EAGER ADOPTERS IN EDUCATION: Strategic Plan Ideas for Integrating Instructional Technology

Strategic plans for teaching and learning are essential, however, they tend to focus on moving a mass of stakeholders along an agreeable path. The strategy is necessary and sensible, although many times, these plans miss a key audience important to the future of education, the eager adopters. Previously, this group was called "early adopters", however, I believe that the time in which educators become involved is not as important as their eagerness. This philosophy follows Thoreau's notion that, "If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." It is those, who hear different drummers that may appear to be tangent to institutional missions, although they may actually be leading initiatives, which the institution may eventually adopt. Some of the eager ideas which will be shared in this paper include Social Emotional Competency, Digital Content Creation Ecosystems, MOOCs, play with purpose maker economy fabrication labs, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, big data learning analytics, wearable technology, the quantifiable self, the internet of things, and mobile learning. The paper describes these eager adopter ideas aligned to the 2014 NMC Horizon report; eager adopter philosophies; and eager adopter questions to help initiate and guide strategic planning discussions.