The dramatic and increasing availabilty of relatively cheap computer power has led people to tout microcomputers as the solution to education and training problems. However, such panaceas for educational problems fail because they do not address the real ingredients for successful instruction or the problems of large-scale implementation. Improvement in instruction, computer-based or not, will be a relatively slow, evolutionary process because: (1) attempts to improve instructional quality using systems approaches have shown how difficult it is to do and to manage; (2) use of computer-based instructional tools is in a rudimentary state of development; (3) improvements in instructional design technology depend on still-developing changes in the scientific base provided by the cognitive and computer sciences; and (4) any widespread use of computer-based instruction (CBI) requires thesacquilition an4 standardization of programs, provision for their distribution, and their incorporation into schooling. Therefore, the prospects for attaining large increments in instructional effectiveness depend on understanding of instructional psychology and cognitive science, and on the ability to implement CBI on a large enough scale to make a difference. The potential for improvement in instructional quality is here, and progress will be made, but it will not be rapid or revolutionary. (Author /WIN)
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