Computers in the schools: a guide for planning. (book reviews) Steve Gray.

Computers in the Schools: A Guide for Planning

The preface carries two warnings: "the intended audience' for this book is "those people who have already acquired some knowledge and/or interest about computers'; the second has to do with the amount of objectivity in much of the material. This book presents one person's view of the world of computers in education.'

The first four chapters provide the foundation for discussion. Chapter one considers the basis for school use of computers in a general way, while chapters two through four provide more detailed descriptions of the ways in which computers are used in instructional settings.

Chapters five and six deal with how the use of computers is likely to affect elementary and secondary teachers, and chapter seven describes how administrative functions might be connected to the instructional setting.

Three additional aspects of computer use are dealt with in chapters eight through ten. Chapter eight considers the equipment and its implications; chapter nine discusses evaluating equipment and computer programs; while chapter ten deals with the organization and control of this new technology.

Chapter eleven offers some suggestions "as to where we should begin in our efforts to maximize the advantages that computers can offer us, and at the same time, minimize the possible disadvantages.'

Reading this book requires wading through large pages of solid text that takes many words to say what could be expressed in much less space, and more to the point. Also, the chapter on Equipment Needs, when mentioning hardware, usually refers to special Canadian equipment, such as the Canadian Educational Microcomputer, the ECNO Network, and Telidon, none of which can be of much interest to non-Canadians. The only non-Canadian hardware mentioned is the DEC VAX 770 and PDP-11, and those only very briefly.

If you're a Canadian educator, you may find some value in this book; others won't.

Review Grade: D-