Essay Managing Innovation in English Language Education

Universidad Americana (UAM) Educational Innovation Student: Daniela Araya Granados

Managing Innovation in English Language Education Essay Basically to innovate we have to change something to get benefits. There are three phases in the changing process: initiation, implementation, and institutionalization. Initialization is the process where we decide that we are going to make a change. It is necessary to take into account the reasons of the innovation and the external agents that can affect the quality of the innovation. It is also important to recognize if the need of change is internal or external to the social system. We always have to ask ourselves if the idea of changing comes from a teacher, a group of teachers, a politician, etc. It is vital to know the motivation behind that idea. Teachers have to take into account if the idea is difficult to implement, if it is consistent with our values, and if the change and progress is noticeable. The most important is that the innovation meets the needs of the learners. We do not have to forget about the contextual factors, otherwise problems will arise. When teachers change the curriculum, it is very important to take into account if the objectives are going to threaten our cultural values. Moreover, we have to know the kind of support that teachers may need in order to accommodate to this change or innovation.

Implementation is where we put into practice our ideas of changing. There are many models of change and many associated strategies. For example, the centre-periphery, in which the prestige or power of the innovation centre influences/forces on the adoption of the innovation. Its associated strategies are the power-coercive and the rational empirical. In the power-coercive, legislation and other sanctions are used to force change to occur. In the rational-empirical, reason and other forms of evidence are used to show the need for change. Another model is the research, development and diffusion. This is like the centreperiphery model, but based more on a process of scientific, systematic workingout. The problem-solving model is different from the others because this innovation process centres on the ‘problem-owner’ rather than being controlled primarily by outside agencies/individuals. Its associated strategy is the normative-re-educative, which brings a change through collaborative problem solving. Other model is the social interaction. This emphasizes the role that social relations play in innovation. It adds the dimension of social context to the picture rather than constituting a further model. The linkage model is a ‘contingency’ view of innovation. This develops the idea that the best model to use will depend on the innovation situation in question. There are many innovation situation roles. The following categories are distinguished: Adopters: those who sanction the innovation. Implementers: those directly responsible for putting the innovation into practice. For example, teachers.

Clients: those who are intended to be the primary beneficiaries of the innovation. For example, the students. Suppliers: those responsible for providing the resources needed for the innovation. For example, materials writers. Entrepeneurs: those with overall responsibility for managing the implementation of the innovation. Resisters: those in opposition to the innovation. Some other skills needed for the change agent role are inter-personal skills, an ability to handle project politics, negotiations skills, team-building skills, and an understanding of budgeting and marketing. Moreover, change agents must be able to develop strategies. They need to understand persistence and change in human systems. Furthermore, they need to know how to test for commitment and change potential, how to build a power base, how to enlist cooperation, and how to overcome resistance. They need an overall conceptual scheme of things in which all of the relevant knowledge can cohere, a framework which guides strategic planning. There are some elements that a teacher must have to become a change agent. Some of these skills include the macro areas. The first of these is content, which is expertise in the “subject” or area of the change. The second is control, which centres on the techniques of management that a change agent requires such as budgeting, reporting, planning. The third area is process. This is the sorts of interpersonal and political skills required to manage change. A fourth area is

called Technology, which is related to technology management, particularly information technology. Moreover, the macro skills are needed such as skills in problem solving; ability to question and be critical; ability to see patterns; high cognitive orientation; analytical skills, and creativity. Institutionalization is the part where we realized if the change keeps going or disappears. A project will be sustainable only if it becomes a formal part of the institution in which it is based, and institutional development efforts must be made to ensure that this takes place. One of the conditions necessary for sustainability of ELE innovations is that they are designed and implemented in such a way that there is as thorough an understanding as possible of the factors likely to affect long-term take-up. It is important to distinguish between what is urgent and what is important in innovation development between the institutional development, the staff development, the resource development, and the program development. It is relevant to distinguish between primary and secondary innovations. The secondary innovations are the additional resources, such as teacher development programs, which are essential for ensuring the institutionalization of primary innovations (such as a new teaching approach). A significant factor in the achievement of innovation project institutionalization is the adequate provision of secondary innovations. There are a large number of accounts of attempts to change aspects of teaching methodology and teaching materials. Also, there are a lot of initiatives concerned with teacher training. However, innovations involving the use of information technology, institutional restructuring and changes in senior personnel in organizations are all under-represented. Teachers need to be realistic of what

they can achieved and innovations must be a part of every day because there is a lot that it is not known about effective innovation, and we should try to implemented.