Michigan Innovative Schools Conference
Gina Umpstead on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 10:34AM I attended the Michigan Innovative Schools Conference in East Lansing, MI today. Michael Horn of the Clayton Christensen Institute was the keynote speaker. He spoke about the ideas from his book, "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation will Change the way the World Learns." He provided suggestions for how schools should think about adopting emerging blended learning models to improve student learning outcomes. One key point he made was that schools should not blindly adopt new technologies. Instead, they need to identify the problem they are trying to solve to see if blended learning makes sense to try to solve it and then quantify the learning outcomes they'd like to achieve.
He also discussed the difference between hybrid models of instruction that add online learning to the mix of available options such as in an elementary classroom where students spend some time receiving direct instruction from a teacher and some time learning online and disruptive models that use online learning to drive all instruction such as in a virtual school.
Ultimately, Horn contended that for any blended learning to be successful teachers need to understand that they have a very important role in student learning. Teachers need to be trained for the new models, not feel replaced by the technology. Horn argued that the currently available technology isn't ready yet to take over core academic subjects, especially in high schools. It is more useful in non-consumptive areas like credit recovery and to offer additional learning opportunities for students in subjects not offered at their schools. Yet, the introduction of technology in these areas will be the engines of change in the long run. They bring unique value propositions such as not being tied to seat time and student agency in owning their own learning. Also, students can accelarate at their own pace once they start learning, so productivity can increase. Another benefit is access to great teachers wherever students are located.
Horn's advice to create disruptive innovation, schools should create an autonomous team that is separate from the rest of the organization, have them focus on a point of nonconsumption, and commit to supporting a fledgling project they create.
As a faculty member in a higher education institution, I see my institution moving very quickly to adopt new models of blended learning to meet student learning needs, particularly for flexibility since most of our students work full time in addition to pursuing their advanced degrees. As a parent, my children's schools are moving much more slowly to incorporate techonology into their instructional options. However, Michigan has a robust virtual university that offers online courses to high school students, legislation that allows several K-12 virtual schools to operate, and new law, Sec. 21f of P.A. 60 of 2013, that allows students to take more online courses as part of their education. The educational landscape is rapidly transforming.
