ABSTRACT
Colleges must find the resources and the administrative response necessary to fully exploit instructional systems for learning about computing and for problem solving. Institutions are nonetheless failing to support students with adequate access and adequate resources. Computer center managers and faculty can recite examples from their experiences of lives changed, of ordinary or perhaps even slow students "turning on" to become top performers as a result of their encounter with the computer. Such systems should be made more generally available and easy to use through both academic and administrative support. The balance between the positive and negative factors may determine the appropriate degree of optimism about dominance of computers as a direct aid to learning. Development of computing as a direct aid to learning will require massive reallocations and new resources at a time of declining enrollments. A generation may pass before teachers appear with the art and style to produce aesthetically interesting learning materials.
