ABSTRACT
The computer can be employed in colleges and departments of education in just as many ways as in any other educational institution. For example, it can sieve access to information, conduct a tutorial dialogue, become a simulation" or provide any of the many other services described elsewhere in this book. Thus, in order to examine its impact on the education of student teachers, we need to keep in mind what distinguishes their education from that of other groups of students. Put in its baldest terms, student teachers predominantly learn about three things: the subjects they are to teach, techniques for teaching them and how children learn. This chapter describes examples of the use of computers in teacher education that illustrate these three tasks. My purpose is not to give a wide-ranging survey but to indicate some possibilities, based on the question: what uniqul! contribution can the computer make to teacher education? My contention is that the computer offers something new and valuable to teacher education, something that cannot be imitated by other means. The computer is not just a novel presentation medium for conventional teaching material.
