Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Disruptive Technology
12:30 PM | 
Posted by
Sue Parler |
In a Leadership course in which I am enrolled at another university, our instructor, Dr. Christie, referred to technology as a "disruptive influence". As a technology integrationist, I bristled slightly at the characterization of technology being disruptive. But the more I read, the more I understood the point.
In the past, followers would gain information about the organization from their leaders. The information was filtered through this leadership as well. However now, with so much information readily available, followership need not rely on leadership for information. This has led to the end of blind followership. The dynamic has changed drastically.
Ironically, in reading Will Richardson's blog the word "disruptive" surfaced again. This time Victor Hu, head of education technology and services for Goldman Sachs, said, "Technology is doing to education what it’s done to countless other industries: disrupting it. Where education once was static, bound to a textbook, now it’s moving to a global, interdisciplinary model."
Richardson's response was interesting as he spoke about needing a disruptive influence in modern education and we - the educators - not big business and money should be driving the influence.
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About Me
- Sue Parler
- I'm currently in my 32nd year teaching at DePaul Catholic HS in Wayne, NJ. I teach Game Design, Cryptology, and Spanish -- yes, it's an odd mix -- even I admit it. I am the IT Coordinator at DePaul Catholic as well, which means I manage the network, the student information system, the website, and the 900+ computers in the building. Yep, keeps me busy.
My Blog List
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How to create and use LinoIt - https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9A3mec8t4MSTjdKaEZ1X3JaaWc12 years ago
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Assistive Technology - -- I saved this as a draft on the 10th. Oops! -- It is amazing how some of this technology has changed the face of a classroom. For students to be in more ...12 years ago
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Class Dojo - Class Dojo is a classroom management tool that allows you to give behavior feedback to students in a timely and efficient manner. It is free to sign up a...12 years ago
2 comments:
Sue,
I really enjoyed your post. It is interesting that the use of distruptive to describe technlogy seemed to have a negative connotation. However, your analysis of the two ideas together shine a light on the fact that it can actually be a good thing. The internet has taken an incredible amount of power away from "the leaders" aka politicians, big business leaders, etc and given it to the people as a whole. The things we have witnessed occuring around the world the last couple of years would have been impossible without technology. As educators we see the ways in which our educational system is broken. It is definately time for use to harness the power that technology gives us and start using it to make things better. It only takes one person to rock the boat to cause a great change in how things are done.
Your post evoked much thought - great job! Like you, I had never thought of technology as "disruptive", in either a positive or negative manner. However I can see how beneficial it can be to be disruptive in this context. I couldn’t image teaching our current 21st century learners using chart paper, chalkboards , whiteboards or strictly with a textbook. Even when I attend classes I struggle to maintain focus when a presentation is centered around these “old school” methods. Education and pedagogical methods should reflect the innovations in technology. Learning in these 21st century manner reflects shifts in learning styles as well. I am a proponent of change and like that technology has revolutionized the way we teach.
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