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Spread and Scale in the Digital Age: A Conceptual Framework

Mon, April 11, 11:45am to 1:15pm, Marriott Marquis, Floor: Level Four, Capitol

Abstract

Objectives

This paper presents a conceptual framework for research on spread and scale in the digital age that takes into account the interactions among organizations, environments, individuals, and innovation. It provides guidance for designers who seek to spread and scale digital learning innovations and researchers who seek to study these processes.

Theoretical Framework and Methods

The conceptual framework integrates institutional, social network, and social movement theory to identify factors that influence the process and outcomes of scale. We reviewed over 150 empirical studies of scale in out-of-school, in-school, and digital settings from education and other fields. We coded and synthesized this research along with insights from 54 strategically sampled interviews to build the research-based framework.

Overview of framework

The paper begins by distinguishing between spread and scale. Spread is the process by which tools, ideas, practices or programs move to more people through both top-down and bottom-up means. Scale refers to the desired end-state of spread. We outline the key factors that shape spread and scale of digital learning environments. Effective strategies for fostering spread and scale depend upon: 1) how one conceptualizes scale as an outcome; 2) what is being spread; 3) the people one seeks to reach and their organizational, environmental, and policy contexts; and 4) designers’ capacities, institutional homes, and positions in the broader environment. We illustrate how these different factors create choices for designers and educational leaders as they work to spread digital learning innovations.

The heart of the framework is a typology of ways to conceptualize scale: 1) adoption, defined as widespread use or affiliation; 2) replication, which requires users to reproduce the intentions, prescriptions, or outcomes of designers (Baker, 2007; Cooper, et al., 1997); 3) adaptation, which encourages modifications around core principles to meet local needs (Dede & Nelson, 2005; Penuel et al., 2005); and 4) reinvention, an approach that takes its cue from open source environments by using innovations as catalysts for local users to further innovate in new settings.

We argue that spread and scale are dynamic. Conceptualizations of scale and strategies for spread may shift over time as designers’ goals or contexts change (e.g. the emphasis on STEM opens up new pathways for spread). Similarly, as innovations achieve scale, they can create a “network effect” (Easley & Kleinberg, 2010), shifting the open-ness of people, organizations, and policies to new ways of working with children, and requiring changes in strategy or scale goals. We close by discussing implications for those designing digital learning environments and researchers studying spread and scale of digital media innovations.

Significance

This conceptual framework brings scale research into the digital age by capturing the impact of digital technologies on the processes of spread and scale. In so doing, it provides guidance for policy researchers studying spread and scale, and designers seeking to bring learning environments to more young people.

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