Social and Organizational Effects of Educational Computing

The article argues that the effects of the technological change represented by the introduction of computing into schools on the people, relationships, and tasks of schooling may be understood through an examination of the issue of control over computing.

Abstract

This article employs Leavitt's sociotechnical systems model of the interaction in organizations of technology, structure, people, and task to explore the social and organizational impacts of the introduction of computing into academic and administrative aspects of schools [1]. Data collection took the form of written analyses prepared by seven teachers and seventeen administrators in ten school districts in Indiana. The article argues that the effects of the technological change represented by the introduction of computing into schools on the people, relationships, and tasks of schooling may be understood through an examination of the issue of control over computing.