?
The conceptual framework of shock innovation in education: non-diffusive spread of innovations triggered with the pandemic
The paper provides insights on the transformation process in educationtriggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggests a new theoretical concept ofshock innovation. Based on interviews with school administrators and teachers (N=15), we conceptualized the transition to distance learning as an innovation, andcompared its characteristics with the typical spread of innovations. We use Rogers’diffusion of innovations theory to construct a three-tiered model that describes theuniversal spread of innovations in education. The analysis suggests that thetransition to emergency remote teaching is not a‘diffusion spread’but a‘shockspread’as: (1) awareness was synchronized with implementation, removing thepersuasion and decision steps; (2) the boundaries between‘innovators’and‘laggards’were erased; (3) schools made the transition on an equal basis with otherindustries.