My first experience with the term "disruptive technology" was in an article I read last year to review as part of my application to graduate school. I chose the article specifically because I thought the idea of disruption being a positive thing was fascinating. The article focused on disruptive innovations as those that enter a market space where the technology was unavailable, unexpected, or consumers could not afford or use available more complicated technologies.
When I mention to people that I am taking a class on Disruptive Technologies, their immediate reaction is typically "Oh, you mean things like Facebook, instant messaging, and Twitter that distract students in classrooms". I feel like I need to clarify that a disruptive technology is not necessarily a distractive technology. That is to say, my understanding of disruptive is not that it disrupts a student's ability to learn, but rather that it disrupts expectations of the "right" way of presenting, processing, or working with information and knowledge. Similar to the disruptive innovations discussed in the article I first read, many of the disruptive technologies that can be used for learning entered a space where there was nothing similar, or where limitations of cost and access prohibited more established products from being successful. The technologies then migrate to education, where traditional tools and methods exist, but are able to disrupt the accepted way of educating because of widespread adoption in non-educational settings. However, in addition to the market definition of disruptive, which means that the technology enters a space where competition does not exist and then moves into existing markets, I think disruptive technology for learning doesn't necessarily always enter a market that's untapped. Rather, it disrupts the current way of thinking about how information is delivered and knowledge is built.
When I mention to people that I am taking a class on Disruptive Technologies, their immediate reaction is typically "Oh, you mean things like Facebook, instant messaging, and Twitter that distract students in classrooms". I feel like I need to clarify that a disruptive technology is not necessarily a distractive technology. That is to say, my understanding of disruptive is not that it disrupts a student's ability to learn, but rather that it disrupts expectations of the "right" way of presenting, processing, or working with information and knowledge. Similar to the disruptive innovations discussed in the article I first read, many of the disruptive technologies that can be used for learning entered a space where there was nothing similar, or where limitations of cost and access prohibited more established products from being successful. The technologies then migrate to education, where traditional tools and methods exist, but are able to disrupt the accepted way of educating because of widespread adoption in non-educational settings. However, in addition to the market definition of disruptive, which means that the technology enters a space where competition does not exist and then moves into existing markets, I think disruptive technology for learning doesn't necessarily always enter a market that's untapped. Rather, it disrupts the current way of thinking about how information is delivered and knowledge is built.
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