Technology Recycling for Excellence in Education
Disruptive Innovation
The latest issue of Education Next has a fascinating article by Christiansen and Horn entitled "How Do We Transform Our Schools?" The premise is that real transformation takes place through what they call "disruptive innovation;" that is, innovation that is disruptive in the sense that it takes things in an entirely new direction. They cite as an example the invention of the transistor. While RCA was spending huge amounts of money to try to make transistors work with their existing products, such as table radios, Sony created new products (in this case, the pocket radio) to serve consumers that had never been served. In their example, teenagers, who had always listened to the family table radio, could now purchase their own portable pocket radio and listen to their own music. Sony was successful not because they created an alternative to the table radio, but because they created an alternative to having no radio at all.
Christiansen and Horn call this "competing against non-consumption." While they use the term somewhat specifically to talk about educational content software, I see a broader application. What about "competing against non-consumption" as applied to open-source software in general? Viewed in this context, it is no longer a matter of Linux vs. Windows, but Linux vs. no computers at all. Same with OpenOffice.org vs. MS Office, GIMP vs. Photoshop, etc.
"Competing against non-consumption" applies equally well to hardware. Recycled computers and thin-client networks may or may not be an improvement over a roomful of brand new standalone PC's. However, they are most defnitely an improvement over having few or no computers at all. And for a surprisingly large number of schools, those are just the choices available.
The interactive, socially connected nature of Web 2.0 means that the two or three computers in the back of the classroom are no longer sufficient. Schools which might have been technologically well-supplied two years ago are now lacking the basic technology tools to allow students to interact with their peers and with the Web itself. It is rapidly becoming imperative that each student have access to his/her own workstation for much if not all of the school day.
Schools and districts that can afford to are probably going to continue to upgrade their technology along the same path they have followed; more new hardware and proprietary software. That has worked for them in the past and will likely work for them for some time to come. Other schools, however, risk becoming non-consumers unless alternatives are provided. With the increasing growth of Web 2.0 technology in education and in the lives of students in general, becoming technology non-consumers is something we cannot allow to happen to our students.
Christiansen and Horn call this "competing against non-consumption." While they use the term somewhat specifically to talk about educational content software, I see a broader application. What about "competing against non-consumption" as applied to open-source software in general? Viewed in this context, it is no longer a matter of Linux vs. Windows, but Linux vs. no computers at all. Same with OpenOffice.org vs. MS Office, GIMP vs. Photoshop, etc.
"Competing against non-consumption" applies equally well to hardware. Recycled computers and thin-client networks may or may not be an improvement over a roomful of brand new standalone PC's. However, they are most defnitely an improvement over having few or no computers at all. And for a surprisingly large number of schools, those are just the choices available.
The interactive, socially connected nature of Web 2.0 means that the two or three computers in the back of the classroom are no longer sufficient. Schools which might have been technologically well-supplied two years ago are now lacking the basic technology tools to allow students to interact with their peers and with the Web itself. It is rapidly becoming imperative that each student have access to his/her own workstation for much if not all of the school day.
Schools and districts that can afford to are probably going to continue to upgrade their technology along the same path they have followed; more new hardware and proprietary software. That has worked for them in the past and will likely work for them for some time to come. Other schools, however, risk becoming non-consumers unless alternatives are provided. With the increasing growth of Web 2.0 technology in education and in the lives of students in general, becoming technology non-consumers is something we cannot allow to happen to our students.
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