Sparked by the interesting dilemmas from yesterday's review of a Commentary on Graduate Medical Education, I'm almost done reading an intriguing book by Clayton Christensen et al, called "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns" (Amazon link). Dr. Christensen, interestingly is not an educator or physician by training, but rather a Professor of Business Administration in the Harvard Business School. I met Clay very briefly because he lectured at a course that I attended called the Harvard-Macy "Leading Innovations in Health Care and Education" Conference.
He coined the term "disruptive technology", which can best be described as innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect, typically by being lower priced or designed for a different set of consumers. This originally was a term to describe for-profit companies and organizations.
However, the authors have found that "disruptive technology" can also provide an innovative way of totally re-inventing the K-12 public school system. They make a convincing argument and draw from many parallel examples in business. I've found that these lessons from industry might also be applied to medical schools and residency training. It is interesting to view education, from the eyes of "outsiders", who specialize in innovation and organizational systems.
Some interesting comments made in the book:
- You can't reform education by taking a head-on confrontational approach. It is a time-proven fact that a major innovative change can only occur by going around and underneath a current system. "This is how disruption drives affordability, accessibility, capability, and responsiveness." Successful examples of disruption in business are described, such as Apple Computer and Southwest Airlines.
- There are different kinds of learners. Education should provide a customized approach to learning, rather than teaching in a monolithic batch mode system. Teachers in this learner-centric model will serve more as learning coaches rather than traditional lecturers.
- Student-centered learning is the way of the future in education. Computer and online technologies will be at the core of the infrastructure.
- By the year 2019, 50% of high school courses will be delivered online. Are medical schools and residencies ready for this shift in learning culture? I don't think so.
The significant problems that we have cannot
be solved with the same level of thinking
we were using when we created them."
-- Albert Einstein
be solved with the same level of thinking
we were using when we created them."
-- Albert Einstein
