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Conceptual Frameworks
Cavanaugh, C. 2009. Getting students more learning time online: Distance education in
support of expanded time in K–12 schools. Washington, DC: Center for American
Progress.
• Purpose: “This report outlines the rationale for and steps toward making
distance education courses uniformly available to expand school learning time. It
also outlines some of the urgent needs in American education today and explains
how school districts and educators can use K-12 distance education to address
them” (p. 3).
• Methods: A review of existing literature, including a survey conducted by the
author.
• Findings: “A survey of the directors of 20 virtual schools in 14 states found that
the average annual cost for a full-time online student was $4,310 in 2008, while
the U.S. average per-pupil expenditure in public schools was $9,138, as of 2006”
(p. 12). “Thirty percent of school leaders in a 2008 national survey stated that
online and blended courses are financially beneficial in their schools” (p. 13).
Christensen, C., C. Johnson, and M. Horn. 2008. Disrupting class: How disruptive
innovation will change the way the world learns. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Purpose: The purpose of the book is “to introduce the innovation disruptively—
not by using it to compete against the existing paradigm and serve existing
customers, but to target those who are not being served” (p. 1).
• Methods: This widely cited book represents an important contribution to the
conceptual framework about productivity and educational technology (including
online learning). Its data sources include some anecdotal evidence from
individual schools, the authors’ expert opinion and existing literature from the
field.
• Findings: “Disrupting what actually happens in the classroom by instituting
student-centric technologies is vital to customize learning for each individual
student and to improve motivation for all” (p. 214).
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