Beale, D: How the Computer Went to School

For more than 30 years, governments, as well as certain prominent individuals and organizations, have actively promoted computers as learning technologies. Enormous amounts of money and time have been spent promoting specific kinds of educational computing, and the policies by which these might be implemented. The view that computers can enhance student learning has gained broad acceptance. When schools promote the use in their classrooms of the latest computing technology - now tablets - they signal the technological sophistication and the academic success which computers, allied with learning, are assumed to bring. The association of computers with academic success, however, is neither a natural nor an inevitable phenomenon. The view that all school children will benefit equally from access to computers overlooks 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 the US and Australia. The book explores government policy visions which prioritize the economic benefits of educational computing for a nation, and it asks questions about the proper role of the computer in education and in society more generally. (Series: Education)