- Preface
- I. A new era
- • Globalization, the first sign of change
- • English - the new planetary language
- • A change in the scale of education
- II. Education and its context
- • Education and business
- • Education and the state
- III. The digital habit
- • The new digital culture
- • Digital projects
- • Time for assimilation
- IV. The extended school
- • Education at a critical moment
- • A definition of the extended school
- • Yesterday: concentrated knowledge
- • Today: knowledge disseminated
- • Tomorrow: knowledge connected
- V. New tools and old
- • Chalk and blackboard
- • The spinning globe
- • Microscopic life
- • Desk and work
- • The computer garden
- • Slides and liquid Crystal
- • Projectors and projections
- • Dry and digital copies
- VI. Digital transition
- • Continuing education
- • Cultural exchange
- • The mental switch
- • Critical thought
- • Internal communication
- • Educational frontier posts
- • Technological updating
- • Creativity and deregulation
- VII. Means and ends
- • Values for today and for always
- • Technocentrality and consumerism
- • Software in the public domain
- VIII. The digital library
- • Atoms versus bits
- • The dual book
- • Digital quality
- • Reading and writing
- • Text and hypertext
- • Consult and navigate
- IX. The home computer
- • A new piece of furniture or a new instrument?
- • Playthings and electronic toys
- • Robots for assembly
- • The silent printer
- • The community network
- X. New instruments of thought
- • Word processors, a new way of writing
- • A friendly mouse
- • More portable learning
- • Designing with computers
- • The golden link in communications: the modem
- • Electronic mail always arrives at its destination
- • Fax, a threatened species
- • WWW: three magic letters
- • Reliable and accessible data bases
- • Tables, abacus and spreadsheet
- • The Scanner, a bridge between two worlds
- • New interfaces and old keyboards
- • Presentation aids
- • So-called multimedia
- • Digital cameras without film
- • Digital videos in schools
- • Music for all
- XI. Presence and remote presence
- • Features of distance education
- • The three generations
- • Synchronous and asynchronous moments
- • Spaces for meeting
- • Classrooms open to the world
- • The advantages
- • New educational niches
- • A new type of teacher and student
- XII. Talents and handicaps
- • The right to communication
- • The obstacle of the keyboard
- • The obstacle of the screen
- • The expression of individual talent
- Conclusions
IX. THE HOME COMPUTER
Playthings and electronic toys
The installation of the first computer in a home is a promising first step, but often it is not known how to use them properly. Parents who with great effort have purchased a computer could find it frustrating to see the time their children spend at the computer playing games. The subject of electronic games is frequently raised: consumerism cannot be avoided and commercial pressure is very strong. What can be done then if the domestic computer is just a toy? There is no single answer or remedy. Much depends on the family environment, cultural guidelines, the moral values and the education received by today's children and adolescents.
For a start not all electronic games are rubbish. Some games are very instructive, such as flight simulators, with their aircraft controls and landing strips, adventure games involving treasure hunts or the discovery of the outcome to a mystery, interactive CD-ROMS and recently the group games found on Internet. The range is vast. New products are constantly being launched onto the market. Some experts consider that the major electronic games manufacturers will turn home computers into a very low-cost communication and learning tool. Proof of this is the fact that many leading innovators in these fields have centered their efforts on creating instruments of "education and entertainment". Schools should confront this problem head-on and recommend to parents the best computer electronic games available. Instead of remaining aloof from the problem, schools could become the best counselors on the subject, once a group of teachers has been set up to study the matter. This is done at some leading scientific university colleges where the toy industry finances advanced educational research, as happens at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
We are also well aware that the function of playing is essential for all learning, providing the opportunity to explore new worlds with pleasure, to compete and to collaborate, seek and find, that is essential to human development. When adults wonder at the facility children show when using these machines, they forget that children "play with computers", enjoying the pleasure of fearless experimentation the latest word processing or graphic design tools, unlike their elders, who are often limited to what they have learnt from their computer teacher or what they can learn from the manual. This freedom has to be stimulated and should not be restricted by arguments which are not even valid in other fields of learning. If a child is not able to freely form its own collection of snails or butterflies it will be unlikely to develop a vocation as a naturalist. The same happens with home computers. Young users must have full freedom to use their information technology tool at all times. Games are an integral part of the intimacy established with the machine as well as of the exercise of mental skills.
