Education, Innovation & the Future of Learning

In his new book, "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns", Harvard University professor Clayton Christensen focuses on how education, technology, and innovation will impact the future of learning.

Among other things, Christensen predicts that by 2019 half of all high school courses will be taught online. If learning moves online as Christensen predicts, what are the implications for educators?

As many of you know, teaching online requires a different pedagogical approach from traditional teaching methods. Which raises an important question: Are educators getting the training and/or professional development required to teach online?

And if 50% of high school students are learning online, won't they expect to have the same access to online learning opportunities when they go to college/university? Are colleges recognizing these trends and preparing for the influx of digital learners?

And what role do social networking sites, like Facebook or LearnHub, play in this brave new world of online learning?

Related Resources

• Wikipedia > Clayton M. Christensen
• Facebook as CMS
• Teaching & Learning with Facebook Group
• A Digital Ethnographer Reconsiders How Children Think

Comments

[Rob Jacobs]

I needed to amend my previous comment. I meant to say that teachers are NOT getting the training they need to meet the needs (pedagogical, technical, etc.) of online learning.

[Michael Horn]

I think you've hit upon a great question about whether teachers are getting the correct pedagogical training for this shift--especially so they can realize the exciting customization possibilities that can truly improve learning.
One correction--in the book Disrupting Class, we are predicting that this shift to 50% of high school courses being taught online to occur around 2019.

[Rob Jacobs]

Educators are most definitely getting the training they need to meet the needs of online teaching.

The question expands when we think about what being online means to the teacher and the student. I recently blogged about a similar issue..

So just as we are coming to grips with the fact that we live in a flat world and knowledge workers is the area the education should be focused on developing, we come to find that even the knowledge itself is a commodity that can be outsourced overseas. In it’s place it the ability to create and trust and build relationships that will be the competitive advantage and need we should begin preparing our students for.

Online education will allow us to outsource the teaching, but will increase the pressure on the teacher to maintain what I call "Digital Relationships." The relationship era, will be enabled by Web 2.0 technologies.

What are the tools of the relationship era? Blogs, wikis, podcasts, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, Wikipedia, Google Earth, Flickr, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and many other Web 2.0 technologies are certainly all examples of tools of the relationship age. How many teachers or principals are “literate” in these tools and technologies? How many of our students are?

Also, what sorts of skills and experiences must we provide for our students so that they are able to build relationships?

Are we asking the right questions? What is literacy in the relationship era? What does educated look like in the relationship era? What will our students need to be able to do?