Change agency is a broad term describing the process, role, or paradigm associated with leading innovation or its diffusion in any context or setting—and less frequently, to refer to an organization counting this as its primary activity. It is also sometimes called change facilitation. Its practitioners are known as change agents or change facilitators. In the field of educational technology, it is involved in bringing to fruition large-scale strategies such as the 2010 National Educational Technology plan. This entry discusses the development of the concept of change agency and key lessons from research investigating the concept. It then discusses major contemporary directions in change agency and their implications for the practitioner.

The term change agent can be traced back to the 1950s, when it was coined ...