Bringing the Internet to School presents the results of one of the first comprehensive studies of Internet-implementation in K-12 schools. Based on the information gleaned from this groundbreaking study, two experts in the field of high-technology and schools, Janet Ward Schofield and Ann Locke Davidson, examine the myriad issues that arise when the Internet is introduced into the classroom. This important book reveals the positive and negative consequences that Internet use has on classroom equity, academics, and social life. For example, while Internet access often changes student-teacher roles and relationships in positive ways and gives students new, exciting, and useful source for information and feedback, it also provides students with a tempting distraction from their studies and can exacerbate inequities in the classroom. Throughout the book, the authors illuminate the ways in which the existing culture and structure of schools shape Internet use, the ways students' and teachers' experiences are affected by it, and the technical and systemic challenges involved in bringing the Internet to schools.

As important as it is to realize the potential of computer technology to improve education, it is just as important to understand how the social organization of schools and classrooms influences the use of computers, and in turn is affected by that technology in unanticipated ways. In Computers and Classroom Culture, Janet Schofield observes the fascinating dynamics of the computer-age classroom. Among her many discoveries, Schofield describes how the use of an artificially-intelligent tutor in a geometry class unexpectedly changes aspects such as the level of peer competition and the teacher's grading practices. She also discusses why many teachers fail to make significant instructional use of computers and how gender appears to have a crucial impact on students' reactions to computer use. All educators, sociologists, and psychologists concerned with educational computing and the changing shape of the classroom will find themselves compellingly engaged.