DIVERSE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION MEDELS
3.3 Educational Innovation
Educational innovation refers to new action, creation, or development and adaptation from something that leads to more efficient education or better instructional activity management and also causing learners to gain better academic achievement. Educational innovation also constitutes learning motivation and the best efficiency and effectiveness for learners (Monsit Sitthisomboon, 2014: 2).
Educational innovation has been significant to learners for a long time. It can be said that schools have to develop new models or approaches that are conducive to the achievement of teaching and learning processes. According to the concept of education reform, innovation is important to the constant educational system improvement and enhancement of learning achievement, leading to equality, cost- efficiency and students’ satisfaction (OECD, 2012). Innovation in educational institutes is inevitable because mostly they normally apply technologies to their regular operations and accordingly, educational institutes all over the world have their own educational innovations in order to expand their services, to improve their performances and to reduce costs of educational provision (Westera, 2004).
Sukanya Chaemchoy (2012: 118) mentioned about the concept of innovations for educational institute management in the 21st century, the era of the knowledge- based economy, in which the factors of production and competition are changing to more intangible factors. As a result, innovation development is recognized as a way that helps all organizations to build a strong advantage and to become innovative organizations with the targets of survival, growth and sustainable competitive competency. The tendency of changes in such an innovation era is consistent with the concept of the National Education Act B.E. 2542 and Amendments (No.2) B.E. 2544, Chapter 9 Technologies for Education, which stipulated that the state shall promote and support the production and refinement of text books, reference books, academic books, publications, materials, and other technologies for education through acceleration of production capacity, provision of financial subsidy for production and
incentives for producers and development of educational technologies. Therefore, it is necessary that educational institutes have to develop innovations or apply innovations to develop educational quality in educational institutes. Leaders or directors of educational institutes have to apply different creative thinking skills or innovation thinking skills which are the basics for generating organizational innovations.
Innovative leaders will apply innovations to lead their organizations creatively which requires the cooperation of teachers and educational personnel to attain good outcomes, which is the quality of learners, by using innovations such as new concepts, methods, media, materials, equipment, and technologies . This will cause educational institutes to become an innovative organization.
Wichit Sukhathorn; Worachai Yaowapanee; Weerawan Jongjit Sirijirakan and Panjit Longpradit (2556: 54) stated that the educational management of educational institutes currently aims to develop new innovations in order to enhance instructional efficiency and move forward to the era of quality assurance, especially in the form of e-Learning. It is a new educational innovation by using electronic or digital technology to present the instruction and education, educational services and educational management in order to meet the requirements of seamless educational management regardless of time and boundaries. E-Learning systems can be presented in various ways such as, content transmission through electronic devices, internet network or television and satellite signals. The contents of information may be in the form of computer-assisted instruction, on-line learning, video on-demand and web- based instruction.
Tobin (2012) defines educational innovation as the conception, early adoption and implementation of significant ways of doing things perceived to be innovative and are executed in order to improve schooling and education as far as possible. The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) defined innovation as the implementation of a new product or significantly improved product, or process, a new organizational method or a new marketing method. Al-Husseini and Elbeltagi (2012) indicated that process innovation and product innovation are significant to educational institutes since innovations enable educational institutes to adapt and timely respond to changes of the environment. In terms of the education sector, product innovation refers to equipment relating to instruction, curriculum, and research projects, whereas
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process innovation is a new instructional method and new approach of educational management.
Patterson (2011) studied educational innovation and defined product innovation as a new model of instructional curriculum or a newly developed curriculum, new educational software, etc. In addition, Patterson (2011) also defined process innovation as a new concept of improving and developing the production of knowledge or instructional method, including changes in techniques, equipment and/or software as well as any educational improvement. In terms of education, new organizational innovation refers to the adoption of new management approaches to enhance performances of teachers or new management models and methods for improving the management of schools.
Regarding the marketing innovation, in terms of the business sector, it is the implementation of a new marketing methods involving significant changes in product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing. However, in terms of the education sector, marketing innovation refers to a new way of pricing the education services or a new admission strategy.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) quoted in Wong-Kam (2012) compared 4 types of innovation to educational innovation as follows:
1) Product innovation is a product or service that is new or significantly improved. In terms of education, this product innovation refers to new curriculum or new educational software.
2) Process innovation or the implementation of a new or significantly improved production or delivery method can refer to educational innovation as the development of instructional methods.
3) Marketing innovation, such as new marketing methods, can refer to educational innovations as a new approach in tuition fee pricing, a new education service and a different admission strategy.
4) Organizational innovation involves a new organizational method. It can be explained in the view of education as a new organization of work between teachers and directors or a new approach to educational management.