SOLUTIONS IN SEARCH OF EDUCATIONAL-PROBLEMS - SPEAKING FOR COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS

Computer use in schools is framed by the beliefs of users about comput ers and schooling. These beliefs are reflected in the day-to-day pract ices in schools and derive from local experience, policy, opinion and debates about computers, schools, and education. Many discourses that frame computer use in schools are based on a distinction between the h uman and nonhuman elements of computer use. Each of these discourses a ttributes essential properties to the computer, thereby broadly determ ining the role of the computer and consequently of the teacher and lea rner Actor network theory avoids the human-nonhuman dualism and makes explicit the negotiations and alliances that are employed in particula r settings that give rise to particular groups speaking on behalf of c omputers in schools and provides a basis for moving from essentialist frameworks toward new possibilities for computers and schools.