I'm Reevaluating the Curve

I'm Reevaluating the Curve

The journey through this semester’s exploration of emerging technologies had its ups and downs and I have learned a lot about the adoption of innovations and the role of technology. Although technology is the vehicle that is driving the innovations, it is more about how emerging technologies can be valuable to an organization and how it can be integrated to where it is seamless for the organization or even society as a whole. In my original WOL blog when thinking about where I was on the Diffusion of Innovation Curve, I discussed that I was an early adopter working towards becoming an innovator. Right now, where I stand, being an early adopter assisting majority members and laggards to embrace technology seems to be more fitting. As I gain more experience in the world or leadership, I will be able to take people who are on the vertical stroke of the T-shaped innovator and help shift their strengths to become a team that allows me to be closer to becoming an innovator on the innovation curve. I am not quite there yet personally and professionally. I have accepted that I am the person seen as a mentor due to my technical abilities, flexibility, openness to new ideas, and listening to others. My talents are needed more in helping with the 84% of the Innovation curve who are early majority, late majority, and laggards (2022).

The assignments in this Emergent Technologies course, where we had to use BUILDS as a guide to integrate emerging technology for our organizations (2019), in a short time frame, made me anxious but I became to understand all the aspects that I need to research in order to make sure that the innovation fits the organization without wasting time and money and where my audience was on the Innovation curve. I remember being an employee who complained about new processes and technology for the organization but did not realize that it takes a lot of behind the scenes in order to roll out anything new, let alone an emerging technology that will “build” the organization to be stronger.

During this semester, being able to actually take the time to research and explore emergent technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) made me feel confident that I had a really good understanding to be able to join conversations and seek solutions within my organization. AI is currently really hot in the education space because we are learning to balance ethics and usefulness. My attitude towards new technologies has been unchanged although I look at adopting new technologies in a different perspective. I am not awed by the newness and coolness of it all but the practicality that it serves along with being thoughtful in my approach to get others to adopt it where it does not rattle too many cages. My presentation about Virtual Reality (VR) made me realize that yes, students will be excited but will they remain that way for the life of the emergent technology. I started to think about how we can build from the emerging technology and how we can upgrade or make it last not just something that is like a new toy one gets for the holidays, then gets bored of it and it sits in the storage somewhere. Will the emerging technology be useful in 5-10 years are thoughts that run through my mind now. I don’t want to be part of a committee who decides on using a lot of a budget that we barely have and let the innovation sit somewhere collecting dust like my experience in third grade when my teacher gave me a chance to figure out and try the new games.

As an Early Adopter on the innovation curve, it does not take much for me to see the value in emerging technologies and new ideas (2022). With my personal goals, I can use micro-credentials to increase my skills in my own time and get the most up to date information as new technologies move really fast. When I shifted from the financial industry to education my whole perspective was changed. In the financial world it was very fast paced and deadline driven, something was always changing and we had to pivot at times more than once a day. It was a part of my job and it was costly if we were not up to date especially since I worked I collaborated with regulations and compliance with the government. In education, I learned to slow down and had time to become reflective, it was a culture shock. Where I came from we were a data-rich organization with resources on a larger scale, we had algorithms monitoring everything and when something was not right, that is when it came to me to analyze it. This is why I know the human factor is crucial to AI. Then I went into a data-poor environment where I had to find my own resources and make my own data in order to find effective ways to increase student learning. I do not regret the decisions I made in my professional career because in my eyes, it is a purposeful life to serve others. Discovering emerging technologies as a companion to my journey of helping education adopt new ways of thinking that align with our current technology innovation fueled society and becoming the link between fast-paced and bridging the slowness of emerging technologies integration seems to be where I am at currently, which is where I want to be. According to authors Demirkan and Spohrer (2015) organizations are looking for T-shaped innovators whose characteristics are lifelong learners, collaborators, and empathetic communicators (p. 13). In education, the learning theory of more knowledgeable others (MKO) derived by Vygotsky uses modeling to teach others (Orey, 2010). I want to model those characteristics to my learners so that in an education system that is working towards reinventing I can get a head start and shape learners to become what our society needs in order to grasp the up to the minute changes that are happening will continue to happen as we move into the digital age.

References

Demirkan, H., & Spohrer, J. (2015). T-shaped innovators. Research Technology Management, 58(5), 12-15. http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/t-shaped-innovators/docview/1735886375/se-2

Diffusion of Innovation Theory. (2022). Retrieved October 17, 2023, from https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/mph-modules/sb/behavioralchangetheories/behavioralchangetheories4.html

Orey, M. (2010). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf

Udell, C., & Woodill, G. (2019). Shock of the New: The Challenge and Promise of Emerging Technologies. American Society for Training and Development.