Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns


Although a bit outdated in its references (2008), this book its still a valid analysis of the challanges and possible approaches to fix our current education system. Clayton Christensen applies  his theory of disruptive innovation (developed for other purposes) on education.

Unless top managers actively manages the process, their organizations will shape any disruptive innovation into a sustaining innovation - one that fits the processes, values and economic model of the existing business - because organizations cannot naturally disrupt themselves.

Dissruption in the education system is a shift to individual personalized learning, where each student can progress in their own pace, instead of the "batch" approach that we apply today. This can happen by using computers in a smart way,

Sometimes I had the feeling that Clayton Christensen is to focused on "fitting" his existing theories on the new field, rather than approaching the area of education with a fresh view. On the other hand, he probably invites "business people" to take part in the education system challenges by using a familiar vocabulary and set of references.