Administrative Policies for Increasing the Use of Microcomputers in Instruction

This report describes the policy mechanisms available to district and school administrators to encourage more widespread use of microcomputers as an instructional tool in subject matter courses. It analyzes the value of offering various incentives to teachers, providing various forms of technical support, and involving the teaching staff in decisions about staff development and computer use. The report describes the consequences of such policies for increasing teacher participation in inservice computer training and for increasing the use of microcomputers for instruction in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts in the elementary and secondary grades. The findings suggest that (1) districts and schools should continue to acquire microcomputers and educational courseware; (2) computer-using teachers should be provided with centralized, routine assistance in integrating computers into instruction; (3) district inservice training should be available; and (4) administrators should seek ways to compensate computer-using teachers.