Why should DE leaders, in particular, be concerned about the phenomenon of disruptive

innovation?
I believe DE leaders need to be concerned about disruptive innovation because ultimately they
will be asked to help transition their company or school to adopt a DE learning environment.
They will be called upon to justify the reason for the changes and to convince the stakeholders
why and how it can be done. They will need to be able to sell this important innovation to all
levels of an organization.
DE leaders must be able to provide to business/education stakeholders proof that DE can expand
their market, increase profits, and in the case of education, still satisfy their vision of educating
as many people as possible. As Christensen points out, the DE stakeholders need to be taught to
think differently about the problem (Euchner & Christensen, 2011, pg. 15).
How can DE leaders best counterman the perception that DE options represent disruption
rather than transformative innovation?
I think DE has proven itself to be successful to the leaders of the educational environments. I
think it is more difficult to convince persons at the lower levels, such as with faculty, to adopt
this sort of change because they dont see what they do as a business, but more as a calling. I
believe that it is incumbent on the DE leaders to show persons such as the faculty, that DE is an
innovation that does not have to change the way they perceive teaching. DE can still satisfy that
calling. As Beaudoin says Transformation leaders in education must be capable of helping
stakeholders (e.g., administrators, faculty, students, trustees), recognize that there are obvious
benefits in doing business in new ways (Beaudoin, 2012, pg. 467).
It seems to me that the gentlest way to introduce DE to reluctant stakeholders is follow
Christensens advice that the creating a different organization is the only to achieve profit and
success (Beaudoin, 2012, pg. 469).
Beaudoin, M. (2012). Institutional leadership: Transformative change or disruptive technology.
In M. Moore (Ed.) Handbook of distance education (3rd edition) (pp. 467-480). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Euchner, J., & Christensen, C. (2011). Managing disruption: An interview with clayton
christensen. Research-Technology Management, 54(1), 11-17. Retrieved from
http://www.iriweb.org/Main/Library/RTM_Journal/Public_Site/Navigation/Publications/Researc
h-Technology_Management/index.aspx