EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS AND FADS: A SURVEY AND JOURNAL DIFFUSION PATTERNS

Innovations, faddism, and research impact on classroom practice are educator concerns addressed in this exploratory study. The recent popularity of brain laterality research implications for education was examined as a case study of such issues.;Journals as information sources on these innovations and fads were investigated. Diffusion research served as the conceptual framework. The diffusion model traces: "(1) the innovation. . . (2) which is communicated through certain channels (3) over time (4) through members of a social system" (Rogers, 1976, p. 207).;Journals were differentiated into practitioner and research types. An ERIC computer search provided journal article citations for the survey's top-ranked innovations and fads. Except for the case of computers in education, significant correlations were obtained for each development between the number of titles in the two journal types defined.;Resulting publication diffusion patterns were discussed, but no empirical basis for innovation-fad distinction was found. Rather, survey responses on the fine line between an innovation and fad in education were supported.;To assess how educators distinguish innovations from fads and rate recent developments in their field, a survey was developed and mailed to the Education faculties at three Oregon universities. Respondents cited time duration as the major innovation-fad distinguisher. Named as top-ranked innovations of the past decade were: computers in education, direct instruction, and mainstreaming the handicapped. Foremost identified fads were: right/left brain-based instruction, computers in education, and open-plan schools.;Other considerations discussed included: innovation types, possible innovation diffusion prediction models, and how such information on educational trends might be useful in the understanding and planning of curriculum change.