Volume LIII Number 5 September–October 2013

Contents Articles 3 Innovation Over the Edge: Introduction to Special Issue Gordon Rowland 8 Communications Jeremy Bailenson, Patrice Buzzanell, Stanley Deetz, David Tewksbury, Robert J. Thompson, & Joseph Turow; Barbara Bichelmeyer, MJ Bishop, & Diane Gayeski 16 Computer/Information Science Ken Birman, Jennifer Rexford, Tim Roughgarden, Margo Seltzer, Jim Spohrer, & Erik Stolterman; Greg Kearsley, Tiffany Koszalka, & Ton de Jong 25 Design Richard Buchanan, Nigel Cross, David Durling, Harold Nelson, Charles Owen, & Anna Valtonen; Elizabeth Boling, Andrew Gibbons, & Irene Visscher- Voerman 42 Organizational Science Madhu Beriwal, Stewart Clegg, Fred Collopy, Reuben McDaniel, Jr., Gareth Morgan, & Kathleen Sutcliffe; Roger Kaufman, Anthony Marker, & Neil Selwyn 53 Psychology Susan Blackmore, Nadya Fouad, Jerome Kagan, Stephen Kosslyn, Michael Posner, & Robert Ste rnberg; Marcy Driscoll, Xun Ge, & Patrick Parrish Volume LIII Number 5 64 Systems Science Alexander Christakis, Debora Hammond, Michael Jackson, September –October 20 13 Alexander Laszlo, Ian Mitroff, Dave Snowden, & Len Troncale; Alison Carr-Chellman, J. Michael Spector, About This Issue & Brent Wilson A special issue 78 Comments exploring innovation Peggy Ertmer, Denis Hlynka, David Hung, in educational technology Thomas Reeves, Alexander Romiszowski, via connections with & Ellen Rose related disciplines (201) 871–4007; Fax: (201) 871–4009; to order: (800) 952–2665 toll-free in the United States and Canada; e-mail: [email protected] m. Available by subscription only, one year for Educational Technology (ISSN: 0013–1962) is $259.00 in the United States, $289.00 Copyright © 2013 by Educational Technology elsewhere; three-year subscription, $679.00 and Publications, Inc., 700 Palisade Avenue, $749.00. Single issues are $45.00 each. Back Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632–0564. All volumes are $289.00 each (available from rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be 1964–2012). reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including The periodical title “Educational Technology” is a photocopying, recording, or by any information trademark registered in the U.S. Patent Office. storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Editor and Publisher, Readers are invited to submit articles, Reader Lawrence Lipsitz. Comments, and Point of View columns for possible publication. Address all material to Periodicals postage paid at Englewood, New Lawrence Lipsitz, Editor, Educational Technology Jersey, and at additional mailing offices. Magazine, Educational Technology Publications, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 700 Palisade Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, New Educational Technology Publications, Inc., 700 Jersey 07632–0564 (Fax: 201–871–4009; E-mail: Palisade Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey [email protected]). 07632–0564. USPS: 168–920. Educational Technology, published since 1961, is Published bi-monthly at 700 Palisade Avenue, an independent magazine covering all aspects of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632–0564; technology in education and training worldwide. Nevada; Barbara L. Martin, Consultant; Richard E. Mayer, University of California; M. David Merrill, Utah State University; William D. Milheim, Penn State University; Cathleen A. Norris, University of North Zane L. Berge, University of Maryland; Charles Texas; Susan Patrick, iNACOL; Marc Prensky, Blaschke, Education Turnkey Systems; Michael D. Bush, Spreegames.com; Thomas C. Reeves, University of Brigham Young University; Ward M. Cates, Lehigh Georgia; Charles M. Reigeluth, Indiana University; University; Clifton Chadwick, the British University in Alexander J. Romiszowski, Syracuse University; Ellen Dubai; Richard E. Clark, University of Southern Rose, University of New Brunswick, Canada; Gordon California; Betty Collis, University of Twente, The Rowland, Ithaca College; James D. Russell, Purdue Netherlands; Christopher Dede, Harvard University; University; Marlene Scardamalia, University of Toronto, Peggy A. Ertmer, Purdue University; Susan M. Fulgham, Canada; Michael F. Shaughnessy, Eastern New West Texas A & M University; Diane M. Gayeski, Ithaca Mexico University; Elliot Soloway, University of College; Andrew S. Gibbons, Brigham Young University; Michigan; J. Michael Spector, University of North Steven Hackbarth, New York City Public Schools; Texas; Dean R. Spitzer, Consultant; Kurt D. Squire, Wallace H. Hannum, University of North Carolina; University of Wisconsin; Guglielmo Trentin, Institute for Denis Hlynka, University of Manitoba, Canada; Paul Educational Technology, Italy; Jeroen J. G. van Hood, WestEd; David Hung, National Institute of Merriënboer, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands; Education, Singapore; Roger Kaufman, Florida State Jerry Willis, St. John Fisher College; Brent G. Wilson, University; Greg Kearsley, Consultant; Badrul H. Khan, University of Colorado; Zhiting Zhu, East China Normal McWeadon.com; Cleborne D. Maddux, University of University. moments are rare, and the single genius inventor Innovation Over working tirelessly in isolation is largely a myth. Instead, the history of innovation is one of collaboration and competition among those who stand out for their pas - the Edge sion and perseverance more than their genius, and of small steps—two forward, one back—patiently and intentionally building from known to unknown. This is the history of the light bulb, the telephone, the airplane, Introduction to the television, plastic, the telescope, the internal com - bustion engine and the automobile, the computer and the Internet, and on and on. Special Issue What stands out especially is a sense that innovation, and its cousins, imagination and creativity, are not the do - main of the few. They are processes that many can engage in, that particular approaches and techniques may facili - Gordon Rowland tate, and in which skill can be developed. In other words, we can generate the new, what Nelson and Stolterman Guest Editor (2012) call the expected unexpected , by intention, by putting ourselves in a position to do so. For example, we can combine “hard-earned expertise with…unen- cumbered and trustful receptivity” (Grudin, 1990, p. 11), Innovation: A key to success in an environment of and we can find avenues for improvement by becoming increasingly global competition, and thus a high priority more sensitive to the causes of failure (Petroski, 2001). in decisions on funding and policy. An urgent need One of the most frequently proposed techniques for in the face of imbalanced availability, production, and generating the new is to search for connections and consumption of resources. An essential ingredient to relationships beyond those previously known—seeing turning around educational systems that are by some a waffle iron and realizing how it might yield a lighter metrics performing poorly. The claims can feel exagger - running shoe (Bill Bowerman, then Nike), or a heavy book ated, but the challenges are real. supported by a birdcage and realizing the advantages of We in the educational technology field can respond steel framed buildings (William LeBaron Jenney). In The to the demand for innovation, at least in contexts that Act of Creation , Koestler (1964) called this “bisociation,” relate to education, training, and workplace perform - the combining of different frames of thought. We can see ance, with a rich collection of processes and strategies. it in the recognition of what new technologies afford— But underlying our efforts, and those of everyone who the Web making possible the custom ordering and direct attempts to innovate, is the fundamental challenge of sales of Dell computers, eBay’s online auction, and generating new ideas, new ways of doing something, Amazon’s online bookstore; and the combination of and new tools and technologies. Where do new ideas mass-produced moveable type, oil-based ink, and the come from? And how do they get from the first hint of agricultural screw press leading to Gutenberg’s printing a concept to an actual innovation? press. We can see it, also, in the expansion to applica- Sometimes the new happens by accident or serendip - tions not at all obvious at the outset, from industrial robots ity, like when spills resulted in vulcanized rubber and becoming entertainment in the Robocoaster, to what was Scotchgard, when a spring knocked off a shelf led to the originally designed purely for machine control becoming Slinky, or when something left out a bit too long led to central to the computer—the microprocessor. the discovery of penicillin and the creation of Kellogg’s This special issue is about making connections, as a Corn Flakes. Sometimes it takes a while to realize what means to generate new ideas, and as a trigger for innova - the potential from an accident might be, for example, the tion. It came about from a confluence of three things: a be - accidental creation of a low-tack adhesive leading to lief that there is indeed a pressing need for innovation in Post-It notes, and the unusual properties yielded when educational technology, and that this is not simply an arti - boric acid and silicone oil react, leading to Silly Putty. fact of our inability to escape the perceptions of our own What is clear, though, is that these accidents and time; a hypothesis that we have become rather insular, as the individual discoverers who recognized new possibil - most disciplines do, and that a rich source of new ideas ities in them are the exception. Grand A-Ha! or Eureka! may be found in deeper

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