Evaluation Study on Educational Computing

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In Japan the use of computers in schools has increased rapidly during the past several years even though the total use is still very low. The use of computers in schools is expected to grow rapidly in the next several years. A previous study has compared a popular version of CAI with a number of other interventions. On the basis of a cost-effectiveness criterion, it was found that CAI was ranked below peer tutoring, but considerably above adult tutoring, longer school days, and smaller class sizes. Thus CAI is cost-effective and practical. The study found that major part of the cost of CAI was not related to the computers themselves but was related to opportunity cost of teachers and current expenditure. The cost of educational computing comprises hardware, opportunity cost, current expenditure, and the ratios are 55%, 28%, and 17% respectively in Japanese elementary schools. Thus it is necessary for the governments to establish institutions which create and distribute software, and subsidy the current expenditure. The increasing use of computers in schools for teaching, learning and management creates new challenges for teacher training too. The organizational climate and the traits of principal have rather strong influence on the success of educational computing. Management of school leaders is the key point to make introduction educational computing successful. Also, as the use of computers has strong correlation with changes of teachers' attitude toward teaching-learning process, it is necessary to change the classroom teaching system rather than introducing computers into conventional system for successful introduction of computers in school.