The FlPSE Lectures
Technological Thrust vs. Instructional Inertia G. A. Crosby Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164 The current thrusts in technological development are straining the structures of the educational systems in this country. Yet, despite the gigantic size of the total educational enterorise and the normal institutional resistance to change, ;he process of adapting to technological advances is proceedine with deliherate speed. It is instructive to review the recenthistory of this adaptation to technological change, to assess where we are today in its evolution, and to attempt to peek into the future, both near- and far-term. Educatlonal Response to Technological Change The forces that have been molding the educational systems in the United States since World War I1 are easy to identify. Generated by the G.I. Bill of Rights, an enormous influx of students caused unprecedented strains. especiallv in the higher educational components. The universities were not prepared for the sheer crush of the numbers of returnina veterans. Accustomed to admitting students with well-defined academic backgrounds, colleges and universities were also unprepared for the increasing educational inhomogeneity of this new and different clientele, a trend that has persisted to the present. Contemporaneous with the explosions in the student populations and the increasing diversity of their backgrounds came the dramatic increase in sponsored research, which, particularly in the sciences, inexorably removed professors from the classroom, thereby pushing the burden of instruction onto even fewer teachers. As the percentages of students aspiring to higher education persistently rose, often accelerated by national priorities and policies, instructional methods dictated by educational idealism gave way to techniques designed to solve practical logistical problems. The blackboard yielded to the overhead and slide projectors; the multiple-choice exam supplanted the bluebook; the essay question rapidly disappeared. Technology began to help us, in the form of mark-sense scoring machines and, eventually, record keeping on mainframe computers. In fact, technoloeical innovations were welcomed. sometimes begrudgingly,by harried teachers huried under the weight of student numbers. The situation can be aotls described as "coping with circumstances", and, conco~it&tly, the great downward slide in the quality of instruction began. The nation was demanding educational services that the system could not provide. Emerging technology alleviated some of the burden, but, in general, instructional methodologies did not change fast enough to deliver services to so many without sacrificing quality. The problems seemed to defy solution. The Impact of the Personal Computer A genuinely new thrust of technological innovation in education was sparked by the appearance of the personal computer. With this instrument came the first promise of fundamental improvements in educational methods. The personal computer was portable, it was inexpensive, it computed with lightning speed, it stored mountains of easily retrievable information, and i t finally became "user friendly". Although not universally celebrated in educational 4
Journal of Chemical Education
ranks, the introduction of the personal computer into the educational milieu began to transform, irreversibly, what educators do and how they do it. Computer Usage a t Various Educational Levels The pervasive influence of the computer in higher education can be appreciated by detailing what graduate students in the sciences do with this ubiquitous machine. They write reports on it, they interface i t to equipment for data acquisition, they employ i t for library sea&&, they use i t rou&ely for problem solving, for graphing, for computer modelling, and for searchine huee " databases. Anv comnutationallv intensive activity is carried out on the computer-the bigger the job, the bigger the machine-and many students use the computer routinely for personal notes and record keeping. Uses of computers by undergraduates parallel those of the graduate students, and the depth of involvement with computers by students of all levels is limited only s the demee . b. . of their availability. In high schools the range of computer literacy spans the gamut from those who are illiterate (do not even know how to turn one on) to those who display consummate computer skills. Hieh school students use word nrocessine Droerams. employ computers for prublem solving and graphing, and in some schools carrv out olentv of "drill and oractice". There is no doubt that the computer is transforming both higher and secondary education. As we follow computer usage down the educational network into the elementary school, we find a few places with teacher expertise and a heavy concentration of machines. In many elementary schools, however, there are no computers at all (I).This fundamental technological revolution in education has not yet affected them. Reflection on the deeree of computer usaee as one descends the educational 'tree reveals'a subtle change in the wav these instruments are em~loved. . . The eraduate student uses a computer as a sophisticated tool. The computer does not reallv interact with the human mind. But for the elementary student the hope is that the computer will operate in an instructive mode-directly interacting and influencing the learning process. This is, one finds, precisely where the developments have been the slowest. As an instructional tool the computer really has not lived up to its promise. The disenchantment with the computer as a teaching aid is revealed in the ~ o ~ u lDress. a r We read ( 1 ) that the heralded revolution k i s s h o k due to lack df 'machines and training. "The computer-learning revolution predicted hack in the early 1980s just hasn't happened.'' Or "The computer revolution was supposed to he here bv now." The implication of this last comment is, of course, that the predicted revolution in the schools has not occurred.
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The Software Boitleneck The failure of the computer t o live up to its promise in instruction can he traced directly to the lack of suitable software. As anyone who uses these machines knows, a com-
puter is useless without programs to run on it. Not only did educators quickly discover this generalization, but many small businesses discovered it also. Eager to handle the rising tide of paperworkassociated with commerce, many small businesses invested in hardware only to discard it promptly, as a tax write-off, because of the lack of appropriate software. Educational institutions do not take tax write-offs, however. When an educational institution makes a had investment, it is stuck with it. There is sound financial justification for moving slowly in the schools. Creating software is expensive. This fact was also not fully appreciated in the early days of the computer. The cost of producing good software is underscored by a statement that appeared in the Wall Street Journal (1)."You need resources hefore vou eet a package as eood as a spreadsheet.'' That the educkionk es
