The dance of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education: case of an award-winning program

This case study investigated the strategies, challenges, and leadership requirements for sustaining technology innovations in Iowa State University's (ISU's) teacher education program (TEP). In 1999, ISU's TEP was granted 1.4 million dollars to renew pedagogy and practice in teacher education with technology. A qualitative case study approach was used to describe and analyze the process of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education. Activity Theory Framework (ATF) and Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Theory (R'DIT) were complementary theoretical lenses used to analyze this case study. Thirteen participants from five constituencies supporting teacher education were interviewed. Interview data were triangulated with evidence from document analysis and on-site observations carried out by the researcher.;Three major strategies for sustaining technology were identified from this study: (1) educating and supporting in-service teachers and teacher educators in using and integrating technology in their courses, through mentoring, course and curricular redesign, as well as co-curricular activities; (2) collaborative teamwork and partnerships among stakeholders across the five constituencies supporting teacher education; and (3) strong support from key personnel including administrators and master teachers.;Five major challenges also were identified as impacting the process of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education. They were time and funding, people, lack of resources, lack of support, and policy changes. These challenges mirrored the challenges found in the literature.;Finally, several characteristics of leaders capable of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education were identified. These characteristics were a "goodness of fit" with the literature reviewed on leadership and included being knowledgeable about technology and teacher education, visionary-building a shared vision, a systems thinker capable of seeing the big picture, a team player and team learner, strong communicator, good listener, ethos builder paying attention to organization climate and culture, "thick-skinned" as well as paying attention to community-building efforts, including formal and informal celebrations. The results of this in-depth case study provides valuable information not present in the literature on sustainability, with extensive detail of what makes an award-winning teacher education program succeed at sustaining technology innovations and it sets the stage for the development of an ecological model for sustainability.