Scaling Quality: Adoption and Implementation

Scaling Quality Topic 1
Adoption & Implementation: What are the biggest pain points of adopting new tools? How can we overcome them? What would school look like if testing and implementation were fun?

For a quality online program to be scaled it should include the capability to:

  • Integrate into existing data systems
  • Follow a locally established adoption timeline
  • Modify content to reflect local (school) cultural, language, etc. perspectives and state/local requirements
  • Be implemented in a blended or fully online environment
  • Implement authentic and multiple assessments to demonstrate mastery
  • Adapt to individual learning needs

Rough consensus, running code: whatever it is that is being adopted or implemented should be able to be adapted continuously to reflect users’ feedback

This is important because:

  • Equity in access to quality education and content
  • Technology provides opportunity for better instruction for more students
  • The use of technology to deliver quality online instruction leads to increased success for our students
  • Technology is an essential tool in enhancing the education of our students K-12
  • Design Principles:
  • Adaptable to student learning needs
  • Ease of use/ease of learning
  • Data aligned to state or Common Core standards
  • Multiple options to demonstrate mastery

Challenges include:

  • Policies do not exist yet to support this transformation
  • Many of the students that would benefit greatly from this vision are those who are those who are most at-risk and lack the reading, time management, study skills.
  • Teacher training/capacity
  • What would school look like if testing and implementation were fun?
  • Embedded assessments, informal, learning expeditions
  • Students have learning opportunities that are not limited to their “assigned” school
  • Learning is personalized for the student, student feels ownership of their learning process.
  • User Experience/Interface: “teacher” language and interface; written in a language that is common to K-12 teachers – accessible with very little professional development, with embedded supports for both teachers and students
Conversations on Quality is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Cite as: Conversations on Quality (2012, January). Scaling quality: Adoption and Implementation. Conversations on quality: a symposium on k-12 online learning, Cambridge, MA.

Posted