ABSTRACT
When young people first started to make use of personal computers, social scientists observed their activity and issued warnings. They suggested that this was a compulsive technology and one that could cultivate a rather solitary style of engagement in the user (Turkle, 1984; Wiezenbaum, 1976). Accordingly, as computers began to migrate into classrooms, there was an inevitable fear that the experience of teaching and learning would change in ways that echoed this (Bliss, Chandra & Cox, 1986; Lichtman, 1979). Perhaps pupil-machine interactions would replace the congenial bustle of classroom talk and activity.
