Exploring technical support challenges faced by early adopters of EdTech

Novel education technology is piloted in higher education institutions through software projects, led by early adopters. These projects enable early adopters to explore functionality, as they create interactive and sustainable learning resources. However, the current literature on early adopters has been criticised for oversimplifying complex practitioner activity, does not consider rapid software changes, or account for vendor support of technical information. This article examines the challenges navigated by early adopters at a UK Russell Group university. It aims to highlight the role of prior knowledge and experience, product instability, and vendor support in providing technical information. Cultural Historical Activity Theory is used as the theoretical framework to document the activity system, generate an activity system diagram, and identify contradictions. Findings from semi-structured interviews with four participants reveal five contradictions: Unreliable instruments, Distrusting instruments, Conflicting guidance, Hidden workload allocation, and Unnecessary rework. This paper contributes to the literature by expanding the defining scope of early adopters, the recognition of product instability to obstacles in technology adoption, and a call for further research into vendor support of technical information.Keywords: cultural historical activity theory; technical support; early adopters; edtech; software pilots; sustainabilityPart of the Special Issue Activity theory in technology enhanced learning research (part 2) <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.a88579e2>