Solutions in Search of Educational Problems: Speaking for Computers in Schools

Abstract

Computer use in schools is framed by the beliefs of users about computers and schooling. These beliefs are reflected in the day-to-day practices in schools and derive from local experience, policy, opinion, and debates about computers, schools, and education. Many discourses that frame computer use in schools are based on a distinction between the human and nonhuman elements of computer use. Each of these discourses attributes essential properties to the computer, thereby broadly determining the role of the computer and consequently of the teacher and learner Actor network theory avoids the human-nonhuman dualism and makes explicit the negotiations and alliances that are employed in particular settings that give rise to particular groups speaking on behalf of computers in schools and provides a basis for moving from essentialist frameworks toward new possibilities for computers and schools.