The use and misuse of computers in schools

By Anita Lie

SINGAPORE (JP): In addition to radio and television, digital technology, to be more specific computers, has had a major effect on both society and schools. Although the impact of computers is perhaps more subtle than that of either radio or television, computers are becoming more and more ubiquitous in governments, industry, commerce and schools.

A century ago, schooling was almost exclusively a knowledge- focused activity. Students and teachers were interested in mastering intellectual essentials such as Virgil's Aeneid, Xenophon's Anabasis, Homer and Shakespeare.

Since the 1980s, computers have called into question this historic role. Steve Wozniak, founder of Apple Computers, states the case as follows: "It's healthy to learn basic concepts such as arithmetic and logic, but there is just no point in having to solve the problems over and over again every day. It's a waste of time -- personal computers are going to free people from the mundane things -- they will allow people's minds to work at a higher level."

In schools, computers can do many exciting things to facilitate and expand learning. Basically, schools can utilize computers in three different ways. First, the school's personnel can use computers to aid in administration. As an information system, computers have replaced the painstaking traditional way of record-keeping in notes, files, ledgers and registers. Second, computer is taught as a subject: computer science, computer technology, or information technology. Third, teachers can utilize computers to assist instruction in the classrooms.

This article is mainly concerned with the use and misuse of computers in the third manner.

Computers may still be inaccessible to the average Indonesian school but, due to their widespread and fast growth, it is wise to reflect on the pluses and minuses of integrating computers in the curricula before jumping on the band wagon.

Many new teachers are still graduating without ever having laid hands on a computer, let alone knowing anything of the productive ways in which the technology can be used in classrooms.

Many practicing teachers will not have computers in their classrooms or accept them, only in very few schools, if they are also given instructional software so that they will not have to make decisions about what to do with the software. Computers are so promising and yet deceiving that teachers can be vulnerable to employing computer resources in unproductive ways.

A few Indonesian schools have begun to use computers. Some use them mainly as part of their promotion and marketing plan for prospective students and donors. Others have integrated computers into the curricula. The question is, of course, how computers can be used effectively to facilitate and stimulate learning.

Computer games and simulations can be more than entertainment; they can be compelling exercises for the mind (like Dungeons and Dragons and Oregon Trail) or for hand and eye coordination (like Tetris). Many games and simulations are promoted for educational purposes, from the exploration of a newly-discovered region to investment on the stock exchange.

Educational software packages are available in various forms from a number of publishers under many titles. One popular title is Oregon Trail. Users engage in planning for a journey through a newly-discovered region in America and make all the necessary calculations for the buying, selling, and trading of things they may need for the journey.

Another software package provides genetic simulations where generations of animals can be bred, studying the inheritance of dominant and recessive characteristics. Activities of this kind require that users have some degree of knowledge in geography, geology, biology, demography and other fields.

Computer simulations enable learners to explore and experiment in situations that would be too dangerous, expensive, or impossible to experience in any other way. A nuclear power plant can be created on the screen and the consequences observed as an incident blows it up. Chemical substances can be mixed and the results noted. Human beings and animals can be dissected repeatedly.

In the area of foreign language learning, various simulations on diskettes or CD ROMs create real-life situations, in which learners can engage themselves in meaningful conversations which would not otherwise be possible.

Not every learner has the opportunity to hear a foreign language in the way spoken by a native speaker and to experience the culture in which the language is used. Audio and video tapes can provide the samples and images but not in the interactive way computers do.

Computers can also provide enriching and reinforcing activities for many situations, especially in large classes where teachers find it very hard to give individual attention and assistance to each student. Students can work independently or with other students on their computers.

As machines, computers are superior in situations where human teachers may lose patience or control with some not-so-bright students. Computers are programmed to say "That's not the right answer. Please try again." repeatedly and patiently while normal teachers would probably not be able to tolerate repeated wrong answers.

Despite those promising benefits, schools should not jump on the bandwagon without considering the possible misuses of computers. Educational software is designed to aid instruction but it does not make instruction effective unless the teacher does so.

In his book Insult to Intelligence, Frank Smith notes the short-right-answer phenomenon in education that has been carried over in software packages. Learners are presented with one item after another and tested to ensure that each item is mastered before they can move on to the next step. This approach is known as "teach and test".

Nowadays, program developers often refer to the approach as "drill and test". To teachers who have become aware of its consequences, this technique is known as "drill and kill". Therefore, computers can only make bad instruction worse, just as they can make good instruction better. A computer becomes a powerful tool in the hands of an effective teacher but a beguiling master in those of an irresponsible one.

Another caveat concerning the use (or misuse) of computers is its place in the curriculum. Just as televisions have been used by busy parents to be electronic babysitters to occupy their children, computers, too, have been used by irresponsible teachers to take over instruction. It is understandably very tempting to turn to computers to fill in class time, especially when teachers are overburdened and underpaid.

Computers may be great instruments in assisting instruction but they are definitely not teacher-substitutes. Teachers are responsible for providing the framework of the lessons and tying in the use of computers to the objectives of the lessons. As Frank Smith says, "Computers are not a threat to education or liberty, but the ways in which people might use them are."

The use of computers has been pervasive in all areas of life. There is no need to keep computers out of schools. Turning one's back on computers is like rejecting radio, television and automobiles; ignoring the good for the fear of the bad. School personnel -- policy makers, administrators, teachers and students -- must attempt to be conversant with computer technology so they know how to make the most of it.

The writer is a lecturer of Petra Christian University, Surabaya, and presently a visiting lecturer at Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, Regional Language Center, Singapore.