Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Unconventional Wisdom

This is a quickie today. Yesterday I was in Indy for a CIC Learning Technology Group meeting. It's always good to see colleagues and learn about new developments. There was discussion on many topics including: (1) using publisher eContent for assemble your own coursepacks (including textbook chapters debundled) , (2) a discussion of blended learning and (classroom) space utilization issues, and (3) an update on the Sakai implementations at UMich and Indiana U - a lot of fun stuff. At the end of our morning session we had a few minutes to discuss disruptive technologies - blogs, wikis, podcasts, the current grab bag. Among the schools that fessed up, there was clearly interest in the topic, but nobody was yet doing anything significant in this space at the campus IT level. The happenings were all bottom up spur of the moment things. The impression I had was that most people were content with this approach.

I want to juxtapose that with this really excellent piece by Michael Lewis in the NY Times Magazine about the Texas Tech Football coach. This guy has talent, in the main, that have been recruited by U Texas, or A&M, or any of the other powerhouse schools in the southwest. But by going against the grain with a well considered approach that has proven some significant tests of time, he has revolutionized the offensive game.

One wonders if something analogous might happen with disruptive technologies. Why are we all taking it slow?

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