Disruptive Innovation

Disruptive Innovation is the theory of where a small company or product enters the market and starts to displace or challenge the “norm” and make it available to everyone.  There are several companies and products I think of just off the top of my head that are what I consider to be or have been disruptive; Tesla Motor Company challenging the big Detroit Automakers, Apple Computer’s Apple II being accessible to students in the early 1980’s, and Sony’s mirrorless SLR camera which is on the verge of changing the digital camera market. All the for mentioned companies have and still are changing what we believe to be normal. Everyone of them is pushing forward making technology better and more accessible. So why are we just looking at products that are consumer related? Why can’t we look at and examine a more important product that needs to be disrupted, education

We all can agree that education in America can be better, and it should be better. Over the last 20 years education has made a shift from the traditional style of lecturing and memorizing to a more hands on and in some cases individualized style of learning. The addition of Google Chromebooks and sites like Kahn Academy have disrupted the classroom and has allowed kids to learn in different ways. Steve Isaacs, a computer technology teacher from Baking Ridge, New Jersey, spoke with Business Insider and said “The idea of bringing games into the learning and gamifying the classroom have become more mainstream, providing opportunities for greater student engagement…We can’t prepare students for jobs that exist, but rather prepare them to be flexible and adaptable to jobs that don’t yet exist.” Without disruption we will continue down the same path that generations have before.

When I was in first grade, I remember seeing an Apple II computer for the first time in the classroom. It was amazing. It disrupted the teacher’s classroom tremendously. She was an older educator and very successful. However, this was 1985 and the world was changing fast. She hesitated but allowed us to work on it…well play the games. Needless to say, this was the start of a revolution for my education. A few years later I moved to a public school and they had computer labs. Apple II’s all over the place. While most of them were used playing games like “The Oregon Trail” it got us prepared for what we were going to engage with in our life as we grew older. Luckily, I grew up in a town that was extremely conservative but yet willing to embrace technology.

Working with student athletes, I notice a lot of them struggle in school. Why that is, I don’t know. What I do know is that usually the ones that struggle in the classroom excel on the ice. Maybe it is because it’s something that they love doing. Just yesterday a student told me, “I’m just bored in school.” I told him he wasn’t the only middle schooler that thinks that and asked him what he would rather be doing. His response, “I’d rather be fishing.” So, why can’t we cater to the student’s interest? We want them to be successful, so lets give them the tools and keep them engaged.

Over the last few years there has been a disruptor in youth ice hockey. A company named Total Package Hockey (aka TPH), created a school named the Center of Excellence that is geared toward athletes. They have campus’s in Detroit, Nashville, Denver and Huntsville among others. They are growing every year and helping student athletes become successful not only in school but in their chosen career. It is considered a “Virtual School” run by edmentum and all the classes are done online with the exception of Physical Education. There are educators in the room to help one on one if there is a problem. After their lessons are completed the athletes then have time to focus on their sport. This model allows athletes an individualized learning experience that they can work at their own pace. TPH has broken through and disrupted the normal school setting and has helped create something new for athletes.

When learning about TPH a few years ago, I began looking around the United States for other programs similar. One is school that peaked my interest is Green Mountain Valley School. GMVS is a boarding school in Vermont that is geared toward competitive skiers and has everything a student athlete needs to train and focus on school and their sport.

Both TPH CoE and GMVS are proving they have disrupted the traditional schooling and school methods to help students individually and help them succeed. While GMVS has been for over 40 years TPH CoE is rather new on the scene. I’ve had several players go through their program. Kade McConaghey, a 17 year old ice hockey player at the Nashville program says, “My favorite thing is that almost all of my team is there, so it’s great for team building and chemistry.” When asked if he liked the computer-based model over the traditional classroom setting he said, “I personally do a lot better with more of a ‘do your own work,’ rather than someone telling you how to do it. I’ve been very successful with it {sic}.” There is another player, Tino Passarelli, 20, left his home and family in Spanish Fort, AL in 2012 to follow his dreams of playing professionally. Tino moved to Detroit, MI to attend the TPH CoE main campus and play hockey for Little Caesar’s and Honey Baked Ham hockey clubs. When asked about TPH CoE Tino said, “I liked it alot.” The only thing he wished he could change about it was, “Maybe I would change the location being closer {to home}, but that’s about it.” Tino is currently playing for the James Town Rebels in the North American Hockey League. He recently committed to attend and play hockey for Miami University in Ohio.

It would be great to be able to run a school like the ones mentioned. I believe that students do learn more when it’s something they are interested in and can engage in. I would like to challenge the place I currently work at to use more technology with their students. I taught at a school where there was no paper required because everything was on Chromebooks and it drove me nuts because I like paper notes and writing. Now, I’m on the other side of the spectrum where the students rarely touch computers or use technology and still don’t write (middle school). The crazy thing is, the Chromebook school is a title 1 school, while the current school I’m at is very affluent and distinguished a “Blue Ribbon School.”

Citations:

Weller, C. (2017, May 25). Teachers reveal how education has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Retrieved November 21, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/teachers-how-education-has-changed-2017-5#steve-isaacs-computer-technology-teacher-from-basking-ridge-new-jersey-2.

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Nicholas Skelton

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