curriculum content and enhance learning opportunities by

adopting numerous educational innovations that can and will provide desired results based on past

research. Data is collected from each innovation through pre-assessments, intervention strategies

provided from the programs and continuous progress monitoring monthly.

Research Literature Synthesis

Educational innovations are prevalent across the globe. Common themes found regarding

educational innovations were as follows: innovation based on student interest increase student

achievement, the promotion of student centered learning, encourages the use of technology in

classrooms, and the use of models for diffusing and implementation of innovations.

Expresses idea that Promotes student Encourages Use of models for

innovations increase learning technology diffusion
achievement

3, 5, 9 7,9 1,3 2,5,8

Innovation Based on Student Interest

Educational innovations work well when they consumers are considered. Raynard (2017) spends

time explaining how eBooks can be implemented effectively by understanding the patrons of libraries.

Ebooks are increasingly appearing in schools to either supplement or replace written text. Storage, price

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and accessibility are also considered but must be mindful that print editions are still a preference among

consumers. “The first step in increasing e-book usage is conducting research at your academic institution

that identifies your patrons' usage and understanding of e-books by examining the patrons' demographic

characteristics and psychographic characteristics” (Raynard, 2017, pg 86)

Promotion of Student Centered Learning

Another theme found among the research was the promotion of student centered learning.

Students were taking ownership of their learning and opportunities. In a study conducted by Martinez-

Estrada & Conaway (2012), it was expressed that “When the pilot project had concluded, we were

pleased that the survey results indicated that nearly three fourths of the students participating had

reported that the Kindle improved their classroom learning experience” (Martinez-Estrada & Conaway,

2012, pg 132). “If innovation and entrepreneurship theory are applied, students can learn to solve ill-

structured, real-world business and industry problems (Bozic, & Dunlap,2013).

Encourages the Use of Technology in Classrooms

According to Conde, M., Garcia-Penalvo, F., Alier, M., & Piguillem, J (2016), “The results show

that 70% of the teachers agree or strongly agree with the exportation of institutional functionalities to

mobile devices to improve student participation and enrich institutional learning”. Weisman (2011)

explains that “Students in today’s classroom are becoming much more technologically savvy every year”

and they are expecting for this to carry over into their classroom learning skills.

“As institutions of higher learning are challenged to enhance collaborative learning and community

building amongst students, Minocha (2009) recommends that educators make use of “tools that facilitate

collaborative authoring, such as blogs and wikis; sharing of bookmarks, photographs and videos . . . ;

social networking platforms such as Facebook, Elgg and Ning; and virtual worlds, such as Second Life

that facilitate synchronous collaboration”( Guy, Retta 2012).

Use of Models for Diffusing and Implementation of Innovations

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 With the expansion of increased technology in schools, “Mobile learning options must be further

tested to determine a statistically significant evaluation of student adoption, satisfaction, and performance

outcomes” (Tabor, 2016, pg 91). “Learning experts emphasize the importance of an organizational plan

for mobile learning, which includes a development budget and access to tools and applications to lighten

the content conversion load” (Tabor, 2016, pg 91).

“From the point of view of the source or production of technology, stages are often defined as

some variant on the pattern: basic research applied research, development, testing or evaluating,

manufacturing or packaging and marketing or dissemination” (Tornatzky,& Fleischer, 1990). This article

goes on to mention that additional processes are needed after the initial research and are as follows:

awareness-problems, matching-selection, adoption-commitment, implementation, and routinization

(Tornatzky,& Fleischer, 1990).

Outcome

Educational innovations that are being implemented school-wide is the use of Illuminate testing

platform, STAR Renaissance for reading and math to track Georgia Milestones predictions, Google

Classroom, Common Core Ready Books, use of IXL Online Learning platform, and ReadWorks.

The Illuminate testing platform provides high level rigor questions for all content areas based on

standards of your choice. In my situation, we choose to align the standards to the Georgia Standards of

Excellence since these are the standards that we teach in the state of Georgia. Individuals can choose

particular standards to test/practice from an item test bank, upload existing tests from paper forms or

share and use previously made tests, quizzes and practice assignments. Administrators and teachers

are able to pull reports and even watch students complete this live. The reports are broken down into

standards mastery and provides a graph of what students missed, mastered, and the average scores

from all participants. Thus, we are able to see what each individual student’s need and how we can

address them.

STAR Renaissance is another platform that has been diffused in our school. We use this

platform in both math and language arts to test the mastery of Georgia Standards of Excellence. At the

beginning of the year, students are given a test that serves as a baseline indicator on the skills they

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already have and what skills require extra support. Teachers then pull various reports and develop

instructional content based on those results. This online platform also offers lessons and resources to

use to remediate and accelerate students. As a school, we have to complete a data analysis sheet to

determine needs of students and develop future lesson plans. We are also able to use the feature that

predicts their scores on the Georgia Milestones to drive instruction.

Google Classroom has also become an integral part of our school. It is the main means of

communication from the administration to the faculty and staff. Teachers are also integrating its usage in

the classroom which in turn fosters the continuous learning opportunities outside of the classroom.

Grading assignments and monitoring the reception of information is valuable in Google Classroom. The

virtual classroom also promotes organization and digital citizenship skills. “Students seemed more likely

to ask questions of each other during this small group activity than in the full class, and most claimed to

have learned something new about their mobile technology…” (Tabor, 2016, pg 82)

The diffusion of Common Core Ready books has taken place this year. After interviews with

teachers who had the highest test scores in the county, our school decided to purchase these workbooks

to increase rigor and understanding of the state standards. Teachers who used these books saw great

gains in their test scores and students performed one level higher or above. Teachers and students also

have the ability to track their progress on each lesson.

The IXL Online learning platform provides extra support and practice on skills based on grade

level, subject and standards. The most useful components are the diagnostic tests that tell you what

students already know and what they need to learn and analytics that provides real time feedback to help

fine tune teaching in the moment.

Chromebooks are the last but certainly not the least of the innovations implemented at school.

These devices allow for online connectivity learning that promotes the use of Web 2.0 tools as well as

drive the intention of both individual and collaborative learning. The mobile devices allow students the

benefits of accessing digital resources and applications. According to Tabor (2016), “some students

clearly saw the potential for using mobile devices as study aids and were eager to continue the process”.

The above mentioned innovations fit the definition that I provided for an educational innovation.

Each innovation requires that a social transformation occur when a certain group adopts a new

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educational practice. Thus, teachers must “. . . must shift their strategies and provide environments that

are more closely adapted to the student and open to including a new set of Web 2.0 tools that are under

the students’ control” (Conde, Garcia-Penalvo, Alier & Piguillem,(2013). The Illuminate testing platform

required that all teachers remove their initial perceptions of testing and all of the controversy that

surrounds it and focus on the data needed to support the needs of our students. Renaissance STAR also

required a change of perception regarding its validity in testing the Georgia Standards of Excellence and

prediction of student outcomes for the Milestones test. Transformation of thinking, diffusing and

implementing all play vital roles in helping students achieve to the highest of their abilities.

Conclusion

After completing this project, I now understand the importance of professional development and
teacher input when implementing innovations. The innovations must serve a valid purpose by relying
heavily on data. Adopting new ideas and diffusing them throughout a building requires substantial time
and development of processes and procedures. In the future, I would like to see the following questions
answered:

1. Does training for both teachers and students on specific devices lead to increased stimuli and
engagement in technology devices?
2. What are the perceptions of professionals who receive ample training on diffusion of innovation
and implementation versus those professionals who do not receive training?

References:

1 Bozic, C., & Dunlap, D. (2013). The Role of Innovation Education in Student Learning, Economic

Development, and University Engagement. Journal of Technology Studies, 39(2), 102-111..

2.Conde, M., Garcia-Penalvo, F., Alier, M., & Piguillem, J. (2013). The Implementation, Deployment and

Evaluation of a Mobile Personal Learning Environment. Journal of Universal Computer Science,

2013(19).

3.Martinez-Estrada, P., & Conaway, R.. (2012). EBooks: The Next Step in Educational

Innovation. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(2), 125-135.doi:10.1177/10805699114326282

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. 4. Pernaa, J., & Aksela, M. (2013). Model-based design research: A practical method for education

innovations. Advances in Business-Related Scientific Research Journal, 4(1), 71-83.

5. Raynard, M. (2017). Understanding Academic E-books Through the Diffusion of Innovations Theory as

a Basis for Developing Effective Marketing and Educational Strategies. The Journal of Academic

Librarianship, 43, 82-86.

6. Tabor, S. (2016). Making Mobile Learning Work: Student Perceptions and Implementation

Factors. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 15, 78-98.

7. Weisberg, M. (2011). Student Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Digital Textbooks. Publishing

Research Quarterly, 27(2), 188-196. doi:10.1007/s12109-011-9217-4

8.Tornatzky, L. G., & Fleischer, M. (1990). The processes of technological innovation. Lexington, MA:

Lexington Books.

9. Guy, Retta (2012) "The Use of Social Media for Academic Practice: A Review of Literature," Kentucky

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice: Vol. 1 : Iss. 2 , Article 7. Retrieved

from http://uknowledge.uky.edu/kjhepp/vol1/iss2/7/?utm_source=uknowledge.uky.edu%2Fkjhepp

%2Fvol1%2Fiss2%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages