Disrupting Class, chapter 3

According to Christensen, if we are to realize the potential of digital technology to transform education, it needs to fill a need that’s not currently being met through traditional means. A recent NY Times article offers an intriguing possibility.

Chinese educational leaders have begun to recognize that in order to be globally competitive, tens of millions of their students will need to become proficient in English. They’ve also discovered what any American with two years of Spanish instruction already knows: passing a high school (or college) foreign language exam doesn’t mean that you have the skills to order a hamburger at McDonald’s. “Throughout the world people experience the same problem… (they) study languages, but cannot communicate.” 

China doesn’t have the resources that would be needed to do this with traditional methods - so they developed a virtual game, initially targeted for 7-12 year-olds. After choosing an ‘avatar’, students pick a scene (such as a supermarket) in which their avatar is confronted with say, the challenge of buying a piece of fruit - in English. They advance through levels of difficulty just as you would in any virtual quest. If they get stuck, students can consult “the wizard’s library” for additional instruction.

For years we have known that our students would like to begin foreign language instruction in the elementary grades; we’re also aware of the cognitive advantages of having them start early. But within the current system, the cost is prohibitive: How many teachers would we have to hire? Where would we find them? How would we decide which languages to teach? Where would it fit in the schedule?

This is a classic opportunity for a “disruptive innovation.” Here are a couple of others.

Faced with incomprehensible lectures, college students are turning to U-tube to find subject matter explained in a way that is more consistent with their preferred style of learning

And students in Baltimore County are learning how the environment surrounding Mount St. Helens has evolved since the volcano’s 1980 eruption, using virtual technology developed at Johns Hopkins. See: Virtual 3-D lab aims to stimulate learning.