Milton+Week+7

The GradeCam innovation was targeted at the education sector, particularly the classroom environment. As the inventors of the product said ‘GradeCam is a student-performance scanner for the classroom’. ([|GradeCam] website). The innovators and early adopters of this innovation were, indeed, the classroom teachers. Rogers (2003) identified five perceived attributes/strategies of innovation: Relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. He associated each of these attributes with the rate of adoption of an innovation by the social system. The GradeCam inventors use some of these attributes in diffusing the innovation. The strategies that are most persuasive in convincing the adoption of the GradeCam are trialability and compatibility.
 * The Perceived Attributes/Rate of Adoption of GradeCam **

The trialability attribute is used when GradeCam Inc. participates in technology conferences and expositions. Triability, according to Rogers, is the degree to which an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basis. Attendees at the conferences and exhibitions are given the opportunity to test the innovation. Rogers also said that a personal trial can dispel uncertainty about a new idea, and that trialability by a social system is positively related to the rate of adoption of the innovation. GradeCam is no exception, as was seen on the Sigmoid function/curve, commonly called the S-curve, of last week’s wiki update.

In addition to the perceived attribute of trialability, the GradeCam inventors also use the compatibility attribute in trying to persuade potential adopters of the innovation. Compatibility, according to Rogers, is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters. Educators value their job, so whatever instrument that can be introduced to improve performance is welcoming. For example, the task of grading student work can be tedious and time consuming, so the adoption of an innovation that can lessened the burdensome load, would be heart warming to educators. According to the innovation’s inventors, GradeCam does that and more. It not only grade papers, but it is a tremendous teaching tool, as well as a powerful paper-management device. ([|About GradeCam]). However, not all educators would readily accept this innovation as soon as it is made public. Some educators would wait for a long time before adoption, or would even reject the idea. These educators are who Rogers called laggards.

In my opinion, the laggards of the GradeCam innovation are the educators who are not versatile in the use of technology, and who are more traditional in the future perspective of the route of education. To best assist this group of adopters, training programs and/or professional development should be held, so as to promote the use of technology as a tool for educational improvement. Also, these innovators should be encouraged to attend technology conferences and expositions to get a first-hand view and knowledge of the use of technology and its impact on education. Simultaneously, at these conferences and expositions, the trial use (trialability) of GradeCam could be done.

Having leveled off at approximately 80% of the niche market (as can be seen on the S-curve of last week), the GradeCam innovation needs to include the perceived attribute observability, if it wants to meet the critical mass in the education sector. Why observability? The diffused innovation needs to be widely observed by other members of the education sector who knows nothing of its existence. According to Rogers, the observability of an innovation, as perceived by members of the social system, is positively related to its rate of adoption. With this attribute in place, GradeCam could increase its potentiality within the classroom, thereby diffusing in depth in the education sector.

Reference

Rogers, E. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.

[|GradeCam website]

[|2011 NSBA Annual Conference]

[|Exhibit guide at the Phoenix Convention Center]


 * Footnote**: GradeCam has recently changed their website, and so, my quotation and direct reference to GradeCam in the document above will not be seen. The new website is http://www.gradecam.com/?page_id=142.