Computer Education

COMPUTER EDUCATION

Preface

This work has emerged from our experiments with Intel Teach to the Future curriculum at the Department of Education, Osmania University. Learning from these experiences in the interface of computer education, cognitive science and teacher education, we made an attempt to move far beyond the confines of conventional wisdom and create space for the rearticulation of fundamental questions and issues in the area of new technologies. As part of this initiative, we addressed educational pedagogic issues, especially how to use computers effectively and experiment with new technologies for classroom purposes. There is growing interest in how information communication technologies and its various digital art forms might be creating new possibilities for artistic and creative work and practice within the formal school and teacher education curriculum and in complementary educational sites.

This book provides the theory and practice of computer education and it examines the conceptual, historical and social contexts of computer-based emerging technologies and the implications of these for the everyday classroom practice and institutional climate building. It sets out to introduce some of the basic ideas associated with computers that have relevance to education. In the beginning chapters it addresses various issues concerned with the ways that technology may be used transparently, as a medium to deliver traditional skills and knowledge. In the subsequent chapters we have discussed the history of the computer and introduced some aspects of its hardware. An attempt is also made in this work to demonstrate how computer technologies can be used as a new medium and also how it can be used in a number of ways for creative purposes within the traditional curriculum areas.

The purpose of this work is to help teachers, teacher educators, student teachers, curriculum planners, course-designers, and educationalists who are interested in practical ways to use computer technology to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the educational process and also to develop the creative uses of new technologies in institutions of learning and in community settings. In this work we discussed, through close examination, the various aspects surrounding Operating Systems, the basics of Microsoft Office and Internet technologies and their educational applications. The discussions in