Why computers have failed to revolutionize the classroom

In the past two decades, US schools alone have spent over $60 billion on computers. In 1981, there was 1 computer per 125 students. In 2000 there was a computer for every 5 students. This data only reflects what schools have provided and does not take into account the fact that students can bring their laptops and tablet computers to school, i.e. we can safely conclude that on average, US schools are well equipped with personal computers.

In other industries outside the education sector such concentration of computers would have led to a partial or complete disruption of how things are done: take banking, publishing, or movie-making as examples. Education, however, remains undisrupted.

My view is that the main reason for this phenomenon is that computers are used to sustain the traditional education model. At best, they are used as an activity center in class, ultimately adding to the cost of providing education. However, in order to disrupt education, connected computers need to be the center of all activity. We believe that Rukuku.com will be a step in that direction.

This entry was posted in At school, Technology in education by Denis Zaff. Bookmark the permalink.

About Denis Zaff

I am the founder of Rukuku.com - Training Cloud. My interests are diverse and changing all the time; things that are at the core of my everyday life are my family, books & road cycling. I almost never watch TV, constantly remain pretty clueless about competitive sports, and I don't own a microwave oven.

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