Heading for the Ha‐Ha

Abstract

Some educationalists predict that it will not be long before modern technology—especially the microchip—revolutionizes education, automating traditional teachers, tutors and industrial instructors into oblivion. In this paper I argue that such fears—or what some call hopes—are groundless. Few of the more important ways in which human teachers interact with students can be electronically simulated. For as far ahead as it is possible to see, educators will be people rather than computers, and the dominant educational medium will continue to be the printed and spoken word rather than the image on a screen. There will be no great boom in computer‐assisted instruction (CAI); computers, video (including videodisc) and the other products of modern technology will advance their status as useful educational tools, but they will not revolutionize education. Copyright © 1983, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved