Psychological and Pedagogical Problems of Effective Computer Use in the Educational Process

The tempo of the process by which computers are being introduced into the educational process has gone up perceptibly in recent years. Expert opinion indicates that a new stage in the utilization of computer technology in the educational sector has begun. [3, 7] The most characteristic traits—those which define the basic tendencies in the development of computerized instruction—are: 1) a significant rise in the number of computers being used in the [formal] educational process; 2) an abrupt upswing in the number of available teaching programs; 3) an increase in interfacing possibilities resulting from a rapid expansion of the conduits whereby information may be presented to the pupil (video discs, for example, can be used to put any information on screen, as can film or television), and improvements in the means whereby computers and learners communicate, by using languages resembling natural language that can generate graphics and line drawings (the latter allow direct interplay with the computer by way of a light pen or touch-screen; 4) the development of tools that make the programming of teaching courses significantly easier, thus considerably increasing the number of individuals able to compose teaching programs for the computer (including those who have had no special training as programmers); and 5) a steady drop in the computer's price, to the point where the cost of a computer used in schools does not, on average, exceed five percent of the total outlay on instruction.