Source: Ian Jukes
Archives For disruptive
I regularly monitor a variety of sources that report on advances in learning technologies and I try to compare the real progression in educational technology to the hype that is offered through the local, regional and national press. When I read the Globe and Mail article What universities are doing to create a more exciting learning experience I had mixed emotions.
On the one hand it is exciting to see that institutions like Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University, Queen’s University and many others in Canada are finally implementing some well researched and established best practices in learning spaces. On the other hand referring to brightly painted and decorated rooms, round tables equipped for laptops, video conferencing and integrated projector controls; whiteboards mounted on the walls; portable collaborative stations; flexible room configurations and well designed informal learning spaces as turning “everything upside down” or as “hugely disruptive” is frustrating because these claims are excessive and do not accurately reflect the fact that innovative use of learning spaces has been happening for the past fifteen plus years.
If you consider the Open Classroom/School movement that started in the late 70’s we have over forty years of research in the use of flexible learning spaces to draw upon. Rather than go that far back all we need to do is refer to the seminal and authoritative work Learning Spaces that was edited by the President of EDUCAUSE Diana G. Oblinger. Learning Spaces offers thirteen chapters of best practices and principles followed by another thirty chapters of case studies. Back in 2006 at Lethbridge College our Learning Spaces & Classroom Standards committee used this book as one of several foundational works for how the College should create active and dynamic learning spaces that used technology to enhance learning. If you put this discussion on Learning Spaces into the context of Gartner’s Hype Cycle of Innovation you should recognize that we are well into the Plateau of Productivity.
I really do not intend to be critical of the wonderful improvements that are happening to the learning spaces discussed in the article; we should applaud these institutions for finally implemented well established ideas. I am just calling into question the hype and using the terms turning “everything upside down” or as “hugely disruptive” to describe or refer to these activities. Disruptive is the latest trendy term that too many people are attaching to too many things. Dan Maycock points to research of the top 1000 companies in his post The Ugly Truth About Disruption & Innovation that too many managers believed that:
everyone thought being disruptive was something that happened all at once and only took one brilliant idea so they spent money on white board and clear glass conference rooms believing they were planting the seeds for disruption because everyone felt more innovative due to a trip to Ikea and a TED seminar on disruption.
Maycock argues that focusing on the disruption or the disruptive technology is wrong and that companies should focus what is that they really do and make sure they are doing that well. He offers the following question as an example of what happens when you have the wrong focus:
How many railroad companies went out of business, when planes and trucks came into the picture, because they said they were focused on building better trains vs building better ways to transport?
Higher education can learn from these corporate examples and rather than look to learning spaces or technology as the magic bullet or quick fix we need to focus on what is most important…learning.
Perhaps the most redeeming part of the Globe and Mail article was the very end where Prof. Brockett used the learning space to change his teaching strategy which resulted in the following:
“They are working a great deal harder and so am I,” he says. “The result is that they are happy and learning and I am happy because I can see the learning.”
Its not about the technology or the space, its about the learning.
Mobile Internet – Increasingly inexpensive and capable mobile computing devices and Internet connectivity
Automation of knowledge work – Intelligent software systems that can perform knowledge work tasks involving unstructured commands and subtle judgments
The Internet of Things – Networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making, and process optimization
Cloud technology – Use of computer hardware and software resources delivered over a network or the Internet, often as a service
Advanced robotics – Increasingly capable robots with enhanced senses, dexterity, and intelligence used to automate tasks or augment humans
Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles – Vehicles that can navigate and operate with reduced or no human intervention
Energy storage – Devices or systems that store energy for later use, including batteries
3D printing – Additive manufacturing techniques to create objects by printing layers of material based on digital models
Advanced materials – Materials designed to have superior characteristics (e.g., strength, weight, conductivity) or functionality
Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery – Exploration and recovery techniques that make extraction of unconventional oil and gas economical
Renewable energy – Generation of electricity from renewable sources with reduced harmful climate impact
From the Futurist
“Of the above, the Mobile Internet, which could change the lives of more than 5 billion people around the globe, the automation of knowledge work, and the Internet of Things would have by far the largest economic impacts, according to McKinsey. All together, the above technologies could generate $14 to $33 trillion. But the authors caution that much of that growth will be at the expense of older technologies and even entire industries falling into obsolescence.
“When necessary, leaders must be prepared to disrupt their own businesses and make the investments to effect change,” the report’s authors write. “By the time the technologies that we describe are exerting their influence on the economy in 2025, it will be too late for businesses, policy makers, and citizens to plan their responses. Nobody, especially businesses leaders, can afford to be the last person using video cassettes in a DVD world.””
The Future Is Now: 15 Innovations to Watch For – Commentary – The Chronicle of Higher Education via kwout
I have been monitoring innovation in education for the past 20 years and am always looking for new insights so any post, article or story that points to “innovations to watch for” catches my attention. Even before I fully read the article I did a quick look up of the author Steven Mintz to see if he had the credentials or the experience to be offering these types of predictions. He does openly warn he readers he is a
“historian and far better at interpreting the past than forecasting the future.”
In addition to being a Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, Mintz is also the Executive Director for the Institute for Transformational Learning in the University of Texas System. Finally, he points to over a decades worth of teaching with technology and walks the talk with a personal website http://stevenmintz.com/ that demonstrates his belief and skill in using technology to enhance learning.
Mintz points to following 15 innovations that he suggests will alter the face of higher education over the next 36 months:
1. e-Advising
2. Evidence-based pedagogy
3. The decline of the lone-eagle teaching approach
4. Optimized class time
5. Easier educational transitions
6. Fewer large lecture classes
7. New frontiers for e-learning
8. Personalized adaptive learning
9. Increased competency-based and prior-learning credits
10. Data-driven instruction
11. Aggressive pursuit of new revenue
12. Online and low-residency degrees at flagships
13. More certificates and badges
14. Free and open textbooks
15. Public-private partnerships
Despite not being an acclaimed expert in educational technology Mintz’s predictions fall in line with the literature and research in this area and more importantly he points to changes in learning as the key disruptive innovation in 8 of his 15 predictions. He sees evidence based pedagogy not only informing instructional design but also personalized adaptive learning. He accurately places the emphasis on student-centred, competency based, well designed and collaborative constructed learning experiences as a major catalyst for change. His remaining predictions point to the disruptors of open educational resources (OER), growth of online learning and the loosening of credentialing through certification and badges and the move toward public-private partnerships.
Mintz sums up his piece with a positive challenge to faculty members to work together and:
take the lead in designing an education that will truly serve the needs of our 21st-century students.
The CITI report points to the following disruptive technologies that are poised to change the way we do business, indulge in our habits, monitor our health and entertain ourselves:
- 3-D Printing – The 3-D printing market could nearly double by 2019.
- E-cigarettes – E-cigarettes will see 50% CAG in coming years.
- Genomics And Personalized Medicine – The genomics market is already exploding.
- Mobile Payments – Mobile payments could one day be a trillion dollar market.
- Energy Exploration Technology – The shale revolution has only just begun.
- Oil To Gas Switching – CNG vehicles will continue to see robust growth abroad.
- Over The Top Content – Streaming is already nudging out regular old TV.
- The SaaS Opportunity – Everyone is going to double down on SaaS.
- Software Defined Networking – SDN is too cheap to resist.
- Solar – Solar power has almost a Moore’s-law-esque cost decline rate.
