Underwood and Underwood – ‘Why put IT into schools?’

Again this article was published in 1990, so its relevance today can be questioned. It does however illustrate the need for ICT in schools due to its increasing dominance in society, which can play a vital role in a child’s intellectual development. Today it also needs to be highlighted that ICT plays an even broader role in a child’s development, as has become part of everyday life.

Underwood and Underwood provide what I feel is a simplistic view towards the role of ICT in schools – as ‘artificial information processing skills’ used to process information through ‘data bases and word processors’. Today the role of ICT in schools, and in wider society is used for a variety of reasons including data processing.