Integrating Information Technology into Education (IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology) [Hardcover]

Donald Watson (Editor), David Tinsley (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0412622505 | ISBN-13: 978-0412622502 | Edition: 1

This book takes a forward look at the issue of integration of information technology and related problems of quality. It discusses current developments in society and education influencing integration and the successes and failures in existing practice. It covers the perspective of teachers, looking at their roles and concerns and also that of the students, looking at their expectations of and behaviour in an integrated environment.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (February 28, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0412622505
• ISBN-13: 978-0412622502
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,642,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars tolerably written but rather uninformative, November 8, 2000

By 

G W Thielman (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Integrating Information Technology into Education (IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology) (Hardcover)

This collection of articles, while competently composed and edited, seems rather unimpressive when taken as a whole. Many of the contributors possess impressive credentials, and yet much of the writing is hortatory rather than descriptive. A few bemoan the proportional disparity of interest between the sexes regarding computers and IT (esp. Teague). Whether or not this is an immutable condition (and the evidence on brain physiology suggests this), it smacks of social engineering to alter curricula predominantly on this basis. The more impressive papers were--guess what?--written by the Japanese and Germans. Leave it to a Japanese teacher (Kobayashi) to describe pedagogy of teaching eigenvectors to high school students.

The implicit conceit centers around use of computers for teaching, rather than as an administrative tool. Having to stare at a computer terminal all day, I am skeptical of its efficacy in imparting new subject matter to young charges, rather than supplementing databases by more sedentary personnel. Even five years after the book is published, software and operating systems remain clumsy, slow and unreliable for ubiquitous computer programs. Extolling the virtues of an undeveloped methodology strikes me as faddish and counterproductive. To learn look-and-feel of current GUI formats is a waste of time for kids--these will likely be replaced long before they enter the workforce. Better that they learn to read, write and arithmetically compute than on obsolescent IT. Thus as a non-academician, I find the theme of this book to be mildly objectionable. Perhaps my assessment is unfair, but c'est la vie.