Disrupting Class: Crammed Computer Classrooms
The great myth for those of us that would like to see technology in the classroom is that there has been an absence of it over the past 10-20 years. There hasn’t. In fact, as Clayton Christensen discusses in the third chapter of his book, Disrupting Class, classrooms have actually enjoyed a great influx of computers over the past decade. The problem, as Christensen argues, is not a lack of computers but a difficulty knowing how to effectively use them.
Personal computers have been around for three decades. Schools are well populated with them – largely fulfilling the first two of President Clinton’s mandates.
The problem, according to Christensen, is that schools have used computers in ways that haven’t disrupted their teaching patterns, but rather endorsed them. His solution, as he outlines further, is to create a student-centric computer-classroom model that emphasizes the areas how the digital native student learns.
Taking an analogy from the investment world, Christensen argues that Merrill Lynch and Charles Schwab (the current economic crisis notwithstanding) took a hugely disruptive step by introducing online trading to their suite of options for the investing class. For decades, investors needed to contact a trader for buying, selling and trading stocks. The result was a higher level of commission for advisors working at these firms but lower levels of participation by the broader population. The vast majority of people were either intimidated by the large commitment a relationship with a trade might entail or did not feel Wall Street was accessible to some investor in a remote part of the country. Not to mention the technological restraints of making a call or quickly contacting a broker in the earlier days of the 20th century.
The parallels are striking with regard to today’s classroom environment and the use of technology. Rather than eschewing technology, Christensen argues that classrooms have been “crammed” with computers when they should have used disruption instead. The point being, and where the example of trading and the advent of technology become important, is that classrooms need to implement technology in a way that is different and advances learning.
By migrating instruction delivery to custom-configured vehicles able to meet individual students’ needs, schools can realize the dream of transforming the classroom from a monolithic one into a student-centric one where all students can learn in the ways their individual minds are wired to learn.
Very interesting stuff. Be sure to keep checking in as we continue to review this book!