I want to start my saying I am totally shook. I don't think I truly realized the importance of disruptive innovation or perhaps I was just one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" educators. I have been teaching for 17 years in a technical program in higher education. We have a national test at the end that the students must pass to practice in our field (radiologic science). We have boasted a 100% pass rate most of the program since its inception. An important note, this pass rate only reflects the students that make it to the end of the program. It does not reflect the attrition that we have had during the course of the program. Based solely on my new exposure to this concept of disruptive innovation, I believe some of those students lost early could have been successful if I used the model of "time, place, path, pace" that Michael B. Horn spoke about. My heart is seriously on the floor wishing I could go back and "disrupt" some of my elements of teaching.
I have had the occasional student that doesn't reach the level of competency beyond my personal courses that I (we) have created different opportunities and even created different curriculum for them to reach their competency levels but this has been the exception not the norm. Hearing that this concept of blended learning and disruptive innovation has been around for decades and I have managed to be blind to the promise of a better model is heartbreaking. This is why change is so important and just opening our eyes to our personal responsibility even when we are considered to be successful in our organization. If we lose one then we lose them all.
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