formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education
The Influence
of Computer Henry Jay Becker and
Jason Ravitz Abstract This study explores the possibility that in schools where an informational and social support network is available and where a sufficient technological infrastructure is in place, computer use may be a powerful catalyst leading to more constructivist practices on the part of teachers. Survey research at 153 schools of the National School Network provides evidence that under these favorable circumstances, teachers’ sustained use of computers and exploration of Internet resources is related to their increased use of constructivist teaching practices and may even change teachers’ pedagogical beliefs that underlie such practices. The relationship between computer use and pedagogical change is particularly strong among secondary teachers in social studies, science, and noncore subjects. This article discusses three alternative theories to account for the observed correlations. Contributors Henry Jay Becker is a professor of education at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on instructional and organizational reforms associated with the use of computer technologies. He is now conducting the fourth in a series of national surveys of teachers and schools and their instructional use of computers, a series that stretches back to 1983. This survey focuses on teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices and their relationship to their use of technology. In the 1980s, he conducted a national field experiment on the effectiveness of typical practices of technology use in 50 pairs of classrooms across 13 states. Professor Becker holds a PhD in sociology from the Johns Hopkins University where he also worked as a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools between 1977 and 1992. Jason Ravitz is a research specialist at University of California, Irvine, in the Center for Research on Information Technology in Organizations. He has worked with Dr. Becker on two national surveys of teachers and schools and their instructional use of computers and the Internet. He has also been involved in the development and evaluation of online professional communities for educators, focusing on strategies for the evaluation of online projects and for assessing learning in online settings. He completed a three-year doctoral fellowship at Syracuse University in instructional design, development, and evaluation and worked with researchers at BBN Educational Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1994 to 1998. (Address: Dr. Henry J. Becker, UC Irvine, 2001 Berkeley Pl., Irvine, CA 92697-5500; hjbecker@uci.edu.)
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