My View of Disruptive Technology

Disruptive is a rather harsh title for something that I personally believe can have great benefits if used properly. I think technology can provide many opportunities especially in education, but it depends on how it is incorporated into the class. From my own personal experience, I have worked with individuals who think that putting pdf's of readings in Angel makes their course an online course. While this can be an effective way of distributing reading materials, I believe that true online education goes far beyond that, by utilizing various types of technologies.

I think what determines whether or not a technology should be labeled as disruptive depends on how one uses it. If an instructor can see the benefits of the tools and provide structured assignments that utilize the tool in ways that benefit the class and the students' learning experience then a more appropriate name would be effective technology. If however, an instructor required students to use a piece of technology without providing any guidelines for the students, it then has the potential to disrupt the learning process. Furthermore, if a professor only uses a portion of the technology, students will spend their time exploring or playing with the tool to figure out what all it can do. Again disrupting the students' ability to learn. So to sum things up I think it's unfair to label all technology as disruptive. Many technologies have the ability to encourage learning with students. However, when technology is used improperly or if students are not provided with adequate guidance with a tool, it can be detrimental to a student's education. When this happens, the label disruptive technology can then be applied.