A recent question by one of my graduate students reveals that while the name or phrase may change or fall out of favor, but if the idea is good it will persist in a slightly different format.
In an online class meeting, I cautioned my graduate students on using the phrase “disruption” or “disruptive innovation” in their innovation proposals because disruption has a tendency to convey a negative connotation in an educational setting. Teachers don’t like disruptions to their classes.
The following question and response (which I do have permission to share) reveal the challenge of conveying meanings especially when some names or labels have the potential to be misunderstood.
Question
I do have a question about using the word “disruption”. As that is the name of this course, I understood it to be one of the qualifiers of our proposal. As a student, I now understand that disruption is not negative. Could it be part of my charge to change that rhetoric? Is there something more fundamentally wrong with the theory of disruption? Why did we read Clayton Christensen’s article in week one, if it is a term we should avoid? Do you agree with Christensen?
My Response
You do ask a really good question about disruptive innovation. If I recall my memory correctly Christensen coined the term disruptive technologies back in an article in 1996 and then he later referred to this as disruptive innovation in his 1997 book Innovator’s Dilemma. Many people now refer to Christensen’s ideas on how technology can disrupt the change process as the theory of disruptive innovation which I would argue is still quite well supported, but like any theory, there are supporters and detractors. I am on the supporter side, but I am also aware of the limitations. In a much earlier (2009-2010) version of this disruptive innovation course which was called a different name in a different institution, I had my students read Christensen’s book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World. Back in late 1990, I would have my students read the Innovator’s Dilemma, so I have been a longtime supporter of Christensen’s ideas. While I may have shifted the way I talk about disruptive innovation and more importantly ask my students to talk about disruptive innovation, I still believe we need to be aware of how it works and take advantage of the opportunities it offers.
The change in language is just a matter of applying the old adage/proverb…you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. People don’t want to be disrupted and it can often scare people, especially those who want to be safe. Over the past 10 years, we have seen a shift in our campuses toward the use of “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” and in 2015 when Lukianoff and Haidt argued in the Atlantic article The Coddling of the American Mind that overprotection is having a negative effect on university students I knew I needed to shift the language a bit in the course where I used the notion of disruptive innovation. I have been trying to bring about change in learning environments since the late 80’s so I have learned many valuable lessons. I learned that you have to take a very broad approach and consider many different factors and while the facts or data may be right many people are still afraid of the data and some just like things the way they are…they don’t want to be disrupted. In the post People who like this stuff…like this stuff I point to 4 key factors that you need to address to bring about change in the learning environment. I will be asking my student to apply these ideas in an upcoming course on organizational change.
To summarize, the adage you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar is very true, especially in an educational setting. Be careful how you use the term disruptions but still use the ideas. Remember we want to improve or change the world one learner at a time.
It took me a while to realize I could speed up this process if I didn’t scare my learners first.
I have been an avid reader from the time I learned how to read. In first grade, I read over 150 books and the next closest student read less than a dozen. I spent a lot of time in libraries over the years so books have been a big part of my life. Now with Kindle and Audible, I take my reading with me where everywhere I go and it has only gotten better. I often listen to a book a week and when you factor in all the other traditional reading I will read 60-80 books a year.
Over the past few years, I have been using Goodreads to track my reading but I am finding that I haven’t been as diligent in maintaining my book list as I should. I am often asked by students or other folks what books I would recommend and once I find out what they are really interested in learning I can point to an assortment of titles that I have read and can recommend.
The intention of the following list is to provide a place where I can point people to a book that they may find useful. I think the reason that I may not have started a list like this much earlier is that I always assumed that I should write a short annotation, review, or summary for each of the entries. I have decided to not do this because it would just take too long at this point. But, I do plan on doing a top 10 list for most of the categories at some point which would include a review or a minimum a detailed annotation. The books are separated into different categories and if the book is on this list I have read it (often more than once) and I recommend it. I will be adding the books on a regular basis and adding additional categories as necessary. For example, I haven’t included any of the books on parenting, theology, science, philosophy, and a few other areas—YET.
I haven’t ranked or rated the books in the categories below and for the most part, the most recent books I have read or reread are closer to the top of the list in each category. I must repeat I only put books on this list that I have read completely and would recommend. I have read so many more that obviously aren’t on this list.
PLEASE NOTE: All of the hyperlinks are from the Amazon Associates program, and if you choose to buy the book through the links below I’ll get a small commission that I use to buy and read more books from Amazon and Audible. When you read as much as I do the cost of all these books does add up so please consider helping me feed my reading habit. If you want to buy the book, but don’t want to use the link, feel free to search for it on Amazon or Audible (or anywhere).
There are key principles that will lead to effective teacher professional learning and ultimately an improvement to our learning environments and learners’ achievement.
Learning Outcomes
Course Outcome/Goal
Learners will effectively apply an innovative teaching practice by collaborating with colleagues to evaluate their impact on learners and design and model authentic professional learning (PL) activities that are active, have a significant duration, and are specific to their discipline.
Module Outcome/Goal
After completing this module, learners will:
explore and analyze why examining their thinking and talking with other teachers about the impact the learning environments that they have created is one of the most important things they can do to improve their learner’s achievement.
identify and access the challenges with existing PL efforts and identify and access the key principles that make up effective PL.
In this assignment, you are to view the video, Empowering the teacher technophobe: Kristin Daniels at TEDxBurnsvilleED, reflect on your reading of the Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability, The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development, and Review of The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth about Our Quest for Teacher Development then participate in a discussion with your colleagues. This discussion will also help you to verify or vet the ideas that you plan to use in the course’s assignments.
Empowering the teacher technophobe: Kristin Daniels at TEDxBurnsvilleED
Instructions
Participate in a class discussion in which you begin by addressing the following issues/questions:
Why is most PL so ineffective?
Which teacher type do you identify with the most? What about your colleagues at your organization?
The Mirage report indicates plenty of money is being spent on PL – where are your PL dollars being spent?
If effectively implemented, how will the 5 principles of PL make a difference? Consider the duration factor and how much time is really required for effective learning.
How open is your organization to alternative approaches to development?
How can you promote this alternative form of PL to your organization?
We had you read a review of the Mirage report – why is this important?
Why should you be familiar with Standards for Professional Learning and their Quick Reference Guide?
Please remember the list of questions are for your benefit and are intended to help you focus your thinking. We are not asking nor expect you to answer each question in your discussion–rather you should use these questions to help focus on how the insights gained through this discussion will help you to add another component to your innovation plan.
This assignment will be accessed as part of your course participation grade.
Week 1 Assignment Overview
In 5305 you were asked to review the literature on educational technology and disruptive innovation to look for trends and patterns that would help you to identify and propose an innovation project. In 5304 you created a plan for dealing with the cultural aspects of organizational change and also developed a 4DX plan as a foundation for your innovation plan implementation strategy. In 5313 you were asked to explore how creating significant learning environments would help you bring about a new culture of learning. In this course you will plan and develop a professional learning activity that will your colleagues participate in your innovation strategy.
From the assigned module readings, case studies, the weekly discussions, and from your supporting research you will create 3 separate but related resources:
A presentation that will point to and convince your administration and colleagues for the need for alternative PL. (due week 2);
A PL Planning Outline/Guideline that includes drafts of (due week 3):
Learners will identify technology innovations and embrace them as opportunities rather than challenges, recognizing that they can proactively use those changes as catalysts to enhance their organizations.
Module Outcome/Goal
After completing this module, learners will locate, evaluate, and compile web-based resources and identify experts and communities that will help them to promote current and future disruptive innovation opportunities.
Introduction Video
Change is a Process Not an Event
Communicating Your Ideas
Review the short post Are You An Innovative Educator? Here’s How to Find Out https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2016/03/are-you-innovative-educator-heres-how.html and see if you really are an innovative educator or if your ideas significant enough. Are you communicating your innovation ideas well enough? John Kotter in the video Communicating a Vision for Change warns that we must be very diligent to not under-communicate or change vision or message.
John Kotter – Communicating a Vision for Change
Instructions
Participate in a class discussion in which you begin by addressing the following issues/questions:
Are you really an innovative educator.
Are you creating a learning environment where your student’s work is meaningful and authentic? If not, why not?
Why is under communication such a significant mistake?
Why is it important to get communication out to people on a constant basis?
Consider Kotter’s admonition to use a wide assortment of technologies and vehicles to get the message out?
Please remember the list of questions are for your benefit and are intended to help you focus your thinking. We are not asking nor expect you to answer each question in your discussion–rather you should use these questions to help focus on how the insights gained through this discussion will help you to add another component to your innovation plan.
This assignment will be assessed as part of your participation grade.
Connecting and Communicating Your Ideas
Assignment Value: 150 points
Change is a constant we will face whether we choose to embrace it or not. Disruptive innovation will bring about opportunities for you to embrace change and proactively lead your organization in a positive direction, or—if you are simply reactive—can put you in a position of simply surviving the storms. The choice is yours.
Knowing what disruptive innovation is and what opportunities it provides are the first steps you need to take in order to be proactive and use change as a catalyst to enhance your organization. Learning lessons from leaders is one of the most effective ways to start your organization down the route of change—but it is only a start. Keeping abreast of the trends, research and literature will have to become part of your regular routine if you hope to be able to identify the next big thing on the horizon. Finally, as a change agent, you will need to continually educate those around you as to the opportunities that disruptive innovations bring.
As this course has progressed, you have been instructed to upload specific assignment information into a blog site. In this assignment, you will further develop your blog to use it as one of the tools that you will need to rely on to effectively communicate your plans and ideas for change.
Instructions
Using the video that you created as a starting point, continue shaping and molding a message to motivate and inspire your organization to take advantage of the opportunity that you have identified in your innovation planning. Since this assignment is part of the course outcome of identifying technology innovations, embracing them as opportunities rather than challenges, and recognizing that they can proactively be used as catalysts to enhance your learning environment and organization you will need to write a final blog post that will:
Articulate your vision for how you will continue to recognize and leverage the opportunities that innovations offer and how you can help transform your organization.
Provide an overview of your final innovation plan, connect and present your innovation proposal, literature review, implementation outline, video and all the other resources that you have created to provide encouragement for your organization to help move from reaction to pro-action.
Identify and annotate a list of books, articles, and resources you would like to read to help you and your organization take advantage of all the • opportunities that educational technology can offer.
Ensure that the content of your blog is easy to follow and that you have a good navigational structure to make it easy for your user find what they need.
Continue to experiment with different templates, plug-ins, and related technologies to enhance your site.
Submission Details:
This assignment must take the form of post or a page on your ePortfolio. Submit the full post/page URL using the provided document template: Assignment5-EDLD5305-Submission.docx Click for more options
Download the document template,
Post the URL into the space at the top of the document template,
Add your name to the document,
Rename the file with your name and assignment identifier
Upload the file to Blackboard by or before the deadline.
The School of Education is using this submission process in its online courses for two reasons:
We wish to provide you an offine copy of the assignment instructions that you can refer to.
We want to ensure there is a consistent and permanent record of assignment submissions that can efficiently be converted to hard copy.
Formats:
You can use a document, Google doc, presentation, video, infographic, blog post or any other format to present your ideas to your audience.
Use the APA format to cite your sources.
Use the assignment name, your last name and first initial (assignment name + last name + first initial) to label your assignment submission.
Learning from Leaders – What Lines are Others Taking
Following the example of a successful innovator can also get you past the most challenging obstacles and can save your organization time and money.
Course Outcome/Goal
Learners will identify technology innovations and embrace them as opportunities rather than challenges, recognizing that they can proactively use those changes as catalysts to enhance their organizations.
Module Outcome/Goal
After completing this module, you should be able to:
Highlight the opportunities technological innovation spawns.
Develop strategies to proactively use these opportunities to move your institution/districts toward developing active learning environments.
Introduction Video
The Lines That Went Before You
Readings
Refer to the links in the module assignment
Please note: To stay, as current as possible additional cases study examples will be identified and provided shortly before the start of each course.
Want to Innovate? Discussion
Consider the following two TED talks:
In Want to innovate? Become a “now-ist” Joi Ito the head of the MIT Media Lab skips the future predictions and instead shares a new approach to creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof that you have the right idea.
Joi Ito: Want to innovate? Become a “now-ist”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsjTVGIw4z8
In Click here– blended learning and the future of education Monique Markoff challenges us to consider that we have had computers and educational technology for a long time—yet we aren’t we at the point where we are using technology effectively to enhance the learning environment? What can we do about this?
Click here– blended learning and the future of education: Monique Markoff at TEDxIthacaCollege
Instructions
Participate in a class discussion, which you begin by addressing the following issues/questions.
What else can we learn from these examples of innovation?
Education is what people do to you and learning is what you do to yourself… need to learn is how to learn. Are you actually practicing this in your learning environment? Why or why not?
Ito challenges us to: “Stop this notion that you need to plan everything, you need to stock everything you need be so prepared and focus and being connected, always learning fully aware and super present. I don’t like the word futurist I think with we should be “Now ists”. If you are not a Now ist, what is holding you back?
Are you flexible? Is your school flexible enough to allow teachers to be innovative and to experiment blended learning or other ways to use technology to enhance learning?
Are you committed to have kids really use technology? Are your colleagues able to commit to use the technology?
Are you able to able to create the necessary learning environment where students are giving the choice, ownership, and voice through authentic projects?
Please remember the list of questions are for your benefit and are intended to help you focus your thinking. We are not asking nor expect you to answer each question in your discussion–rather you should use these questions to help focus on how the insights gained through this discussion will help you to add another component to your innovation plan.
This discussion will be assessed as part of your participation grade.
Learning from Leaders
Assignment Value: 75 points
In this assignment, you will review examples(s) of organizations who have used disruptive innovation as a catalyst to bring change to their organizations and gain insights and ideas on how to develop an innovation plan or proposal and to also implement a innovation initiative or strategy in your organization.
Since 2008, Abilene Christian University (ACU) has been recognized nationally as a visionary leader in campus-wide exploration and 1-to-1 deployment of iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. Notice how ACU has leveraged mobile technology to bring about transformative change in this Southwest Texas university campus.
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MTLI) is one of the longest running best documented 1 to 1 initiatives running in North America. The 10 years of experience with the MTLI provides perspective that we can all learn from.
Instructions
Step 1
As a starting point in your review, consider the significance of what ACU refers to as “Video Vision Casting.” One could argue that the spark that started the process at ACU is the Connected Movie produced in 2007, even before Apple had announced the 3G iPhone. Unfortunately, the video is longer then it could be by today’s Youtube standards so overlook the length and look to the vision that the video creates.
Review the following videos that explain how ACU leveraged the disruptive power of the iPhone and iPad as a catalyst for the change in learning on their campus:
Regardless of your interest in mobile learning, 1 to 1, blended learning, or other technology-focused initiative it is always a good idea to keep the right perspective that it isn’t just about the technology it is about the learning. Alan November does a wonderful job reminding us of this in his article:
These case studies listed above are just a few of many examples of how other organizations have implemented technology to enhance learning. Feel free to use other examples in your planning process.
Step 2
From your review of the sites and case studies in Step 1 and from using the ideas gleaned from your literature review, develop an implementation outline for your innovation plan. At this point in your studies, we do not expect you to have fully detailed and complete report or implementation plan. You do have enough information to develop an implementation outline that provides significant details for the first year of your plan and then a more general or broad overview of the following months or year(s). You will be revisiting and revising this implementation outline in EDLD 5304 and again in other courses in the DLL program.
While the format of the implementation outline is up to you keep in mind that you will be posting this plan to your ePortflio for peer review so this plan MUST be submitted as a link from your ePortfolio. Also, keep in mind that the most important aspect of implementation outline is to identify who your audience will be and why and how they will use the material.
Step 3
Add your outline to your blog site for peer review.
Visit at least three other classmates sites and review their outlines.
Peer Review Process
If you are the first person to visit a classmates site preface your review with the heading “Peer Review 1”, if you are the second, preface your review with the heading “Peer Review 2” and so on. Everyone must follow this heading process so that we can ensure that all outlines get reviewed.
Each outline should be reviewed by at least three different classmates, so if you come on a site that already has three reviews move onto another site and offer your feedback. Feel free to visit all your classmates sites and offer comments and to get ideas for your own outlines.
Your review should take the form of encouragement, questions, suggestions, recommendations and other forms of positive feedback. If you notice issues with an outline ask questions rather than give criticism. All reviews must be completed by midnight on the Wednesday of the following week.
Step 4
Revise your implementation outline based on the comments from your peers.
Include links to your innovation plan and your literature review so that we can see how these components of your change strategy fit together.
Submit the completed implementation outline by 11:59 PM CST on Sunday of the fourth week of the course.
Submission Details:
This assignment MUST be submitted as a link from your ePortfolio so include the assignment URL in the provided document template: Assignment3-EDLD5305-Submission.docx Click for more options
Download the document template,
Post the URL into the space at the top of the document template,
Add your name to the document,
Rename the file with your name and assignment identifier
Upload the file to Blackboard by or before the deadline.
If your assignment does take the form of a Word or Pages document then you can simply paste the content into the document template and complete the assignment submission as outlined above.
The School of Education is using this submission process in its online courses for two reasons:
We wish to provide you an offline copy of the assignment instructions that you can refer to.
We want to ensure there is a consistent and permanent record of assignment submissions that can efficiently be converted to hard copy.
Formats:
While the format of the implementation outline is up to you keep in mind that you will be posting this plan to your ePortflio for peer review so this plan MUST be submitted as a link from your ePortfolio..
Use the APA format to cite your sources.
Use the assignment name, your last name and first initial (assignment name + last name + first initial) to label your assignment submission.
Add to ePortfolio:
Since this assignment is part of the course outcome of identifying technology innovations, embracing them as opportunities rather than challenges, and recognizing that they can proactively be used as catalysts to enhance your learning environment and organization you will also need to add this to your ePortfolio. In the final module you will be required to consolidate all the course assignments into a cohesive section on your ePortfolio, so we recommend that you add this to your ePortfolio as you go along rather than wait until the end.
