Computers and the collaborative experience of learning

Abstract

The "newness" of new technologies presents a challenge to our perception. To the extent that we exult in the potential for change we risk failing to understand the connections between the new technology and what came before. We also become susceptible to hyperbolic claims about how our lives will be revolutionized once we adopt the new machine. On the other hand, when we try to encompass the new technology within existing categories we risk failing to understand the potential it does have.