EDSS 530

Disrupting Class Discussion Questions

Chapter 1: Why Schools Struggle to Teach Differently when each Student Learns Differently

1. Explain the difference between interdependence and modularity.  How is education currently organized?

  

An interdependence design is when a part of a product or design is dependent on the way other previous products are designed. So product B cannot be made until product A is finished. Also, if there are ever some changes to product A product B must make those changes as well to ensure that product B can keep having success. It might also be that product B might not know the exact changes that product A might make, so product B must come up with all the possible changes in order to implement the ones they will use that will correlate with product A. This is also known as unpredictable interdependency. 

On the other hand, in a modular design, one product does not rely on the other for success. All products work well together. It does not matter which started first or when because nothing depends on the other. Instead each product has a specific job it must do and they come together just to discuss the process they might be working on. Also, there are no unpredictable interdependencies. 

Education is currently organized in an interdependent model. In the book, it is mentioned that this is the case because there are four interdependencies that schools must deal with. The author mentions the first to be temporal which means that schools structure curriculum in certain ways. This means if you did not learn something in 5th grade, you probably won’t be able to learn the new content in middle school. The second interdependency is lateral which means that when teaching foreign languages, you must do so in a certain manner because of the way the English language is structured. The third interdependency is physical which means that the way students learn or are assessed depends a lot on the way classrooms are set up. Sometimes it is hard to engage in group work, solely because of the layout of the classroom. The last interdependency is hierarchical. The department of education, legislators, and even the governor determine a lot of what goes on in the schools. So schools depend on them to make certain actions that affect schools, such as dealing with new laws and the budget.

Chapter 2: Making the Shift:  Schools meet Society’s need

2. Explain the disruptive innovation theory.  What does this have to do with schools?

The disruptive innovation theory is when a disruption occurs in the regular market by creating a product that targets the non-consumers of the former product. As described by the author, Christensen, it is not an improvement to the first product, rather it a disruption because it does not sustain the traditional improvement trajectory. The disruption is when the product is created that might not be as good as the first product, but it does not matter because the target is the non consumers of the first product. So now there are two products that target different people and might have different functions. 

This relates to schools because there has not been a disruption that has occurred that has changed anything. Because schools are public and target all children in the U.S, there aren’t any non-consumers to target. Also, because of the hierarchical interdependency that occurs in which laws mandate that all students go to school, there are no non-consumers left to target. So, schools districts have been given the task of coming up with their own disruptions in their schools. Since schools already have a lot of tasks that they must meet, there is no true disruption occurring in schools. Christensen ends the chapter by stating that introducing technology, and more specifically computers into classroom, we might be able to create the disruption that students need to keep learning content to be successful.  

Chapter 3: Crammed Classroom Computers

3.  Why doesn’t cramming computers in schools work?  Explain this in terms of the lessons from Rachmaninoff (what does it mean to compete against non-consumption?)

Cramming computers in schools does not work, because the majority of the time, teachers use them as a supplement to their teaching not as the main component in teaching the students. Students might go to the computer lab to play games and read, but this can easily be done without a computer. Computers need to be integrated more into the student’s learning and used to the student’s advantage if they are going to have any impact on the students learning. 

In terms of lessons from Rachmaninoff, Christensen mentions that RCA Victor started making recordings of great musicians like Rachmaninoff to be able to play on the phonograph. While some people could attend Carnegie Hall to hear Rachmaninoff, others could not so RCA targeted those non consumers. The music was still the same for both audiences, but because of the phonograph, the non consumers that might have not had access to listen to him in Carnegie Hall now had the opportunity to listen to him in their own home. 

Christensen believes competing against non-consumption will work best to integrate technology/ computers into school. This means that technology does not directly compete against teachers. Like in the analogy stated above, there are a lot of audiences (consumers) that still like and prefer the original product, in the Rachmaninoff example it is hearing Rachmaninoff himself live versus a recording. In the school systems this means a lot of students might still like instruction from teachers instead of technology. So instead with technology we want to target the non-consumers, also known as the students who do not learn from a traditional learning setting. These non-consumers might be the students who struggle in school or are not motivated to learn because the content does not interest them. Schools can still keep teachers to target the audiences that prefer this type of learning, but technology can cause a disruption by allowing the non-consumers to also learn.  

Chapter 4: Disruptively Deploying Computers

4. Explain the pattern of disruption. 

In the pattern of disruption, the disruption always comes in and targets the non-consumption first. During this time, the disruption continues to improve and cost declines. Now, the disruption starts to have some of the same attributes as the original product and used by consumers of the original product.  

So the way this would work in schools is when computers first started coming into the classroom. This caused a disruption for the non-consumers. Computers have been in the classroom for a long time but it has only been recently when they have actually targeting different types of students. In K-12 schools they are primarily used as supplement, but at the college level they are targeting a large population by having to use computers to complete the majority of assignments, and having online classes. I believe this still needs to occur at the k-12 level in order for the pattern to continue.  

5. Explain the trap of monolithic instruction.  How does student-centric learning help this problem?

The trap of monolithic instruction is having all types of different learners in one class and having the teacher teach them all in one way. Instead of having time to target the students as individuals, Christensen mentions that the majority of a teacher’s job entails preparing to teach, then teaching, and testing. Students are not really helped on an individual basis instead teachers try to cover as much content while trying to keep order in the classroom. 

By having a student-centric model for learning, this problem can be addressed because students are seen and taught as individuals not as a whole. Through student-centric learning teachers can modify activities to accommodate different students and teach the content in different ways so students can learn. No longer is the content taught in the traditional setting, now student’s needs are met so they can better learn the content.   

Chapter 5: The System for Student-Centric Learning

6. Explain public education’s commercial system.  What does it mean to say it is a value-chain business?  How does this affect student-centric learning?

Public education is a commercial system because it follows the six steps of the value chain business. In the first step, textbooks are created and they usually target monolithic teaching largely because this is what they have always produced and as Christensen mentioned it is a better way to keep “quality control.” From here state and local administrators make the adoptions on which books to use and might develop curriculum based on these books. The third step is the teacher delivering the content to the students, again in a monolithic way. In the fourth step, some individual assistance is given to students and then assessment is given to check for student learning. The last step is teachers going through training to improve their teaching.  

This system affects student centric learning because it allows for little variation and a lot of the focus still lies on monolithic instruction. While this model has worked well for some (the consumers) there are still a lot of students who would benefit more through student-centric learning. I believe in order to implement a more student-centric process, public education must slowly leave the value chain process. This process does not have to go away entirely but maybe modify to meet the students needs. So instead of having textbooks have other types of resources and differentiated curriculum for students to learn content. Administrators will always have to approve the curriculum, but I think having teacher input as to what the students need would be very beneficial. In the third step instead of providing lecture type, monolithical instruction, teach content in different ways to meet the different need’s of learners. I also think that step four, providing individual assistance should be a big component of this process. For assessment, provide differentiated assessment to show true student learning. Lastly, teacher training should be ongoing and reflect student centric learning. I think value-chain can be still be successful but it needs to be modified to be more student-centered.

Older Reflections

Are Grades Necessary for Learning?
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=17evLLd3zjFq5WZ-RHCQ7OeurhHPRqS9pmst4nhjikv0


A Vision of Students Today - Video Reflection
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1TSfwTUTAU2vDAyn1j-qh0WJIcKjpMMXGkgohrWbyG1g

Visitors and Residents - Video Reflection
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=17o2FDIC8KZxuhrTeZyDuoJLnL_r4hs7ogk0zRhnyITM