by James Edward Allen, University of Southampton, UK.
When I began interviewing educators and learning designers using new educational technology (EdTech), I believed I had a good grasp of what being an early adopter meant. Based on Rogers’ (2003) well-established diffusion of innovations theory, early adopters are often leaders, influencers, and go-to figures within their institutions. But what I uncovered in the course of my research was a much more nuanced picture.
My interviewees weren’t in formal leadership roles. They weren’t managers or department heads. In fact, most wouldn’t describe themselves as specialists at all. Yet they were still the colleagues others turned to for advice, demonstrations, and support with new digital tools. They were pioneers, yes, but working outside of traditional hierarchies. We might need to rethink what we mean when we use the term “early adopter” especially in educational contexts.
I saw this firsthand in the way participants supported EdTech pilot software, tools that hadn’t yet been fully endorsed by the organisation. These people were problem-solvers and testers, juggling risk and innovation, often with very little formal support. And that’s where things became complicated.
When the tools don’t work
One major theme that emerged was the instability of the software itself. Features changed rapidly, interfaces shifted overnight as ‘beta changes’, and bugs were frequent. Some participants spoke about losing their sense of direction entirely, like chasing a moving target. At one point, one participant’s project fell apart completely when the software’s core functionality changed. Their work vanished, and so did the structure they had built around it.
This kind of product instability is something we rarely reflect on, but it has real consequences. We often talk about technical barriers in EdTech (like connectivity, training, access, etc.) but the unpredictable nature of early-stage software should be part of that conversation too. These early adopters weren’t just exploring, they were firefighting.
Trust issues and mixed messages
As expected, my participants relied heavily on technical support materials. But this is where things got tricky: they placed trust in documentation from the vendors, and when features changed quickly, sometimes the official documentation lagged behind. Coupled with inconsistencies in their institutions’ own internal guidance… The result? Conflicting advice and increasing confusion.
It became clear to me that early adopters exist in a unique support vacuum. They’re often too far ahead of the curve to benefit from formal training, yet too dependent on accurate information to move forward confidently without it. This raises an important point, that institutions must consider the role vendors play in shaping the support landscape, especially when internal resources can’t keep pace.
The hidden cost of innovation
Another insight is the invisible workload these early adopters carried. Much of their time spent experimenting, troubleshooting, and reworking came without formal recognition. Some of this rework, I suspect, stemmed from a lack of prior knowledge, not because these early adopters lacked capability, but because they weren’t positioned as technical experts.
This lack of acknowledgment from institutions that early adopters are technical experts matters. If we don’t take into account early adopters’ backgrounds and the uneven knowledge landscape they work within, we risk overburdening them and missing out on vital feedback for improving the rollout of new tools.
Looking forward
This experience has shifted how I think about innovation in education. Early adopters aren’t always the people with formal power. They’re often hidden in plain sight, quietly experimenting, failing, and trying again without a roadmap or a safety net.
If we want to truly support innovation, we need to pay attention to their realities: the tools that change too fast, the documentation that doesn’t keep up, the workload that isn’t recognised. And perhaps most importantly, we need to broaden our definitions of leadership, expertise, and what it means to be at the forefront of change.
James Edward Allen, Senior Learning Designer Team Lead at the University of Southampton, UK.
Editor’s note: Original article: Allen, J. E. (2025). Exploring technical support challenges faced by early adopters of EdTech. Studies in Technology Enhanced Learning, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.eaf4673e
