2021: A Year for Pre-Empting Disruption
In the earlier part of this century, it was all the rage to make predictions about the year 2020. Part of the fun was punning on 20/20 vision.
Of course, no one had a crystal ball and I’m pretty sure most schools weren’t predicting a global pandemic.
Yet, a decade ago, even without predicting a pandemic, organizations like Global Online Academy, the Jesuit Virtual Learning Academy, OneSchoolhouse, EdX, Coursera, Udemy, and others were building robust online learning platforms.
That slow, persistent work might look like “forecasting the future.”
More likely, those organizations were “pre-empting disruption”: a decade ago, it was all but certain that education would eventually move online. Kevin Kelly refers to this as “the inevitable.” The question was not if but rather when and how.
Here is a short list—by no means exhaustive—of things that might disrupt your school in the next decade:
Demographic erosion
Home School 2.0
Test blind college admissions
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
Climate collapse
Political polarization
Immersive technology (VR, AR, XR)
What disruption should you start to pre-empt?
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Check out the other posts in the “2021: A Year for…” series:
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