Designing research to inform sustainability and scalability of digital technology innovations

Abstract

Considerably more research needs to be done to understand how successful technological innovations and change processes are sustained and scaled to new learning contexts. Without a better understanding of successful technological innovation, the wider field and education community are unable to benefit and build capacity. A model is presented that explores how research can better inform sustainability and scalability in technological innovations. It is represented as four loops: Organization, Innovation, Research and New Contexts. Three international case studies of technological innovation are analyzed to demonstrate use of the framework and model. Results show that research can be designed to support sustainability and scalability, but that this needs to be balanced with other factors to support a successful technological innovation. Implications for supporting technological innovations are explored.