Change may result from product advocacy, laissez-faire competition, or change-process advocacy. The National Institute of Education (NIE) has adopted the last posture, whereby the agency advocates a strategy of implementing change by sponsoring a sequence of activities including need and capability assessments, trial of alternatives, evaluation…

In the first paper of this set, a paradigm which was developed in communication and diffusion research is adapted to define the educational innovation process in the form of producer-product-dissemination-users-adoption. Dissemination and adoption are subject to a number of factors, which can be further detailed. Previously innovation was seen as…

In this final working paper of the National Seminar on the Diffusion of New Instructional Materials and Practices conference participants make some general observations about the whole process of diffusion that would be useful to others who are developers or users and who participate in dissemination and implementation activities. Consideration is…

This report reviews the increasing numbers of case studies, technical guides, and theory-oriented reports that bear on the successful diffusion of new instructional programs and their local adoption. The author separates these reports and articles into four categories: (1) case studies of educational innovation diffusion, (2) theory-oriented…

New models of research and training combined with dissemination techniques can contribute to relevant social change. The Ecological Psychology Program at Michigan State University, a graduate training program which focuses on model building and implementation research, offers ideas on the plausability of social programming. The process would…

This study analyzes the characteristics of Adoption Resource Exchange of America (ARENA) registration in 1969 and 1972 in relation to factors associated with placement. The survey includes 615 children and 1,020 families. Geographically source of registration had little relation to location of placement, with only 13% placed in the state they…

The study analyzed the cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses of educational administrators to training materials and information documents, in order to determine whether administrators at State and local levels adopt materials differently. Findings for eight research questions are presented, and implications for dissemination activities…

Reports on an Iowa survey of school compliance with state-legislated activities (in this case, a needs assessment) and of administrator attitudes toward the worth of the mandated program. (IRT)

In this comment, the authors point to the need for editorial criteria (or censorship) in the publication of scientific research. Specifically, they refer to an article on transracial adoption and I Q, previously published in this journal, whose discussion section contained implications that could be misinterpreted by some readers. (AM)

Overcoming resistance to change theory is truncated and simplistic because it ignores important stages in organizational change and overlooks conditions internal and external to the organization that can have an important impact on the fate of innovations. Available from The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 3937 Chestnut Street,…

This study was conducted to learn why teachers continue to use a nutrition education innovation that was implemented by 21 teachers over three years. An ex post facto design was used to assess the significance of three implementation variables: the teacher, internal support, and external support. Results suggest teacher perceptions of the…

The second of two articles discusses topics relating to the development of CD-ROM technology: (1) new applications; (2) the image of what CD-ROM will become; (3) the properties of information, including timeliness, risk, and the relationship between message and medium; and (4) growth issues such as production, pricing, and user training and…

Examines factors which may affect the receptivity of librarians to the use of optical disk technologies, including hardware and software issues, the content of currently available databases, and the integration of optical technologies into existing library services. (CLB)

Proposes new model for study of microcomputer technology in agriculture in which diffusion/adoption of innovations is conceptualized as a structural process affected by "access conditions" resulting from research and development, intrinsic technology characteristics, and distributional characteristics. Examines thesis that potential adopters…

Described is a model for teaching elementary school science based on the generative view of learning: that meaning is created by the learner through mental processing that involves relating new input to existing ways of viewing the world. How curriculum researchers can help teachers implement this model is also discussed. (RM)