LDT 501 M5 Paper - Principles of communities of innovation

 Principles of communities of innovation

Principles of communities of innovation that resonate with me to create an effective learning vision include collaboration, experimentation, and continuous improvement. Collaboration or encouraging learners to work and share ideas together helps the students learn from each other. Experimentation in my field is probably a key attribute to encourage learners to try new approaches and come up with new ideas.  The whole technical community has been built by people coming up with unique ideas on ways to solve a common problem.  Continuous improvement or regularly evaluating the learning practices to make them more effective and allows the fine tuning of the process making the whole process more fluid and allows for fine tuning to create dynamic and engaging environments focused on the leaner.

Tools
Technology tools that can help create a learner-centric environment include learning management systems, educational software, and virtual learning environments. These tools can provide students with greater control over their own learning, enabling them to customize their learning experience to their needs and preferences. However, limitations of these tools include their cost, ease of use, and limitations in personalizing the learning experience for each student.  Through my Job in different corporations, I'm often asked or volunteer to use alpha or beta products, operating systems, devices and programs.  In other cases I have to develop tools for working with the different technologies or have a programmer help me to develop the tools.  My programming skills are strong, but to be honest I really don't have the flair for programming, mine are typically crude, get the job done, command line scripts for accomplishing something.  One of my favorite bumper sticker quotes is "Don't speak to me or I'll replace you with a small bash script".  I'm currently programming with the openai python API, trying to figure out how to integrate it into our google web page.  I have a basic model running on my desktop but because of the licensing issues I don't think I'll be able to integrate it into our web site.

Innovation model
In Rogers' diffusion of innovation model, one may classify themselves as Innovators, early adopter or early majority, or late adopter, depending on their comfort level with new technologies. I generally consider myself an Innovator, someone who is willing to try new technologies early on.  In fact it's almost a necessity in my field of product development.  Where most other categories of the model adopts technology after it has been proven to be successful by early adopters. The technologies I'm usually involved with are generally considered bleeding edge.  In fact many of the products that I worked with 10 years ago at previous companies are now generally being rolled out to the general population.  One's comfort level with new technologies can impact their future role as a learning designer by influencing their willingness to incorporate new technologies into their teaching practice.  I don't see anybody other than an early adopter as being successful in educational technology.

Which of the innovative technologies am I familiar with
The way I see it in my field there are really two different  technologies with the most potential to transform education including artificial intelligence and simulations. Artificial intelligence can personalize learning experiences, simulations can create immersive learning experiences. These technologies have the potential to transform education by making learning more engaging, personalized, and effective.  I really have high hopes for artificial Intelligence, but I hope all the negative publicity in higher education doesn't stifle the integration, I know many higher educators who fear cheating and plagiarism and are actively trying to figure out how to keep it out of the curriculum.

REFERENCES:
Watson, S. L. & Reigeluth, C. M. (2018). The Learner-Centered Paradigm of Education. In R. E. West, Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: The Past, Present, and Future of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/learner-centered_paradigm

West, R. E. (2018). Communities of Innovation: Individual, Group, and Organizational Characteristics Leading to Greater Potential for Innovation. In R. E. West, Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: The Past, Present, and Future of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/communities_of_innovation

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.

OpenAI. (2021). OpenAI API. Retrieved from https://beta.openai.com/docs/