A review of factors that influence the diffusion of innovation when structuring a faculty training program

The purpose of this paper is identify those characteristics of instructional technology that may influence a faculty member's willingness to integrate it in his/her teaching by drawing upon the diffusion of innovation literature. It then presents the results of a study, conducted at a small liberal arts college, on the effectiveness of a faculty training program that was designed to encourage faculty to adopt a course management system in their classroom-based, undergraduate courses. The training program was based on an approach that considers those factors that influence the adoption rate of technology, specifically the course management system, Blackboard.