This year marks the 20th anniversary of my newsletter, Digital Education. When I started it in 2000 it was called Computers in Classrooms.

Here are an article from the first issue, and also a scenario intended to give ICT Co-ordinators something to think about.

The only formatting available was underlining and spacing, the font was monospaced (like a typewriter) and I couldn’t include graphics. The screenshot shows you what it looked like.

Interestingly, I think both the article and the scenario challenge are as pertinent today as they were then. The nomenclature and circumstances may have changed — for example, ICT (Information and Communications Technology) has been replaced by Computing, and the National Curriculum no longer stipulate that technology must be used in other subjects. (More’s the pity, but many schools do anyway.) Also, not every school has a computer room now, but the problem described in the scenario would equally apply to a bank of laptops or pupils’ own devices.

The only thing I would change if I had a time machine would be to reduce the number of exclamation marks.

I have replaced the names of people and their employers with initials. The reason is that although I had their permission to cite them 20 years ago, I no longer have their contact details to check if I can cite them now.

Finally, before I let you get on and read the article, if you would like to subscribe to my newsletter now, you will find information about it and a sign-up form here:

Digital Education

And now here is that article from the very first issue of the newsletter:

Why do it?

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Forget about Government regulations, inspectors and moral blackmail (from people like me) about dragging yourself into the 20th century, let alone the 21st. Your lessons are perfectly good, your students get A's every time and you've just been nominated for an award. So why scrap everything and try to introduce computers into your lessons? After all, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

 This sort of viewpoint is, of course, very valid, and one which more people ought to take note of. What is needed is not just *more* ICT, but *better* ICT. In the context of the curriculum at large, "better" means more able to help the students obtain higher grades than they otherwise might have done. If using ICT won't achieve that in a particular context, there's absolutely no point in using it.  

For example, when computers first started to appear in classrooms in the UK, just over 20 years ago, my subject specialism at the time was Economics. Now, there were computer programs around which simulated the workings of the economy, and these were brilliant to use because they enabled you to experiment in a way that would not have been possible with any other teaching aid. You could, for example, adopt a target of zero inflation, and see what would happen to unemployment. Or you could target zero unemployment, and see what would happen to inflation. But for *real* teaching, you could use these targets to prise open the "black box" and fathom out what the underlying assumptions of the model were.  

That program had so many extension activity possibilities that just about every investment of time spent on them paid wonderful dividends. On the other hand, there were programs available which dealt with topics in such a way that it was almost *never* worth the effort of setting the computer up for them. It's very important, I think, to make such judgements on the basis of ones expertise, both in the subject and as a teacher, and not get locked into a "for" or "against" position which does not take account of the circumstances in question.  

There are, of course, practical considerations too. JP, of the xyz School in Canada, found the prospect of using computers very daunting at first, given the lack of equipment, lack of "technical" skills and fear of the unknown.  

These thoughts are also echoed by RS, of the ABC Area School District in the USA, who was concerned that the students would know more than the teacher, who in turn would end up looking pretty stupid.  

CW, Advisory Teacher of ICT in UVW, London, acknowledges these fears:  

One of the most common fallacies ICT Co-ordinators (and teachers) have is that they think they need to know everything about computers before they can teach ICT. This just isn't true. NO-ONE knows everything about computers. 

It's very easy to get into a negative, downward spiral about these things, and the fear is quite understandable. If you were a geography teacher and a pupil asked you what ribbon development is and you replied "No idea", then yes, you would look rather silly. But when you consider the complexity of modern programs, nobody is so unreasonable (not even kids!) that they would think you should know every single keyboard shortcut and all the subtle nuances and hidden nooks and crannies of programs.

As an example, I consider myself to be pretty adept at using computers, yet just last week I accidentally discovered something in my email program that I've never come across before -- despite having read the manual and having used the program in its various forms for the past 5 years!  

Also, there is the practical worry: what happens if the network breaks down in the middle of the lesson? (See the Scenario section below, also.)  

But there are positive things too, such as student motivation (which we will look at in the issue after next), and the fact that ICT can help children discuss things. As JP puts it:  

‘Isolated' learning has changed to collaborative/co-operative learning in my classroom.  

ICT can open up worlds and break down barriers to learning. But it's not a panacea and it needs to approached and evaluated sensibly. In my humble opinion, the person who won't even look at a computer and the person who won't use anything else, regardless of the objective circumstances, are as bad as each other!  

If you have any views on what makes teachers reluctant or willing to incorporate computers in their curriculum work, please complete the survey form at ….  

This month’s scenario

You booked the use of the computer room ages ago, as part of your scheme of work. You've got the class in, everyone has settled down and have started to log on to the network. Then you experience a sinking feeling as it becomes abundantly clear that the network is not working. What do you do?