Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. (Political booknotes: motherboard jungle).

OVERSOLD AND
UNDERUSED:
Computers in the Classroom
by Larry Cuban
Harvard University Press, $27.05

I WAS FIRST EXPOSED TO THE new "science" of computers in high school in the '70s. As I recall, it involved feeding a series of punch cards placed in a special order into a large box that sat on an old-fashioned school desk. After some impressive machine-like noises, the computer would produce a long tape with holes punched in it that I was told was my "program." I don't recall ever understanding the benefits of this exciting new technology, except for those really clever folks who figured out how to print messages like "Happy Birthday" on their tapes. A few years later, in college, during what could be considered the dawn of computer learning, I sat alongside hundreds of students as we were taught to write programs in computer languages like BASIC and FORTRAN. To this day, I have no idea what value they held for me.

Today, computer punch cards and BASIC are scientific antiquities, outdated products in a long line of increasingly sophisticated technological learning tools that have been relegated to the techno trash heap. But even as computers have grown more powerful and prevalent in the world of education, the underlying question that confronted my classmates and teachers remains: How will we ever be able to use computers for teaching and learning in an efficient, productive, and ultimately enlightening way?

Over the last decade, the idea that computers will revolutionize the classroom has been obsessively hyped by the business and tech communities, politicians, academics, and even some teachers. Larry Cuban, a professor of education at Stanford University, confronts this challenge in his insightful new book, Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. Cuban has written frequently and skeptically about the value and proclivity of computers in education. He elaborates on those themes here. This slim volume raises weighty questions: What have we been led to expect from educational technology? Are those expectations realistic? Are we trying to achieve them in the right way? Cuban doesn't provide simple answers. But in explaining the history of computer technology, in education, and by suggesting why desired outcomes have or haven't come about, he provides clear-minded insights into how ed-ucators can develop what remains a largely untapped resource.

To find an answer, Cuban examines case studies in kindergartens, high schools, and his own academic turf, Stanford University, all of which are located in Silicon Valley, perhaps the most technologically advanced spot on earth. Some of what he discovers is encouraging: ethnically diverse preschoolers using interactive software to build vocabulary; teenagers using the Internet to research projects and produce professional presentations; college students in a creative writing course developing their literary skills through Web pages to critique and collaborate with their classmates. But much of it is also disheartening. These programs may be models of technological sophistication, but Cuban wonders why, "in this heartland of high-tech innovation, where beliefs in technological progress run strong and equipment is abundant, has there been so little use of the new machines and software inside classrooms and so little change in existing teaching practices?"

Two theories--one practical, the other more philosophical--form the crux of Cuban's analysis. The first says that teachers don't really factor into the technology equation. Computers can be a wonderful resource, even for teachers who were great before they came along. But simply dumping computers in a classroom doesn't make them useful. Many of the teachers Cuban observes have concerns about the reliability, accessibility, and complexity of the machines and the ease with which they can be incorporated into a lesson plan. What's more, many teachers lack technical support--unlike businesses, most schools don't have an IT guy down the hall to save the day when computers go haywire.

The other reason that computers haven't brought about widespread classroom change is because they literally were not designed to do so. Educational software developers failed to give serious consideration to teachers' needs or even to consult them when designing learning programs. It's an embarrassing revelation. After all, you wouldn't design a new golf club without talking to a few golf pros, would you? But that's essentially what's happened. Many of the applications used to teach kids were modeled on programs used in the business world, simply because that's all that developers had to work with. As a result, students and teachers are expected to learn with spreadsheets and databases created for business professionals, software with "rampant featurism" too complex for most kids to grasp. If successful products are to be developed, Cuban says, they'll have to put the teacher-student dynamic front and center.

Software designed for business naturally leads to curricula which overemphasize such things as job training and increasing productivity at the cost of lessons young students need to learn (and teachers wish to teach). Many educators, Cuban included, believe today's learning technology has caused schools to rely too heavily on a corporate model. But lazy software developers aren't the only ones that prevent computers from being useful teaching aids. Elected leaders share the blame, too. No one would deny that education has been a way out of poverty for millions of Americans--it's why President Clinton chose the catchy phrase "the more you learn, the more you earn" to help sell his education programs.

But the emphasis on a direct link between education and future earnings rankles many educators who believe, correctly, that it shortchanges not only learning but also the democratic mission at the heart of our public school system. Given their disappointing performance to date, the question of whether computers will ever live up to their hype is a dicey one. The results "tempt" Cuban to call for a moratorium on new computers. But he stops short of doing so. As anyone who's fiddled with the latest educational software or explored the vast learning resources on the Web can attest, there is good reason to continue trying. But it's important to recognize that those who tout computers as miracle cures for ailing schools are no different from proponents of vouchers and privatization, who promise the same thing.

Technology alone is no panacea for problems like inequitable funding, overcrowded classrooms, and crumbling, antiquated schools. Only through a commitment to working with teachers and developing programs aimed at kids will computers fulfill their potential as a teaching aid. Any approach that limits teacher involvement to flipping classroom computers on in the morning and off in the evening is guaranteed to leave a valuable resource untapped. To pretend otherwise would be as silly as teaching today's students FORTRAN.

ALEXANDER WOHL, an adjunct professor at American University, is the director of public affairs at the American Federation of Teachers.