Disruptive Innovation: The Rise of Distance Education.
In the previous column, 1 I introduced the term disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation (DI) can be defined as an innovation that provides a simpler, more convenient, more accessible, and more affordable alternative to traditional markets and/or products. The purpose of the innovation is not to purposefully wreak havoc but to provide value to those who currently may be unable to access or use the existing product. By providing value to the underserved, the consumer demand for the new product or idea frequently transforms the industry and eventually creates a new status quo. There are many examples of DI in healthcare and education, including the introduction of advanced practice nurses to meet patients' unmet needs. Nursing education will obviously be impacted by changes in the healthcare sector. See the previous column for more details about the impact of DI in higher education. Nurse educators could role model the characteristics of DI to include looking at the opportunities to be responsive toour consumers' (ie, students) needs and having the right attitude to effect change. The DI theory posits that disruptors not only create new markets to meet unmet needs but through continuing improvements, they also reshape current ones. For nurse educators, that means embracing new pedagogies and technologies to improve the quality and delivery of education, and specifically those strategies shown to work well for distance education. The fact that the Internet, hailed as the most disruptive influence of our time, has changedour ability to access information, and that this increased accessibility is available with mobile devices, begs our rethinking of traditional ways of teaching and learning in higher education. Faculty need to [seek] out new instructional and evidence based methods to offer our students the best education possible. Online learning is not a fad; it is not going awayVtherefore, nursing faculty should get on the online learning train, instead of running alongside or behind it. It is time for nurse faculty to influence and reshape the education market.
Clinical nurse specialist CNS