Understanding What Administrators See as Barriers to the Adoption of Technology for Learning and Intervention Measures to Overcome the Barriers by David S. Bail [This article has been divided into a number of separate web pages for browser-loading ease. You may view (and select) the contents by section title from the Contents, or click on the "Next" button at the bottom of each page.] Approaches to Solution Adizes has a prescription for treatment - at least for the Aristocratic organization: "The first step is to conduct a group diagnosis session, a method of synergistic participative diagnosis that the Adizes methodology calls Syndag. This diagnosis is a deep consciousness-raising session at which all participants share information about the problems the company is facing. Viewed in this way, the problems seem to be truly overpowering. The need for change becomes obvious. Diagnosis at many levels in the company is necessary to remind people of the present state of the organization.... "In attempting to treat Aristocratic organizations, consultants often say, 'First, let's define your goals.' If they define the goals without the organization feeling that they can achieve them, however, it's an exercise in futility. First, they have to feel they can make a change; they must feel they can work together; they must say, 'Yes, we are potent.' Then they can work on where they want to go.... "By putting all the problems on the wall, the need to change is legitimatized and energy is created. Once a strong commitment for change is established, the company can move promptly toward resolving the abnormal problems. "Mission definition...is essential for Aristocracies because it defines new horizons. The mission definition must be done as a team process, focusing on divergent thinking. There is more than this company can do; there are more opportunities than it is presently exploring. The members are not really stuck, they can do something about their future. This process helps members of the group analyze the technological, political, economic, legal, social, and physical environments of the organization. It teaches them how to analyze their markets, product scope and values. All of this enables them to identify the opportunities and threats that face the organization. Identifying what they want the future to be, forces them to design a structure to realize that future. "A decentralized organizational structure is designed...to implement the strategies discovered in mission....Once the structure is completed, a redesign of information systems that support decentralized accountability is called for...This is followed by resource allocation...and redesign of the incentive system...to promote profitability and return to an achievement orientation. "A change in the leadership of the Aristocracy may also be required. However, prematurely bringing a person with a large E[ntrepreneurial personality] into an Aristocratic organization is not recommended. The members of such an organization constitute a mutual admiration society in which detail and maintenance, not growth, are the major attractions. In such a setting, a predominantly E[ntrepreneurial personality] person will experience difficulty expressing himself and exercising creative leadership. Success of such a transplantation would be more likely achieved after the restructuring is completed. "If E[ntrepreneurial personality] must be brought in before restructure is finished, or because it is needed for the restructure, the therapist must use the bypass system. If a person whose style alienates the organization is brought in, the Aristocratic organization will discourage his style. The A[dministrative personality] rejects the E[ntrepreneurial personality], since the latter injects turbulence which the A[dministrative personality] cannot control. The outcome is that E[ntrepreneurial personality] is either rejected or absorbed into the organization as a benign substance. He loses effectiveness. In other words, the organization develops immunities to odd, strange or different substances, thereby rejecting qualities which may be significant and functional to its growth and survival. "To integrate E[ntrepreneurial personality] into an Aristocratic organization, the therapist begins by looking throughout the organization for anyone with an active E[ntrepreneurial personality]. Such persons are easy to find; they are the ones who are complaining that one thing or another is not what it should be. They are also people the organization is usually trying to dump. The therapist insists that they be retained for a little longer. In a sense, this stops the bleeding of E[ntrepreneurial personality]. "Next, the therapist establishes a task force to work on a new project that can be completed in a short period of time (such as a new product, market, or system). The therapist then recommends that the newly hired E[ntrepreneurial personality] lead this task force, which is composed of the organizational deviants. Since the latter are E[ntrepreneurial personalities] from several disciplines and levels of the organization, they constitute a bypass of the A[dministrative personality] channels of the organization"--the people who have already developed arteriosclerosis because they resent and reject change. "As the task of the deviants is accomplished, P[erforming the Purpose] is created, which somewhat rejuvenates the organization. As several such teams are established, the outsider E[ntrepreneurial personality] soon begins to feel comfortable, especially as the structure changes, power centers shift, and expectations to produce results increase. "When an Early Bureaucracy develops, the task becomes much more difficult, since the E[ntrepreneurial personality] has been replaced by a blank, and there is a total rejection and resentment of change. Surgery, a change of management may be the only viable alternative for such an organization, since it is on the brink of bankruptcy. However, surgery in itself is not sufficient and recuperation, organizational therapy is needed later on (pp. 345-347)." Nevis, DiBella and Gould (1995, Winter) suggest that there are two general directions for enhancing learning in an organization: either "embrace the existing style and improve its effectiveness" by developing "a fundamental part of the culture to its fullest extent;" or "change learning orientations" by "making learning investments (p. 83)." As an example of improving the existing style, since education today emphasizes instruction, improving individuals' skills in those areas might be emphasized; also, since education today emphasizes curriculum delivery more heavily than tailoring instruction to individual learning styles, the curriculum could be modified to include greater emphasis on the retrieval and evaluation of information. Tactics for a change in learning orientation will be different than tactics emphasizing enhancement of the existing style. "Some changes will be seen as an attack on the organization's basic values, and it may be possible to avoid this by moving toward balance between the two poles, so members of the organization will support the existing style and advocate the "new look" as a supplementary measure (p. 83)." Senge (1990/1994) illustrates how elements of the structure of organizational life, such as "implicit goals, norms, or a limiting resource," can serve as barriers, and most importantly for our problem, a means to overcome barriers: "Limits to growth structures operate in organizations at many levels. For example, a high-tech organization grows rapidly because of its ability to introduce new products. As new products grow, revenues grow, the R&D budget grows, and the engineering and research staff grows. Eventually, this burgeoning technical staff becomes increasingly complex and difficult to manage. The management burden often falls on senior engineers, who in turn have less time to spend on engineering. Diverting the most experienced engineers from engineering to management results in longer product development times, which slow down the introduction of new products (p. 97). Eventually, growth may slow so much that the reinforcing spiral may turn around and run in reverse. The...firm loses its dominance in its market niche. Before long, morale in the firm has actually started on a downward spiral, caused by the reinforcing circle running in reverse (p. 99). "Don't push growth; remove the factors limiting growth.... "First, identify the reinforcing process - what is getting better and what is the action of activity leading to improvement....There is, however, bound to be a limiting factor, typically an implicit goal, or norm, or a limiting resource. The second step is to identify the limiting factor and the balancing process it creates. What "slowing action" or resisting force starts to come into play to keep the condition from continually improving?...That unspoken number [resource, goal, or norm] is the limiting factor; as soon as that threshold is approached, the slowing action - manager's resistance - will kick in....Once you've mapped out your situation, look for leverage. It won't involve pushing harder; that will just make the resistance stronger. More likely, it will require weakening or removing the limiting condition (pp. 95-104)." Fullan (1994) quotes the work of Cox and deFrees (1991) on progress in ten schools in Maine participating in a state-wide restructuring program. Success is reported in "four areas: refocussing student experiences; altering teaching and learning; redesigning the school; and making connections with people and agencies outside the school. The authors emphasize that there is no single recipe for restructuring, but that there are certain common ingredients across the ten projects: "(i) Getting Clear on the Focus of Change Building a shared vision of what students should know and be able to do. Defining student outcomes that bring the vision to life. Distilling and integrating curriculum along with broadening the repertoire of instructional strategies. Altering assessment to capture what students know in order to inform the next step. Expanding professional development to include learning while doing and learning from doing. (ii) Making Change Organizational and Systemic Restructuring is all about time--making time, taking time, finding more meaningful ways to spend time. Restructuring means forging initial links to new ideas and new practices, altering the way state and local people work together, the way school people and university people relate to one another, and so on. Restructuring provokes questions about power. What does it mean to have young people who can think, teachers who can make decisions, administrators who are effective advocates for learning, and school boards and parents who are active and knowledgeable participants in the education process? (p. 60)" In a report entitled "Improving Elementary Teachers' Comfort and Skill with Instructional Technology through School-Based Training" for her degree of Doctor of Education, Elizabeth C. Brennan (1991) reports on her experiences with teachers and technology as a building administrator for a private elementary school on a university campus in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while designing and conducting a practicum with goals for effectively integrating technology into instruction and increasing teachers' comfort and skill using technology. Brennan also included goals of "increase of interactive rather than passive modes of instruction" and development of alternative computer applications for the classroom. "Strategic, long range" plans were developed through an inclusive process, as were training and staff development programs. A series of six formal workshops introduced teachers to theoretical information on the integration of computers and technology into the classroom and three informal workshops were made available for practice, simulation, and application. While the vision at the time was to increase use of computers situated in a lab by increasing student time in the lab and increasing teacher referrals and integration of computer materials work and classroom subjects, and such a design does not fit the current intended objective of constructivist use to create meaning, nevertheless Brennan's work at her school exhibits the proper activities of involvement of staff in problem definition and solution prescription, design of training and follow-up evaluations, and attention to task accomplishment for goal accomplishment and shifts in belief. Useful and enlightening appendices include strategic planning guidelines, the goals, objectives and action plans which were developed through the strategic planning, a technology leader's training manual including materials for each of six sessions, exhibits of current and revised instructional frameworks showing a changed role for technology, and evaluation instruments. Kotler (1994) writing on the subject of "Key Factors in Launching Successful New Products," in his book Marketing Management, refers to the works of Cooper and Kleinschmidt (New Products: The Key Factors in Success, 1990) and Madique and Zirger ("A Study of Success and Failure in Product Innovation: The Case of the U.S. Electronics Industry," 1984). Cooper and Kleinschmidt summarized many studies of past product successes as well as conducting a study of 200 product launches in the technology sector, looking for factors in common for successful product launches and not shared by failures: "They found that the number one success factor is a unique superior product (e.g. higher quality, new features, higher value in use, etc.). Specifically, products with a high product advantage succeed 98% of the time, compared to products with a moderate advantage (58% success) or minimal advantage (18% success). Another key success factor is a well-defined product concept prior to development, where the company carefully defined and assessed the target market, product requirements, and benefits before proceeding (p. 319)." Madique and Zirger studied successful launches in the electronics industry, where success was defined as attaining financial break even. They found eight factors accounting for success, that is, new-product success was greater "the deeper the company's understanding of customer needs, the higher the performance-to-cost ratio, the earlier the product is introduced ahead of competition, the greater the expected contribution margin, the greater the development cross-functional teamwork, the more spent on announcing and launching the product, and the greater the top management support (loc. cit.)." Continuing these thoughts, Kotler observes, "Although ideas can flow in from many sources, their chance of receiving serious attention often depends on someone in the organization taking the role of product champion. Unless someone strongly advocates the product idea, it is not likely to receive serious consideration (pp. 323-324)." Summarizing these points and putting a finer edge on them is an article, "The Java Saga: Sun's Java is the hottest thing on the Web since Netscape. Maybe hotter. But for all the buzz, Java nearly became a business-school case study in how a good product fails. The exclusive inside story of bringing Java to market." In that article by David Bank (Wired, !995, December), the final observation about success in introducing a new product is that: "Often great technologies are born into the world without one of the three essential factors for success: a committed champion, a willing marketplace, and a workable business model. Clearly, Java had its champions... Tweaked, renamed, and repositioned, this time the idea has found a willing marketplace... But whether the standard will be Java depends on whether Sun finds a business model to keep it alive (p. 246)." Methods Studies About the Same Problem Methodologies reported by Brennan (1991) for data collection and analysis are included in the report and appear instructive and useful. Formative and summative evaluations were prepared for the design of the training component, and consist of the typical training session questions concerning applicability, preparation of presenter, communication and attainment of objectives, and adequacy of equipment and facilities. Teacher questionnaires and direct observation were utilized for pre- and post- implementation evaluation of the program. In particular, one question having six parts on the teacher evaluation is particularly useful and instructive in designing a survey eliciting attitudes toward integration of computers into instruction: "I believe that computer-based learning experiences: "The three favorable responses are: are equally as important and effective as teacher directed instruction are often more important or effective than teacher instruction can replace certain types of teacher directed instruction "The three less favorable responses are: are less important or effective than teacher directed instruction should be supplementary to teacher directed instruction should be an auxiliary component of the instructional delivery system (p. 91)." Results included increased exposure of students to computer use for learning, increased "effective utilization" of technology by the teachers, and an increased involvement by teachers in integrating computers into instruction in the classroom. A recommendation was made to have on site training sessions for teachers to continue. However, "the most common application involved individual student assignment to a workstation when compacted [sic] from regular classroom instruction or when a student had completed his or her assigned tasks. In most cases, the fifth contact session was delivered as an enrichment activity or for word processing opportunities. Seen as an extension of the classroom instruction whereby students applied learned capabilities associated with instructional technology (type reports, take spelling tests, generate data bases or spread sheets, etc.), this experience was deemed as effective application of computer-based learning experiences (p. 74)." Consequently Brennan's report of this application of technology to learning would seem to be of the category of adaptive rather than generative, the technology not truly integrated with the curriculum for the intent of construction of meaning, instructionist rather than constructionist, and therefore not representative of the type of reform, restructuring, and change through the use of technology at which this study is directed. Hamilton and Thompson's (1992) study of "The Adoption and Diffusion of an Electronic Network for Education" was about early adopters' use of an electronic communications network at a university, as a means to exchange ideas between university professors, graduate students, student teachers, "pre-service" teachers, and teachers from surrounding districts. The intent of the survey was to gather data about personal characteristics of the early adopters and confirm or refute the theory that certain characteristics would be found to be in common. The results confirmed the theory, and also elicited participants' current and initial perceptions about the network in "five categories: relative advantage, compatibility, triability, complexity, and observability," again confirming Rogers' adoption theory, as did Surry and Gustafson's (1994) study of computer-based learning modules, a type of integrated learning system, for use as on-site training for weather forecasters. While instructive on the preparation of surveys to elicit personal characteristics, these studies had nothing to do with the integration of technology with instruction, or restructuring or constructivism, and thus also were not about the use of technology at which this study is directed. McCaslin and Torres' (1992, December) study "Latent Factors Underlying Vocational Teachers' Attitudes toward Using Microcomputers for Supplementing In-Service Education" in Ohio concluded "vocational teacher's attitudes toward using microcomputers to supplement inservice education" varied with "two factors (the teachers' belief in the educational value of microcomputers and their confidence in using the computers)," and that planners of teacher inservice ensure that teachers "understand the value of microcomputer use for teaching and learning activities" and through practical examples reinforcing teachers' confidence in computer use such as by demonstrating they might be used in "computer conferencing and electronic mail." The methodology, a mailed survey of thirty-seven items to which subjects could respond on a five point "Likert-like" scale was highly useful to this research. Questions were asked which would be useful in introducing a new survey of school districts to ascertain their computer use in constructivist settings and in various organizational lifecycle stages, such as: Microcomputer use should be encouraged. Microcomputers create problems. I wouldn't want to use microcomputers. Using microcomputers adds interest. I'd be willing to send electronic messages. I know about commercially produced computer programs, etc. (p. 7). However, the subject matter of this study--use of technology for supplementary in- service education--was not about the use of technology at which this study is directed. Another study of vocational teachers, this one by George E. Rogers and Ruth D. Wilson (1992, December), titled "How Do Idaho Post-Secondary T&I Instructors Feel about Time-Shortened Tech Prep Articulation?", used Hall's seven step Stages of Concern model to ascertain whether the "time-shortened articulation tech prep" program was being accepted by postsecondary trade and industrial instructors. The stages of concern helped form questions on this study's survey in the following areas: Awareness: little concern or involvement with the innovation Information: General awareness and interest in learning more Personal: Individual is uncertain about demands and role of innovation Management: Attention focused on processes, tasks and resources Consequence: Attention focuses on impact of innovation in immediate area Collaboration: Focus on coordination of use with others Refocusing: Focus on exploration of more universal benefits from use; individual has definite ideas about alternatives (p. 4). In this study, the adoption was accepted by only 13 percent of the target audience. Nevertheless the study was useful for this research by giving examples of verbiage which could be used in construction of the mailed survey soliciting school district administrators' degree of acceptance of technology for integration of technology into instruction. On the subject matter itself, however, the study was not about the use of technology at which this study is directed. "Promoting Success in Educational Partnerships Involving Technology" by Baker (1993, January) was useful in an insight from its telephone interview results that "choosing people and sites carefully was identified as one of the most important components of success" of a partnership; however, again the study was not about the use of technology at which this study is directed. This review of the literature discovered no studies of methods for a school district's adoption of technology for learning, linked to ,1)an organization's position on the scale of organization lifecycle stages; 2) educational restructuring or reform by a learning-organization type of school district, with constructivism being present or advocated, and reporting the actual degree of technology adoption. Consequently a decision was made to conduct a study consisting of a survey of school districts which would ascertain where an organization was as far as being a learning organization, where it was on the subject of constructivism, and where it was on a scale of organizational lifecycle stages, and how these descriptors related to the degree of its adoption of technology for learning. Studies About Similar Problems Two studies about the personal dimensions of organizational change were instructive in their insights about other dimensions to be considered when undergoing a change process. Milstein and Inbar's (1988, April) study of "the ABCs of Organizational Behavior" analyzed a typology of avoidance, buffering, or confrontation when faced with change, and mentioned "the growing complexity of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies surrounding organizational behavior," and exhibited a survey methodology to elicit illustrative responses from subjects on such matters. Diane Stephens et al (1993, October) in their paper "Toward Understanding Teacher Change. Technical Report No. 585," suggested that "teacher educators need to rethink the approaches they currently use for preservice and inservice education, as those approaches do not consistently take into consideration the complexity of the change process nor do they consider the contexts of teachers' professional lives (pp. 14-15)." The views of adaptation to change, goals accomplishment and shared values from the natural world presented by Baskin and Resnick underscored the learning organization's reduction of barriers approach advocated by Senge and Papert. The generative change of the learning organization equates to the rebirth of entrepreneuerism and avoidance of death advocated in the corporate lifecycle stages work of Adizes, where a drawing away from bureaucratization echoed the Reengineering work of Hammer and Champy and Papert's embracing of Constructivism. Coupled with the known variables from the diffusion of innovation model, a theme was prepared to be addressed in a survey of school district administrators to ascertain whether perceived barriers slowed the adoption of technology for learning, to ascertain what those barriers were, and to ascertain what might be the intervention measures which could accelerate the adoption. Summary Fundamental instructional reform and "associated development of new collaborative cultures among educators" were seen as the primary focus of school reform, to which the use of technology should be tied. The district's educational goals should be the drivers for the goals and objectives for computer use, technology needs and applications. "Twisting restructuring and technology to fit the Industrial Age of the past" will cause them not to affect educational practice. Only restructuring and technology driven by "challenging goals for students and supported by long term commitments to change and investment in human resources" will increase school productivity and societal productivity. Education is a societal institution dedicated to helping people learn to deal with change in their lifetimes. As such, education has a moral purpose to develop a "change capacity" and to "produce critical thinkers and problem solvers for continuous improvement in the self-renewing society." This shared vision should be developed through a "dynamic interaction between organizational members and leaders." Innovations were seen as not becoming lasting without a "rather significant role from leaders." Change was also seen to be affected by other factors such as communications and decisionmaking "facilitating the discovery of an innovation's essential features." Change was viewed as a negotiated process where the "dissident voice" functions as the jewel of change, spotlighting problems needing solution prior to further advancement. The identification of a sense of urgency, as perhaps through a performance gap, was seen as the starting point for a change process. Forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating and communicating a vision, and empowering others to act on that vision, were reported as steps for successful change. Additionally, planning for and creating short term "wins," consolidating improvements and following up with further advances, and institutionalizing the new approaches, were operationalizing steps recommended to bring the change home, along with a "conscious attempt" to show "how approaches, behaviors and attitudes have helped improve performance," closing the expectations gap. Change was categorized as being adaptive or generative learning. Adaptation was learning that added to the "knowledge base of competencies or routines without fundamentally altering the firm" while generative learning "questions and modifies" the organization's "norms, processes, policies and objectives." Scientific examples were provided, such as DNA which allows an organism to adapt to its surroundings while still maintaining most of its characteristics and evolution which involves sudden, radical change to adapt to new circumstances, and members of the animal kingdom such as ducks and ants who pursue their individual goals yet collaborate through consonance of their individual and group goals. Catalysts were described that appear when chaos threatens to overcome the old order, forcing the original system to "reorganize to a more efficient stage in order to survive." Cognitive dissonance, expectancy theory, equity theory, and superordinate goals are ways in which humans can work together for change. Synergy was described as the situation when each individual element of the system is working toward its own very individual goals but the elements are functioning in spontaneously mutually supportive ways. "When elements of a synergistic system support each other, they support the system as a whole, and the performance of the whole is improved." Adaptation and evolution are the creative response of a system to its changing environment; evolution occurs as systems change over time. Scientific, economic and marketing theories were reported describing growth and change in populations, even exponential growth, as ultimately reaching "limits of growth structures." The sigmoid curve was presented as a representation of such growth in populations or their characteristics as well as product and industry life cycles. "The secret to constant growth," it was reported, "is to start a new sigmoid curve before the old one peters out." Advice was given to start this second curve when the first curve was still increasing, despite the confusion and conflict that would result from allocation of time and attention between the two curves. The difficulty of starting the new curve after the peak of the old curve had passed, after resources were diminishing, was made evident. A retreat from the bureaucratic stage of the organizational life cycle to the condition of "prime" was advocated by cultivating the entrepreneuerial spirit, customer focus, product focus, and nourishment of early successes. Being in any organizational lifecycle stage other than prime was seen as being a condition to be avoided through prevention, or as a pathology to be treated by intervention. Such a circumstance was seen as being entirely reversible. Continuance of the bureaucratic stage was seen as leading inexorably to organizational death. Rather than pushing the object of change so much that resistance builds, identification and reduction of the factors limiting growth and change were advocated. The necessity of a product champion--a committed leader--and a willing marketplace and a workable business plan, were reported as being necessary factors for a successful product launch. A review of the literature in the fields of change, the diffusion of innovation, and the stages of concern model (as known descriptors for barriers in the educational change process), found no studies focusing on the application of organizational learning theory, corporate lifecycle stages theory, and natural science and social psychology models to the change process, barriers to change, or intervention methods to accelerate the adoption of technology for learning. Consequently it was determined that a survey of school district administrators should be conducted and the data analyzed to determine if these theories and models could affect the adoption of technology for learning.   Next