Ed-Tech Policy

Report Calls for Computer-Use Strategies

August 21, 1985 1 min read
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By 1990, Close To Three Million Microcomputers Will Be Installed In american Schools, But Their Successful Use Will Depend On Whether education Officials Adopt Effective Planning, Staff-training strategies, Implement Necessary Institutional Reforms & An

The report, prepared by Education turnkey Systems Inc. under contract with the commission, attempts to document the uses of computers in schools. It is based on a review of existing research and consultation with a panel of experts.

“Less than 20 percent of the public schools in this country have plans for the effective use of computers and related technology in education,” the report notes. “Without such planning, effective use will be minimal, with school decisionmaking focusing upon crises and external pressures.”

According to the recently released report, the widespread use of more sophisticated integrated courseware and computer-managed instructional systems, “will require massive teacher training and retraining efforts focusing upon individualized instruction. Such investments in staff development will be much more costly and time-consuming than existing teacher training in the use of the current generation of courseware.”

According to the report, anticipated technological advances resulting in the marriage of telecommunications and microcomputers “implies higher degrees of centralization, whether at the state level, through the distribution of courseware via electronic means, or at the school-building level through the use of local area networks."--lck

A version of this article appeared in the August 21, 1985 edition of Education Week as Report Calls for Computer-Use Strategies

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