Breaking the mold: How a global pandemic unlocks innovation in K–12 instruction

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January 11, 2021
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INTRODUCTION

Slowly but steadily over the last decade, online learning expanded its role within K–12 schools: many districts bought devices and upgraded connectivity, some assignments and textbooks moved to the cloud, software increasingly displaced worksheets, and internet research became a norm. Then in early 2020, the global coronavirus pandemic rocked the world—and the arc of the online learning trend bent in heretofore unimaginable ways.

Practically overnight, the spread of COVID-19 caused a sudden shutdown of classroom-based instruction—the centuries-old emblem of formal education. Fortunately, the capabilities of the technological era—in which broadband connectivity, mobile communication, and video conferencing are increasingly common—meant that for the first time in world history, schools have had a substantive way to keep learning going while brick-and-mortar school buildings are shuttered. Nonetheless, by most accounts, the transition has not been easy.

At the Christensen Institute, we’ve spent the last decade studying trends in online and blended learning out of interest in their potential to enable student-centered learning. Yet in ways we never anticipated, COVID-19 brought these modalities to the forefront. As this new reality unfolds, we continue to document both the challenges and the innovations happening across the US K–12 landscape.

As our latest work on this front, we’ve launched what will be a series of nationally-representative surveys of teachers and education administrators that will capture snapshots of instructional practices during the pandemic. The complete findings from our first survey, along with details about our survey methodology and sample, are available in an accompanying report. This brief highlights interesting findings from the first survey, discusses trends in instructional practice that could redefine education in years to come, and offers theory-based insights and recommendations for both powering through the pandemic and evolving toward a more student-centered future.

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Discover more stunning insights from our other surveys:

Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow for the Clayton Christensen Institute. His work focuses on using the Theory of Disruptive Innovation to study innovative instructional models and their potential to scale student-centered learning in K–12 education. He also studies demand for innovative resources and practices across the K–12 education system using the Jobs to Be Done Theory.