Changing the World: Three Other Examples of Disruption

I enjoyed the Disrupting Class book for many reasons, but I specifically liked the examples of disruption happening around us. The thought of a new idea not competing, but finding a place in society only to take over for an old idea is intriguing (p 44). The example from the text that stood out to me was the shift from the Digital Equipment Corporation's super computer to the original Apple (p. 50). I cringe to think what technology in education may look like today had Apple not lead the way. As I thought about this process, I came up with a few more examples of disruption.

1. Downloading/Steaming Music, Movies, and Video Games

Disks and cartridges were the norm for these types of technologies. While they still exist, I could potentially see a strictly digital format for all three. I download all of my music and stream most of my movies in various capacities. I have yet to move to only downloading video games, as that disruption seems to be a little further behind. Most of the top sellers come on disks for the PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii, but each has an online network where they could stream everything in the future. World of Warcraft and Minecraft are two games that are largely popular and available without the need of a disk.

2. Television

I do not know how far off this disruption is from taking full force, but in the Dangerously Irrelevant blog, the Shift Happens video says that people under 25 watch almost 30% of their television online. I am too busy to actually ever sit down and watch television, but I still watch many of my favorites online. I can even watch all my Buccaneers games online as well. The physical television may not go away soon, but stranger things have happened.

3. Cell Phone

Back in the day when only Zack Morris had access to a cell phone, the uses were few and far between. I had an old bag phone in high school and the niche was that I only used it in an emergency. These days, cell phones have numerous uses and I would be lost without mine for sure. The specific disruption in question here is the home phone line. I do not see the original purpose of a cell phone to ever take over for the home phone, but it effectively has. As of a year ago, about 25% of homes in the United States used a cell phone exclusively. This is trending upward, and I could see a time not too far down the line that the cell phone could take over completely for the home phone.

Disruption has worked well in society producing cutting edge technology and fascinating ideas for the future. Hopefully education can follow suit. What are your examples of disruption?

Credit given to hannah_wilson through flickr.com/creativecommons