Written by: Castulus Kolo and Andreas Breiter
Abstract: Empirical evidence underlines the importance of ICT-based innovations in education for at least two reasons: They prepare for a future workplace in a knowledge society increasingly dependent on ICT and furthermore, they support student-centred learning processes. However, adoption of ICT in educational organizations in general as well as of specific ICT-based innovations varies broadly across nations, as there are many different influencing factors with strong interdependencies. In order to better understand the dynamics of innovations in education, in this article we expose to discussion an integrative model based on a combination of models of individual and organizational adoption processes and their interplay with a socio-economic environment. The authors propose this concept of an “educational innovation system” to analyse differences in the diffusion of ICT-based innovations across countries and to better understand educational policies and their impact on classroom practice.
Keywords: Education policy, innovation research, educational technology