The Early Majority:
Rodger's Diffusion of Innovation Theory suggests that people are divided into five categories in which they go about understanding new technology within learning design. "The five categories of adopters are innovators, early adopters, early majorities, late majorities, and laggards" (ASU, 2024).
Upon reflecting and learning about the different categories of adopters, I consider myself part of the early majority of adopters. Today, I want to share my perspective as a learning designer and how I make decisions that align with where I stand on Rodger's Diffusion of Innovation Theory bell curve. I will then reflect on the possible changes to the curves impacting me as I learn more about learning design and the steps I need to continue learning more as an upcoming learning designer.
What is the Early Majority?
First, let's reflect on what it means to be part of the Early Majority group of adopters. "These people are seldom leaders, but adopt new ideas well before the average person" (Andrew, 2022). When thinking about where I stood on the bell curve, my immediate thought is how I have acted during previous jobs and working with peers on previous design projects. As a former online kindergarten teacher who is considered to be between a millennial and Gen Z, one thing that was apparent to me when I started my first teaching job was how much technology experience I had compared to some of the older people I worked with. For context, during my high school and undergraduate program, I took 70% of my classes fully online, and when COVID-19 hit, I even did half of my student teaching fully online and even worked a job where I would help students with their digital learning days. When doing my first teaching job, I already had years of working online, growing up with technology, and teaching online compared to some of the other staff I worked with. Because of this experience, people would look to me for advice and help with teaching their class because of how quickly I could learn how to use a new program and the previous experience I had. As a result, I took many leadership positions within my team and, in some cases, would do schoolwide training for other staff on some of the newer technology programs. I have also had leadership roles while working with peers on previous design projects. I tend to be organized and a great facilitator on projects to make sure things get done on time and that everyone understands their role early on so that the project will be done on time. When thinking about how this relates to the early majority group of Rodgers Theory, my leadership skills and openness to new technology have always been naturally easy for me to do, usually before others.
How Does Being Part of the Early Majority Impact Learning Design?
Next, now that you can understand a little bit about why I consider myself part of the Early Majority, I want to reflect on how this impacts my approach to learning design and technology. Since people of the early majority are natural-born learners, I believe this impacts how I approach projects. Andrew states, "In the early majority, they need more time to feel comfortable with the technology before making a purchase" (Andrew, 2022). As I mentioned, I have had opportunities to train others on new technology platforms in my previous jobs. However, one thing that I feel is one of the most important things is to try out the technology and do research based on theory and development to ensure that the technology program will be good for its users. I am very big on ensuring that the product is tested before just thinking the product is amazing and sharing without real research. I love using test groups and getting feedback from other SMEs before I implement and share something. I have done this in the past, such as trying out a new technology piece with my students and then connecting with other staff to try the technology in their classroom. That way, I can not only see how it impacted the students but how it would impact other people and other kinds of students so that I have a detailed understanding before I really implement the technology. However, although I want to feel comfortable with the technology first, I am usually the one who comes to my team with the idea of using the technology before many of my peers do because I constantly love to try new things.
Changes in the Bell Curve
Though, as it stands, I am very much a part of the early majority on the bell curve for Rodger's Diffusion of Innovation Theory. I do think in the future, with how much I love to try new things, eventually, I might be part of the innovator's group. Andrew states, These people are eager to be the first to try out an innovative item" (Andrew, 2022). Innovators also enjoy "risk-taking, are adventurous, and like being on the cutting edge" (Rare, 2015). I think that with technology changing so much if you aren't open to taking a risk, you are limiting the potential in learning design. I would like to build up my confidence with risk-taking and being more adventurous through learning more about learning design theory and how I can implement that in my design. I would also like to build confidence by researching new and upcoming technology programs so that I can be ahead of upcoming changes in technology so that I can be ahead of new technology even more than I am. I would also like to engage in more leadership roles to build up my confidence more with share new ideas with my peers with more ease.
As an upcoming learning designer, understanding that I am currently part of the Early Majority group on the bell curve will be vital to how I approach projects in the future as I continue my graduate program. I do think that knowing myself now and where I want to be on the bell curve as an innovator in the future will be things I want to continue to build confidence in throughout my graduate program and when I eventually land my first learning design job in the future.
References:
Andrew Bloomenthal. (2022). Early Majority. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/early-majority.asp
ASU. (2024). Login. Asu.edu. https://canvas.asu.edu/courses/202627/pages/u1-adoption-of-emergent-technologies?module_item_id=14755838
Rare. (2015). Diffusion of Innovation Theory : The Adoption Curve [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QnfWhtujPA
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