Responses to "Visions for the Use of Computers in Classroom Instruction"

Abstract

To continue the dialogue about the role of computers in classroom instruction, the Editorial Board solicited four responses to the symposium "Visions for the Use of Computers in Classroom Instruction" (February 1989), in which Judah Schwartz, Sylvia Weir, and the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC) presented broad perspectives on the uses and potential of computers in schools. In the first response, Eric Bredo summarizes and integrates the three visions by identifying both common and complementary aspects, focusing particularly on the different levels of learning contexts that must be considered in any discussion about integrating computers into schooling. The second response is an edited telecommunications exchange in which Tracy Winn of Massachusetts and Ike Coleman of South Carolina discuss the classroom realities involved in implementing these visions. This exchange took place on the BreadNet conference system, an international interactive computer network for teachers associated with the Bread Loaf School of English that links teachers and students from places as diverse as McGrath, Alaska; Deming, New Mexico; and Lima, Peru. In the third response, Larry Cuban provides a historical perspective on the use of various technologies in schools, illustrating his position that the introduction of new technologies cannot lead to the type of positive change Schwartz, Weir, and LCHC envision without accompanying organizational changes. In the fourth response, Dale LaFrenz and Jo Elise Friedman focus on the central role the classroom teacher plays in any attempt to use technology to foster educational change.