Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns | 
| Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, Michael B. Horn
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $32.95
Buy New: $17.60
You Save: $15.35 (47%)
New (34) Used (4) from $17.60
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1111
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0071592067
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.3
EAN: 9780071592062
ASIN: 0071592067
Publication Date: May 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Great Condition - Never Read - Fast shipping
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution… “A brilliant teacher, Christensen brings clarity to a muddled and chaotic world of education.”
-Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.” Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen's now-famous theories of “disruptive” change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you're a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you'll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories. You'll learn how - Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school
- Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology
- Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student
- Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform
- We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market
Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come. The future is now. Class is in session.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 The future of education June 21, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Administrators, teachers, parents, and policy makers would do well to read Disrupting Class. The authors approach education with the perspective of an outsider - business person, technologist, entrepreneur - but the knowledge and thoughtfulness of an insider. Instead of offering didactic or hubristic "fixes" for education, the book provides a framework for thinking about education that is fresh and practical, particularly on such issues as how technology can personalize education for the needs of each student, and most importantly, how disruptive innovation can overcome the many obstacles that have heretofore prevented reforms in the US education system.
Accessible and engaging, an informative read that will get you talking June 18, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
As someone who enjoyed her twelve years in the American public education system and believes that there is no higher calling than becoming a teacher (and does not work in education), I found this book to be fascinating - it challenged my long-held views about learning and teaching - and encouraging - which I was not expecting, given the current dismal state of so much of the American public education system. Yet Disrupting Class was a refreshing read and it has created a new discourse on a familiar topic: how to improve the American public education system.
Professor Christensen's theories of disruptive innovation are cogently explained for the unfamiliar and for those who need a refresher (like myself). The theories and their corresponding case studies are fascinating in and of themselves (think a cliff notes version of Christensen's previous books). The breadth of industries they cover creates a compelling argument to not only allow for but to encourage disruption in public education.
The authors' scholarship in innovation is evident; their prediction of when student-centric technologies (the disruptive innovation) will take hold is not conditional, rather, it is absolute: "by 2019, 50 percent of high school courses will be delivered online." I admired the authors for their willingness to walk the reader through the s-curves and logarithmic axes needed to reach this conclusion - to me, it was one of many instances in which the authors, an eclectic trio, bridge the often unnecessarily wide gap between the "business world" and the "education world." I was left wanting more detail about these "student-centric" technologies that would teach to Gardner's different intelligences but also appreciated that the authors kept to the bounds of their expertise and research.
America has struggled for years to improve public education from the top via government policy. Allowing for change from the bottom presents less risk and a lower cost of failure to the existing system. A solid understanding of Christensen's theories has brought great success to its adopters (and failure to those who have ignored it) in such a wide range of sectors that it seems almost irresponsible for anyone who cares about education to not read this book.
Disrupting Class doesn't have all the solutions, nor does it claim to. What this book does offer is a new framework within which to think about creating positive, lasting change on the type of scale needed to be meaningful and suggestions on how to realize this.
Read this book and learn the language of disruption and why simply buying more computers, aka "cramming" doesn't work. Be inspired by the work of companies such as Apex Learning, Florida Virtual School, and K12, and start your own dialogues about new student-centric technologies that will revolutionize the way the next generation learns.
Disruptive thinking for the classroom June 12, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I am a layperson with an interest in education and technology. I read Innovator's Dilemma and was anxious to see if Clayton Christensen could apply his unique business lens to sort through, and perhaps solve the issues concerning our failing public education system.
He and his colleagues didn't disappoint me.
This book was eminently readable and layer by layer, uncovered the weaknesses in the way we educate our kids. It's not simply a matter of putting technology in schools or tutoring kids who learn differently; it's a matter of changing the way the monolithic system, and entrenched stakeholders, work against innovation and creativity in learning by challenging the underlying foundations of that system.
According to Christensen, flexible individualized instruction combined with the proper use of technology, rewiring content development and distribution channels, and the creation of online networks of students, parents and teachers working together instead of in opposition, can revolutionize education in the United States.
If you care about the future of education, and of a child's ability to compete in the global economy, read this book.
The Way of the Future in Education June 12, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The authors are on to something really, really big here- the eventual replacement of the method of instruction that has been in use since before the days of Socrates.
[...]
 Inconsistent, and Off Track! June 10, 2008
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
Clayton Christensen previously has provided excellent insights on disruptive technologies within the business world. Unfortunately, he does not succeed with "Disrupting Class."
Christensen begins noting that typical "solutions" do not up to scrutiny. Inflation-adjusted per-pupil expenditures have be doubled, with little result; further, Kentucky state accountability index performance between two districts varies inversely with expenditures - despite the lower-spending district also being more disadvantaged in pupil characteristics. (Christensen, however, offers no explanation of that the state accountability index is comprised. Other sources indicate it is vulnerable to distortion through low standards.) He also points out that U.S. education spending is about twice that of other developed nations.
Others contend that new technology is key to improving pupil performance. Christensen, however, notes that computer availability has roughly doubled, again, with little impact.
Perhaps pupil motivation is the key. Christensen "refutes" this explanation by reporting area scores in Montgomery County, Md. that meet or exceed minimums now match those of white pupils in non-poverty areas. (Christensen, however, fails to recognize that this is meaningless if the "minimum" standards are low.)
Christensen then notes that the proportion of pupils taking science and engineering courses falls as a nation's prosperity increases - somehow failing to recognize that this supports a pupil motivation is key hypothesis. He also is oblivious to the decades-old trend for Asian and Jewish pupils to substantially outperform their peers.
Later on in "Disrupting Class," Christensen reports favorable NAEP trends at the lower age levels as indicative of successes, failing to also notice that the 17-year-old scores have remained unchanged for decades - therefore, undermining his conclusion.
The essence of "Disrupting Class" is that computers can make learning more effective and attractive by individualizing instruction. Unfortunately, this is directly contrary to his early observation that high-scoring nations primarily use rote instruction, while the lower-scoring U.S. uses pupil-centered, more individualized instruction.
Bottom-Line: A well-intentioned, but seriously flawed book.
|
|
|
