A book that has received a lot of hype lately is Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen and others. I found the book to be extremely interesting, as the authors predict that online learning will expand to encompass 50% of the courses taught in K-12 education by 2019, and that social media (like Web 2.0 applications) will evolve to allow students to teach each other – disrupting the traditional models of school, teaching, and education.

While these are bold claims, some of their theories have merit. I’ll list them here today, and offer my own critiques in subsequent posts. The authors suggest 5 major points of discussion:

1. Children learn in different ways, as evidence by Howard Gardner’s work in multiple intelligences.
2. Disruptive innovations gain a foothold and revolutionize a market because they target a niche audience who normally could not consume a good.
3. Online learning is a disruptive technology because it often targets students with special needs. For example, students take online courses when their own schools do no offer a course (i.e. AP classes). Or students enroll in cyber charter schools because they have special needs: learning needs, behavioral needs, parents who want to have more involvement in their children’s learning, life situations such as competitive sports players etc. etc. These unique student populations are “non-consumers” because the alternative for them is a really inferior educational experience, or no education.
4. Computers in schools are not disruptive technology because they have been utilized to marginally “improve” an existing education structure. Larry Cuban has done amazing work documenting how computers are merely used as workbooks, supplemental activities, or replacements for things teachers already do. As a result computers add tremendous cost without adding much value in terms of educational benefit.
5. Computers “can” be a disruptive innovation, when used to create new learning situations. For example, social media platforms (i.e. Youtube, Facebook, eBay and infinite others popping up everyday) are disruptive innovations. Why? Because they open up new avenues for non-consumers. Before YouTube and home-video editing software, it was difficult for the normal joe schmoe to create and publish video. Now the barriers have been reduced, as non-consumers can more easily participate in media creation. Social media has similar potential for education. For instance, imagine students creating ways to teach each other some difficult topic, and sharing it on a web-based platform. The avenues for learning are increased, student no longer only need to rely on their immediate teacher or parent for learning assistance.