Developments in the use of microcomputers in North American schools: To what extent is the teacher's role changing?

Abstract

Many North American educators have stated that the computer is making a profound impact on the role of the teacher. It has been predicted that 'within twenty years the computer will be the major delivery system for education at all levels and in practically all subject areas' (Bork, 1984). Teachers are told that computers are causing a 'revolution' in schools and that, because of computers, teachers 'must evolve or dissolve' (Kelley, 1985), and, 'as the world is being revolutionized by computers, the future of schools and teachers, it seems, will be digital as well' (Oakes and Schneider, 1984). In some ways the view that computers are causing a revolution for North American teachers appears to be supported. Whereas in 1979 even a single microcomputer was a novelty in most North American elementary schools, today multiple microcomputer systems are commonplace in educational settings. Between Spring 1983 and Spring 1985 the number of microcomputers in use in U.S. schools quadrupled, from about 250,000 to over one million; the median number of computers in elementary schools rose from 2 to 6, and in secondary schools rose from 5 to 21 (Becket, 1986). In addition, approximately 85% of U.S. secondary schools and 30°7o of U.S. elementary schools now have a computer laboratory (Becker, 1986). In Canada, computer activity is comparably well established (Simair, 1985). For example, the province of Ontario supports the ambitious integration of hardware support, software development, and teacher training through its Computers in Education Project which, among other activities, subsidizes Ontario schools in their acquisitions of networked microsystems and locally developed software (Penny, 1986). Other Canadian provinces also support innovative developments in the application of computers in education, notably Manitoba with its software development and distribution project (Sandals, 1986), and Alberta with its activity in both localarea and wide-area networking (Bell, 1986). Teacher training opportunities relative to computer use in education have also proliferated. For example, a survey of Canadian teacher training institutions (Collis and Muir, 1986) found all but one of them to offer credit courses in some aspect of computer use for teachers. In addition, less formal computer-related training is now readily accessible to the majority of teachers. 'Computers in education' conferences appear throughout North America, with virtually every state and province hosting annual computer-using teachers' meetings or conferences. And yet, despite all this activity, there is little evidence of many, or even any, substantial overall changes having occurred in the essential aspects of education; in what students learn, or how they learn, or in how teachers teach (Oakes and Schneider, 1984; Tucker, 1985). The average North American elementary school microcomputer is likely to stand idle 75% of the time (Becker, 1983); only 15% of secondary school teachers, including those teaching computer science, use computers with any regularity (Becker, 1986); the typical science teacher has never once used a computer as part of the science laboratory or lesson (Lehman, 1985); only about 6% of