Change is inevitable. However, learning to adapt and embrace change can be difficult. This diffusion of innovations course focused on the communication structure within our schools and the process of implementing, evaluating, and adapting to change within the educational system.

When completing this course, our school specifically was undertaking a major change after receiving the Smaller Learning Communities grant. Basically a complete redesign of our school structure was taking place. Many of the assignments and activities in this course helped me understand and deal with the change process much better in our school. First, learning to understand our channels of communication within the school by completing a communication survey was a huge step in working through the change process. Second, evaluating how specific teachers reacted to change within their classrooms gave insight to various types of adapters to change. Third, comparing organizations (small vs. large) helped clarify the different ways companies’ implement adapt, and evaluate change.

Currently, after completing the course, I’ve been working with administrators on a special committee to help move our school in a positive direction with our restructure from the grant. I’ve been able to use my knowledge and experiences from the course to provide insight within our change process.