"Cramming Down" technology in schools won't work for long

Ed Week has a review of a new book by Harvard business school professor Clayton Christensen about the future of schools: nearly half of all class will be offered online. I agree with the premise; schools have long tried to smush (or "cram down" in his lingo) technological innovations into their 19th-century buildings, systems of teaching & learning, and value structure. It has not worked - not by a long shot. And soon enough (the author estimates by 2019, to be precise), another model of education will take over.

Here is a good synopsis:

Like the leaders in other industries, the education establishment has crammed down technology onto its existing architecture, which is dominated by the “monolithic” processes of textbook creation and adoption, teaching practices and training, and standardized assessment—which, despite some efforts at individualization, by and large treat students the same, the book says.

But new providers are stepping forward to serve students that mainline education does not serve, or serve well, the authors write. Those students, which the book describes as K-12 education’s version of “nonconsumers,” include those lacking access to Advanced Placement courses, needing alternatives to standard classroom instruction, homebound or home-schooled students, those needing to make up course credits to graduate—and even prekindergarten children.

By addressing those groups, providers such as charter schools, companies catering to home schoolers, private tutoring companies, and online-curriculum companies have developed their methods and tapped networks of students, parents, and teachers for ideas.

Those providers will gradually improve their tools to offer instruction that is more student-centered, in part by breaking courses into modules that can be recombined specifically for each student, the authors predict.