Computers in learning: A coat of many colours

Abstract

Typical of many attempts to classify the role of computers in education is the attempt to formalize it within a number of acronyms such as CAI (computer assisted instruction). This has more to do with technical aspects than with eduational values. In this paper Taylor's model of tutor, tool. tutee is used as a framework in which to discuss the different ways in which computers can be used in the classroom. In the tutor model the computer, programmed by experts, presents subject material to which the student responds. A number of advantages, and general criticisms, of this model are quoted. Author languages, designed to be used by subject experts rather than professional programmers provide an alternative approach. Some writers see it as being very straightforward, in contrast to others who argue that the creation of a dialogue between student and computer is a complex process requiring a degree of expertise not commonly found in professional programmers. A number of authors expect the thrust of computer based education to be in the area of expert systems and artificial intelligence, but there is a list of unsolved problems related to the development of expert system tutors. The tool model is one in which the computer has practical utility by taking on routine tasks, enhancing human creative skills, saving time and preserving intellectual energy. The statement is quoted that few educators are aware of the wide range of powerful general-purpose tools available, and of the consequences for the world of their students. The word processor has been seen as one such tool for children, as has access to history databases. Work with the Logo language has been essential to the development of the tutee model, one in which the child teaches the computer. A child building a computer program to carry out a process develops a complete understanding of the process described. In building computational models, the child will be expected to make mistakes, and seeking bugs will lead to making new hypotheses, devising test strategies, and explaining unexpected results. A development of the tutee model, at upper secondary school level, is the idea of computing with ideas, and the view that computer programming is a means of abstracting ideas. Such approaches have little chance of widespread acceptance against the prevailing conservatism of computer science educators. Papert is quoted as seeing the danger that experiments with computing and learning will be seen as failures; they are either trivial or unscientific.