Discontinuous Classroom Innovation: Waves of Change for Marketing Education

Abstract

The authors suggest that faculty adoption patterns move through three identifiable stages. In wave 1, technology serves a support function that improves efficiency but does not significantly affect teaching. During wave 2, teaching technology enables faculty to efficiently “mirror” classroom activities using new technologies. Not until wave 3, however, does discontinuous innovation occur. Wave 3 is characterized by unique applications that result in extending the classroom in ways that result in a more current, active, and interactive learning environment. The authors’ conceptualization helps faculty and administrators better understand how they are currently using technology, identify barriers to wave 3 adoption behavior, and develop goals and create applications that will push faculty beyond using new technologies merely to support or mirror previous functions.