Informatics

Disruptive Technologies, Higher Education, and Harnessing the Promise of a Revolution.

Pressures for the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are ubiquitous in higher education. In an environment of constant change, technological innovations are outpacing our ability to identify and appropriate the affordances of those innovations for teaching and learning. The information regarding the affordances of an instructional technology often does not originate from research because the time-span of scholarly endeavors investigating the use of the instructional technology is outpaced by technological evolution. In many instances, information about the affordances of a technology comes from vendors touting the potentialities of their technology rather than empirical research. Beyond teaching, research and service activities, faculty in higher education increasingly are challenged with vetting constantly evolving software and hardware that, in social and commercial environments, privilege the use of new technologies for work and entertainment.

The questions in higher education regarding ICT use, in general, and disruptive technologies (DT), in particular, go beyond simply knowing about particular technologies (e.g., gaming, adaptive learning, etc.) Promulgators of the inherent value and inevitability of “disruptive technologies” create an affirmative vision of technologies that may or may not be appropriate for the complex social, and now technological, environment of the modern university classroom.

Numerous questions about the relevance, appropriateness, and effects of “disruptive technologies” beg addressing. Here are just a few:

•     The term “disruptive technology" is often used in place of “new technology” or “alternative technology”, when disruptive technology is a particular kind of technology and market phenomenon. What exactly is a disruptive technology in higher education?

•     Discussion in the literature often fails to differentiate the nature of education from product manufacture or sales. What are the processes by which disruptive technologies may find a location for use in the unique context of higher education? What are the drivers for adoption of a disruptive technology in higher education? In higher education, how do we distinguish technologies for class management from technologies for instruction and learning?

•     Probably the most important question is, how can we predict the multidimensional effects of implementing disruptive technologies in higher education? If adopted, what new privacy/security concerns do such technologies, arise? What are the real costs of failed attempts to adopt evolving technologies?

Fast technological development is a given at this point in history, but its effects in higher education still have yet to be determined. Numerous and critical questions about what instructional problems may be mitigated, solved, or created by new technologies, particularly those deemed “disruptive technologies” have yet to be answered. The promise of a revolution in higher education to transform its efficiency and effectiveness sparked by disruptive technologies is one that must be carefully examined.

We are soliciting studies that develop and elaborate our understanding of the nature and role of disruptive technologies in the context of higher education. It is important that we get past the hype cycles of ICT/DT innovations, and systematically examine the potentialities and limitations of technology generally and disruptive technology, in particular.

Studies are drawn from a variety of perspectives, methods and disciplines are invited.