ePortfolio Blog Hussain AbdulHussain

Viewing a video from the 1940’s discussing progressive education, I do recognize a lot of of the language as similar to that used in discussing educational innovation today. It shows students repeating multiplication tables, states and dates from history. Instead of learning by rote and memorization, the video advocates learning by doing and learning by solving practical problems, which is what most education advocates say today. There are also a couple of mentions of preparing students for the future, because the world is changing and students need to be prepared for the world of tomorrow. This is also a common discussion in our present times; we talk about preparing students in school today for jobs that have not been invented yet.  One of the reasons that when do not see more significant change in education, is that as Harapnuik (2014)  discussed, people are comfortable with traditional forms of education and do not see any problems with current forms of teaching and learning.

Upon viewing the TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, I do agree with his central argument of shifting away from a one size fits all system of education to more personalized learning environments. Our learning environments are highly standardized resembling an industrial assembly line or on the “fast food model” as described by Robinson. These are not conditions where students natural talents can flourish and where they will feel passionate about and maintain an interest and ownership in their education. Learners are more likely to make meaningful connections with ownership of ideas. Learning activities need to be authentic by connecting them to the real world and allowing learners to decide the “what” and “how”, with a clearly defined “why” provided by the educator. Educators need to create environments where learning experiences and instructions are planned with learners achieving ownership as a goal; if learners use their own ideas and follow their passions they will be more engaged and w

Disruptive innovation is a term that was originally coined in 1995 in the field of business administration by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. It refers to the process by which a service or product initially thrives at the bottom end of the market by providing a lower cost product that can fill unfulfilled demand, and then is sought after and disperses throughout market, eventually displacing the established providers of the service or product. The idea of disruptive innovation has since been applied to fields beyond business and industry, such as education and academia, communication and healthcare. Disruptive innovation is important because it introduces and democratizes new technologies and services, making what was previously only accessible to consumers with a lot of money or a lot of skill available to a wide segment of society. Innovation, especially through the use of technology, is a catalyst for change in the educational field. Technology on one hand