Case+Studies

//Peter: Your thoughts? The marketing ideas here are interesting.. and there are so many great examples of these....// //I like the Airwalk piece.. I can imagine the board meeting where that was discussed... these marketing conversations MUST occasionally get very far out there!//

Former Class Participant: I liked how he broke down the corn farmers in Iowa into the Innovators (the adventurous ones), the Early Adopters (the opinion leaders in the community, the respected thoughtful), the Early/Late Majority and the Laggards (the extremely traditional Digital Immigrants). We can use this when discussing voluntary conversions to technology in schools, we all have to have at least a few or even one "tech" classroom teacher who is already well ahead of the ballgame. He/She is likely to "infect" the rest of the population. I could pick out examples of each of these groups now if I look at the current snap-shot of technology in my school this year. I can also say that if I took a snap shot next fall that many people will have "evolved" along this process. I appreciate the view that this transitioning isn't easy or simple, and that most importantly any new technology has to be simple enough to make sense to all of these groups.

Former Class Participant: Finishing up the Tipping Point, I was actually struck by Gladwell’s comparison and contrasting of the idea of “contagion” versus “stickiness,” especially around his examples of nicotine use and suicide. For me, the word “contagion” immediately brings up a negative connotation, and so I began to think of this in terms of our school systems, looking at what “contagions” were apparent. I began to think of contagion and technology, (in the negative sense), and I immediately began to think of cyber-bullying. I don’t believe that cyber-bullying is a contagion yet, and luckily school districts have been combating this unfortunate phenomenon since it started, but I see this as a possibility for taking off. I also appreciated Gladwell’s use of Airwalk in terms of “stickiness” and downfall. When we think of stickiness and technology, (and those items that have unfortunately made a downward spiral) I think of items such as Sega, (remember Sega being a big hit, and then it just sort of slunk away?), and by contrast, the ipod. The last few chapters certainly have made me revisit those technology pieces from my past and those that I currently use and attempt to separate those that might possibly be a “contagion,” versus “stuck."

Marc Gilbertson: In finishing the book I liked the way Gladwell sums up his ideas by looking again at more specifics. (Although the Micronesian suicide epidemic is really tragic). One interesting exercise I've been trying to do is to look at good ideas that didn't take hold and certainly did not become epidemicswas it the idea itself that wasn't sticky or as Gladwell mentions when he writes about the fall of Airwalk, did people lose site of their mission, and vision so that what was once cool is no longer. Wiki's might be an excellent example of that---we have also started to abandon our collection of clickers as more teachers find other ways of doing quick assessments.

I also like Gladwell's reminder that change doesn't have to be overwhelming--that sometimes simple changes can make all the difference between success of an idea and failure---I am trying to keep the net gen norms in mind as I think about this. As many folks wrote, those norms are not perfect, but they are a reminder that some simple insight can make a big difference.