How the Computer Went to School

Governments everywhere have advocated the use of computers in schools as an essential learning technology. Over the years, the view that computers can enhance student learning has gained broad acceptance.

When schools promote the use of the latest computing technology, now tablets, in their classrooms, they signal technological sophistication and the academic success which computers, allied with learning, are assumed to bring. The association of computers with success in school, however, is neither a natural nor an inevitable phenomenon.

Over more than thirty years, particular governments, individuals, and organisations have actively promoted computers as learning technologies. Enormous amounts of money and time have been spent promoting specific kinds of educational computing, and distinct policies by which these might be implemented.

One important outcome has been to entrench the view that all school children will benefit equally from access to computers, overlooking inequities associated with differing patterns of use.

How the Computer Went to School gives an account of the origins and development of the computer industry in the United States and shows how these influenced educational computing in both that country and Australia. It explores government policy visions which prioritise the economic benefits of educational computing for the nation and asks questions about the proper role of the computer in education and society more generally.