Via Bill Kerr, the Andy Zucker at the wonderful but low-profile Concord Consortium provides the definitive response to Disrupting Class from someone who actually read the book, knows something about the current state of online instruction and can recall the history of technology in education beyond the previous six months.
One often-cited claim in the book is that “by 2019, about 50 percent of high school courses will be delivered online” (p. 98). Some readers interpret this to mean online courses as they are offered now—but that would in effect require half of all high school teachers to teach only via the Internet. Other readers believe the authors are referring to true computer-based (that is, software-based) courses. Only the latter—which currently don’t exist—will have the “technological and economic advantages” that the authors claim are so important.
Consider the economic advantages. The largest online high school in the country is the Florida Virtual School (FLVS). Like other online high schools, FLVS hires teachers who are trained to provide online courses. The state gives FLVS 11% more money per course enrollment than a face-to face school to pay for instruction and administration. The money is transferred from the brick-and-mortar school’s allotment to FLVS. Disrupting Class ought to explain that it is not instruction that costs less in online high schools. Instead, online schools do not need to pay for building construction, meals, transportation, libraries, theaters, art rooms, science labs, and many other features of brick-and-mortar schools. Are the authors recommending we give up those features in order to gain an “economic advantage”?
In other words, Christensen and his colleagues wish into existence high-quality, low-cost, software-based courses. Perhaps these will exist some day, perhaps not. The authors do not say clearly, as they should, that when they project that 50% of high school courses will be delivered online they are mainly discussing technologies that do not exist. They imagine advantages of computer-based learning, but provide almost no examples and offer little hard evidence that computer-based learning is or will be better than traditional instruction. The book suggests these emerging software-based courses will be customized in response to students’ “learning styles,” but the latter is a concept without a widely accepted definition or evidence of effectiveness.
The last paragraph is from the full PDF version. You should read it.