Emily Rose Skirtich

Christensen's Disruptive Innovation and the Ways in Which Technology Enhances and

Enriches Students' Learning Both Inside and Outside of the Classroom

Piggybacking off of my first theme, student-centric learning, is the idea that Christensen

drives home in Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World

Learns regarding the disruptive deployment of computers to every student in class.  Initially, this

may seem a bit exorbitant, asking yourself the rhetorical question “What are

students really going to do on computers if allotted to them?”  After reading what Christensen

believes as one of the most integral keys to success for students in the classroom, I, too, believe

that with the technological allocation of computers to students that real and permanent change

can and will be achieved.  Christensen reinforces the notion that administrators and school

boards must commit financially to securing the effective technological improvements in schools,

or else students suffer the blow.  “Many of these (administrators) have shied away from

education software because development and large-scale adoption are expensive” (Christensen

142), reminds the reader that technology creates change, albeit expenses remain significantly

high.  This financial reality should not stagnate the intellectual and academic growth of our

students, Christensen reminds us, and urges students’ use of computers in the curriculum benefit

learning more than it hinders it. Backed by hundreds of studies conducted over the past decade,

Christensen reminds the reader how important student innovation is not only for the immediate

classroom, but also for the larger society, touting that student-generated programming changes

the route for thousands, even millions of students, who never before have had the expectation

thrust upon them that their in-school work make a real difference.    User-generated content reaps

massive rewards, one of the most beneficial to be user motivation and user sense of

responsibility which teachers provide to students when computers and technology are deployed
 Emily Rose Skirtich

for their use.  For example, if a project requires students to produce meaningful, purpose-driven

work, then students gain the initiative that so many technology-barren classrooms lack in today’s

educational realm.  Alan November, an educational guru, once referenced how computers in

classrooms bring a sense of responsibility to each students when everyone in the classroom has a

specific role in the learning.  November explains that when teachers provide a role and

responsibilities to each student, students become culpable for their work, teaming up with the

rest of the class to accomplish a goal.  When there are missing links, such as apathetic or absent

students, the whole class suffers.  However, by providing students who the necessary tools to

achieve the stated goal, teachers shift the learning responsibility from “This is what I have to

teach my students today” to “This is what my students will discover on their own today.”  By

shifting this workload and overall mentality that technology, specifically computers, tablets, and

other technological devices, are not to be used as a “treat” or “disruption” to the class, but rather

an effective tool which opens the virtual doors to extended and enriched learning that otherwise

would have been impossible to attain without the technological incorporation into the classroom.

By allocating the responsibility of learning to students and making them feel some sort of

obligation towards their own learning, the idea of learning for the teacher dissipates and

transforms into learning for themselves.  Teachers can capitalize on this notion of student-lead

learning while disruptively deploying computers to students, and link it to teaching other

students what they learned and sharing the information that they learned.  This pair-and-share

activity with technology significantly boosts student motivation to accomplish the

responsibilities distributed by the teacher, and allows for collaborative learning made possible

with the implementation of student computers in the classroom.  Christensen reinforces

November’s thought process regarding student-generated work with technology in the

 Emily Rose Skirtich

classroom: “We often learn better when we teach than when we listen to a teacher” (Christensen

139).  Expanding upon this idea, Christensen urges student-generated work to actually mean

something, like publishing their work and findings on a website, or working to create a

classroom Wiki, or perhaps developing new software which would benefit other students’

learning: “We mention above that these software platforms will enable students to teach other

students by developing tools and putting them into the facilitated network” (Christensen 139).

The “facilitated network” mentioned above is a great idea that yields success in classrooms

where students’ work directly benefits the other students in the creation of a student-generated

project, such as a Wiki or other database that would allow students from other parts of the

country and world to see how their work is taken seriously, not just assigned, graded, and thrown

away as “completed and graded.”  The technological tools of computers and tablets in the

classroom with effective, educational software creates student-generated work that achieves

higher expectations and accomplishments for all students, not just a select few.

            This idea has drastically changed my outlook of how technology plays a pivotal role in

the classroom.  Although I remain an avid supporter of structured classroom procedure and

student work, this implementation of computers for every student used to enrich the curriculum

and overall learning experience of course material proves to be incredibly innovative and

successful.  Students will reap the rewards of their hard work and dedication using the

technology and publishing their results, entitling them to a great sense of achievement, although

many teachers brand the technology as “disruptive” and having “no place in the classroom.”  I

definitely hope that my school as a future educator supports the learning with technological

integration in the classroom so that I could teach my students how using the computers as a tool
 Emily Rose Skirtich

to delve deeper into studies can produce meaningful, deeper work that could not otherwise be

achieved without with assistance of technology.  Christensen would most likely support me in

this quest so that more students feel a sense of entitlement to their work and a greater sense of

initiative for their own learning rather than sitting passively in their seats as an apathetic teacher

drones on for the entire period.  By putting students in the driver’s seat to the vehicle of their

learning and allows them to take the keys and drive to success with the assistance of a

technological GPS in conjunction with their initiative, intelligence, and, of course, experienced

teacher in the passenger’s seat.  Hopefully, one day, I will be the driving instruction to my own

fleet of student-driven learning vehicles, successfully blazing the roadmap of an endless

countryside of learning yet to be discovered.