"Computer Errors" All of us who are involved in computer applications either cringe or become righteously indignant when we read in the newspaoer or see on TV a description of how a "computer error" caused this or that problem. I react similarly whenever I hear that "the computer won't let us do that." Occasionally of course, true computer errors do occur, and there are things that cannot be done by computers, or, given the current state of the art, are impractical to accomplish by computer. However, in most cases "computer errors" are reallv data-entrv errors com~oundedhv lack of checking for r&onahlen~ss of the data, or actual errord or insufficiencies in the algorithms used to accomolish a given task. Similarly, the seemingly inflexibility df computers can usually be attributed to less than optimal programs, not the inability of the machine itself to he programmed to respond flexibly to human needs. Thus %omputer errors" and the inability of computers to adapt to human diversity reflect either lack of skill or lack of effort on the part of a human programmer, not inherent qualities of a machine. As we learn more about computers, how to program them, and the hardward appropriate to various tasks, the prohlems described above will almost certainly he alleviated. The computer is a very new device relative to the m a n of human historv. " . and we cannot exoect to learn overnight all the k 3 t ways of using computers and Sringing them into an intellectual svmbiosis with humans. This is especially true in the case of instructional applications, where the human-computer interface is extremely important, and where the vast majority of teachers are only beeinnine to have available to them computers with anything ~ p p r o a c h i nthe ~ hardware characte~isticsneeded for instrucrional tasks. That no sin& hest way has heen found is reflected in the difor writing instructional versity of applications that have been described in these pages during the past three years. I am convinced that so far we have only scratched the surface and a great deal more remains to he learned about using computers for chemistry instruction and about how best to design a
computer to interact effectively with humans. Finding out how to do the things we want to 1'0 will require much experimentation as well as communication and cooneration amone oroeram authors. evaluators. and users. ~ e ' s h o u l dhear inmi& that we are a t the beginning of a ereat deal of develooment work reuuired to learn even the Fudiments of the computer as a medium of expression and instruction. Anvthina done in the near term should he viewed as what it &an experiment. Lack of success in a few exoeriments should not he taken to mean that the medium should be discarded, especially if those experiments are oremature. Indeed such attempts may rest on an (unproved) assumption that we knowhow c&puters can intervene successfully in the educational process. One example of this may be a ~ ~ l that a n I learned of recently to put an entire course on the computer and teach it without a human lecturer. To be successful such a project will require tremendous effort and a long period of testing and evaluation. Some indication of what is needed is eiven in Computer Series #2, April 1979. However, myunderstanding is that the rationale for this project is costbenefit ratio and that it is being rushed to completion. If true, this would neeate to a considerable degree the ex~erimental nature of the project and its primary value in the develooment of comouter-aided instruction. Also, should such a'project he u~successful,this ought not to he taken as evidence that all computer applications are doomed to failure. At the current stage of d&elopment computers are far more useful to supplement than to replace lecturers, and this will probably remain true for some time, if not forever. There remain things that humans can do better than comouters as well as those that comouters can do better than humans. We ought to take optimal advantage of each. Not to do so would he a comouter error of the worst kind.
John W. Moore Editor. Computer Series
Volume 59 Number 4 April 1982
327
