Like many districts across the country, the District that I work with is striving to encourage technology innovation and adoption among its faculty and student users.  Just recently we put Smartboards in several of our classrooms and are showcasing/sharing best practices for how they can be used to integrate web-based content and services into the curriculum.  Of course, installing Smartboards is a district-sanctioned, district-funded technology initative; and one that we believe will encourage innovation in the classroom.  However, it got me thinking….

Does the best innovation come from the top down or from the bottom up?  Should we be encouraging teachers to innovate on their own and let the best practices bubble up to be shared with their peers?  If so, what demands does this put on the technology department for support - help desk, technology, and/or security?  What does this mean for students who now have three different teachers using three different blogging tools located at three different URL’s?  Is this innovation or chaos?

On the other hand, if teachers have to wait until the district provides them with approved technology (software and/or hardware), then how can we blame them for the lack of technology innovation???  Often, when teachers aren’t provided with the tools they need, they purchase them on their own or take advantage of a free service on the internet that’s available outside of the district’s network.  Should this behavior be applauded or chastised?

I’m not sure what the right answer is.  I’ve actually been in educational environments that have taken one approach or the other.  As the person who - at that time - was in charge of training and support, I can tell you that top-down is easier; but it requires buy-in from the teachers and it requires the district to make it a priority.  And making it a priority means getting it into the strategic plan and budgeting appropriately for the approrpriate  software, hardware, and training.

So back to my original question.  Does the best innovation come from the top down or from the bottom up?