Here at Smart Experience we like to think we’re a disruptive innovation. We offer services the big guys aren’t interested in with more simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability. So we were very interested when we heard Clayton Christensen teamed up with two others to write a book on disruptive innovation in education. Most of it concerns traditional schools rather than the professional education we focus on, and much of it you could guess from knowing the tenets of disruption, but they paint a compelling vision of the future.

They are rather bullish on the potential for user networks and user-generated content (UGC). On the latter I think it’s going to take quite a while for the tools to develop. For example, when you want to know what’s happening in a particular political situation, do you turn to blogs or a major news outlet? There’s some things that require training and resources to do right, and even with all the channels and tools we have now, user-generated content will need a while to catch up.

Here’s other ideas that caught my eye while reading an interview with the authors…

• “in the United States, education is highly regulated” — but not in the professional/commercial sector, and I think that’s where the innovations will come from
• “computer-based or online learning is beginning to fill the void and plant itself and make inroads in the education system in classic disruptive fashion” — agreed, in-person training just doesn’t scale well
• “effective and engaging computer-based learning products are not easy to make” — that’s true of the big online learning systems most schools invest in, but YouTube proves it doesn’t have to be
• “stage 1…will be..the creation of user-generated content…. stage 2 will be… the creation of user-generated content.“
• “students will be able to build products that help them teach other students. Parents will be able to assemble tools to tutor their children. And teachers will be able to create tools to help the different types of learners in their classrooms.” — That’s an awesome vision!
• “We have founded a nonprofit think tank, Innosight Institute, to promote the ideas from our work“