Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory sorts people into five groups by how readily they take on something new: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. In WanderlustEDU, Dr. Micah Shippee frames that same journey through four attributes every educator carries — Motivation, Environment, Skills, and Knowledge — and argues that growth starts with recognizing which adopter pattern is already yours.
From the pages of WanderlustEDU
The Five Adopter Types
Haven’t taken the quiz yet? Find out which one describes you.
Adopter Type 1 of 5
Innovator
Innovators are interested in new ideas from outside of the established local social system. They’re able to understand and apply complex technical knowledge, and they can cope with a high degree of uncertainty about an innovation at the time of adoption. Innovators are risk takers — they learn from failure rather than being stopped by it.
WanderlustEDU growth edge: Environment. Build spaces, routines, and support structures sturdy enough to hold your experiments, so your boldest ideas survive contact with a real classroom.
Adopter Type 2 of 5
Early Adopter
Early Adopters are invested and respected in the local school community. They’re cautious, and they want their efforts informed by research, if not best practices. Early Adopters aren’t known for risk taking, but they’ve earned a reputation for well-thought-out execution of emergent technology — change agents seek them out as a local, trusted voice for speeding the adoption of innovation.
WanderlustEDU growth edge: Skills. Pair good judgment with structured strategies for piloting ideas, so influence turns into lasting change, not just early buzz.
Adopter Type 3 of 5
Early Majority
The Early Majority adopt just before the average person, making them an important link in seeing the adoption process successfully take off. They want to employ best practices based on the experiences of Innovators and Early Adopters — they’ll make the necessary changes, but they don’t want to go first.
WanderlustEDU growth edge: Knowledge. Deepen understanding of why an innovation works, not just that it works, so careful adoption becomes genuine expertise others can lean on.
Adopter Type 4 of 5
Late Majority
The Late Majority adopts just after the Early Majority, sometimes due to economic pressure, peer pressure, or both. They need to see an innovation already succeeding before they adopt it. You might call the Late Majority our “team players,” since they’re willing to join the other adopters once they realize it’s for the greater good — they may not be especially excited about technology of any particular kind, but they make the change for the benefit of their school community.
WanderlustEDU growth edge: Motivation. Find a reason to engage with change a little earlier, rather than waiting for peer pressure to make the decision.
Adopter Type 5 of 5
Laggard
Laggards are near-isolates in the school community. Their point of reference is past practice and past perceived successes, and they need to be positively certain a new idea won’t fail before they can adopt it — they’re concerned about being blamed if the innovation fails to yield expected results.
WanderlustEDU growth edge: All four pillars at once — Motivation, Environment, Skills, and Knowledge — working together to turn healthy skepticism into intentional, well-timed growth.
No single adopter type is “the good one” — WanderlustEDU makes the case that schools need all five working together. The goal isn’t to become an Innovator if you’re not one; it’s to recognize your own pattern, and grow the attribute — Motivation, Environment, Skills, or Knowledge — that will carry you furthest from here.
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