ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a summary of evaluative research concerned with the following questions: 'Have computers been any use to education?' Has this substantial commitment allowed teachers and learners to reach their goals more efficiently, more creatively, more agreeably – or however it is we want to express progress? It is concerned with prevailing models of what an educational computer activity might 'do' for a learner: what kind of learning resource does this technology provide? The chapter summarises difficulties associated with the reaction of practitioners to the implementation of new technology in education. It reviews contemporary models of computer-based learning by reference to four metaphors that are suggested by them: computer-as-tutor, computer-as-pupil, computer-as-simulation and computer-as-tool. The chapter considers how an impersonal technology relates to what is traditionally a most socially organised activity: classroom learning. It highlights a recurring concern that integrates several problematic issues mentioned so far – namely, the relation of new technology to the social quality of educational experience.
