Technology Scalability, Sustainability, and Vulnerability in Private International Schools

Abstract

Through two cases of innovation at private international schools in Hong Kong, this paper explores how differences in a school’s architectures for learning in terms of organizational structures and interactions among roles impact on the sustainability and scalability of technology-enhanced learning innovations in the school. Data came from stakeholder interviews, observations of stakeholder interactions and interaction artifacts. This paper applies and builds on a multi-level, multi-scale model of scalability, and identifies the compulsion, regularity and conflict generated during innovation interactions. The findings suggest that a visibly and systemically impactful innovation process involves school leadership, curriculum mapping and strategic planning, which influences the multiple levels and qualities of innovation interactions. Voluntary, ad-hoc, individual-level interactions were conducive for incidental scalability.