Disrupting Class, Expanded Edition: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns [Hardcover]

I bought this book in the process of researching the future of education for a graduate school and found myself taking notes as I went along. The book is structured in an easy to read fashion, and is a fairly short read, but it is packed with great information. As it says on the cover it revolves on Clayton Christensen's theories on Disruptive Innovation. It focuses on education from grades K-12.

Disruptive Innovation in a nutshell, is an innovation that brings improvements that are different than those traditionally used in measuring the quality of a product in a specific industry. Christensen has found that this kind of innovation has a good chance of being overlooked by the incumbent industry leaders because it is deficient in the areas the industry leaders view as key. And because technology generally develops faster than the demand of the consumers, this new product soon "catches up" to consumers, and also provides additional advantages. An example is the MP3 player, which provided advantages that old music systems did not (namely storage) but initially did not have the sound quality to draw those who were listening on CD players and the like (industry leaders at the time were looking at metrics like sound quality to consider products.)

When it comes to education, Christensen and the other authors posit that "student-centric education", made possible through technology, fits the model of disruptive innovation. They take the time to illustrate how such education is developing, illustrate the differences between the school system and standard businesses (in disruptive innovation) and make some predictions about the future of education. They also wrap up the book by telling how one can utilize such tools as parents or students, and provide insight for educators on how to implement different elements. The book also provides references to a ton of useful material.

As can be seen I rated the book 5 stars and think it is a fabulous resource.

Added 8/28/11

For those who want more information, here's a chapter summary:

Chapter 1: Students learn in different ways. Customizing education to allow students to learn in the way they learn best will improve intrinsic motivation. Need a student-centered approach. Technology is an important vehicle towards making this happen.

Chapter 2: Disruptive innovation shows us that schools in the US have improved, while standards of success have shifted. This provides confidence that changes can be made. Chapter provides overview on disruptive innovation.

Chapter 3: How can we change from the "interdependent curricular architecture" of most schools to a "modular, student-centric" approach? How do we move from one education for all to education for each individual? Further why have schools, which have spent $60 billion placing computers in classrooms not done this yet? Answer to this question is that they have looked to incorporate computers into their existing model instead of allowing it to develop in a new model.

Chapter 4: How can it then be implemented? Have it compete against "non-consumption" where the alternative is to do nothing at all. Current examples are included in this chapter.

Chapter 5: Disruption has 2 stages. Some changes must also be made outside the public school classroom. Disruption and student-centric technology must first solve problems outside of the classroom. Educated guesses on what that may look like are included in this chapter.

Chapter 6: Focus on pre-school years.

Chapter 7: Standard research approach in colleges has not provided clear guidance to educators. Chapter focuses on ways education research can improve predictability in education.

Chapter 8: Managerial toolkit to those working on changing.

Chapter 9: Which teams are appropriate for which changes? Also, a new way to visualize the role of chartered schools.

Christensen, Horn, and Johnson have written a short but compelling book that challenges US Education
to address the needs of all its students. Starting with the premise that students have a number of
different learning styles, they argue that the school of the future can and should deliver a customized
education to every individual.

As difficult as that may sound, they see a way to achieve it: Tap into an exploding body of self-paced,
online presentations. They see these presentations as the work of parents, teachers, and other students,
who will develop them as a way to cement their own learning and contribute to the wider world.
In this model, "disruptive" to the status quo, teachers become guides and tutors, who get to know each
of their students, select material appropriate for their learning styles, and help them overcome obstacles.

The authors' vision attempts to address the issue they see as most responsible for student failure:
lack of intrinsic motivation. (They make quick but reasonably persuasive arguments that most other
alleged causes of school problems don't hold up under scrutiny.) They cite research saying that most
students will engage with schooling if they experience real success (not just praise for its own sake),
and get to spend time with their friends. Frequent online testing, allowing students to be challenged but
to demonstrate mastery frequently, is just what's needed to help pupils feel the sense of accomplishment
that will keep them moving forward.

The book is, in effect, an extension of Christensen's "Innovator's" series, which explore his theories of
how new products and services rise in the market. In education, the authors argue, people who share
their vision of the future should be developing solutions for underserved populations (special ed,
Advanced Placement students, students with learning styles that don't match those in the textbooks, etc.).
They caution against trying to implement this vision by confronting school boards and/or unions head-on.
(They provide a model describing how decisions can be made when people disagree on goals or
recommended approaches. )

The text shows its origins in the world of business. Examples of companies and markets abound,
providing analogies the authors believe should inform thinking about education. An ambitious work,
it tries to give pithy advice to all constituencies: students, teachers, parents, administrators, philanthropists,
software developers, college teachers of Education, and education researchers. The result is sometimes
a bit scattered, and probably speaks more to a business owner interested in education than to actual educators.

The overall impact is thought-provoking and even inspiring, despite predictions that can seem overly bold.

I have to be honest I was searching on material for disruptive technology and found this book. I purchased it not realizing that its focus was education and how disruptive technology can help improve education in the USA.

The author uses typical HBR style writing so it is familiar in form and the language it uses is simple to understand. New topics are thoroughly covered and when introduced are given good background. It felt like some ideas were hashed over more than once in the book, but that may have been me remembering content from another source.

So the book was really good. Topic was really good. How good? Well I think I am going to take my copy to my local school supernatant and see if he can find some value in this book too. I have had a ton of ideas and am working to implement them now.

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