What Makes Teachers Change? Factors that Influence Post-secondary Teachers’ Adoption of New Computing Curricula

Abstract

This study explores factors that influence teachers’ adoption of curriculum innovations in the context of one specific innovation—Contextualized Computing Curricula. From a teacher-oriented perspective, we propose a theoretical model to represent hypotheses regarding potential adoption factors with an emphasis on the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes that teachers hold about curriculum, students and themselves. We conducted a pilot study to examine those proposed factors through three summer workshops in 2007. We use the results of the pilot study to extend and refine the proposed model. Our findings indicate that teacher excitement in the new course drives adoption, while systemic issues inhibit adoption. This model might potentially provide a basis for researchers to devise effective strategies for removing barriers that prevent teachers’ adoption, and thereby foster the dissemination of innovations emerging from the learning sciences community.