To look only at the impact of technology on classroom social processes is to miss half the picture. It has become increasingly apparent that preexisting attitudes and social structures shape the extent to which technology is used as well as the way it is used. The fact that a computer is in a classroom does not mean that it will ever be used. It may be kept boxed in a closet or sit gathering dust in a corner (Bowers, 1988; Piller, 1992). Decisions made by the school system about what kind of hardware and software to buy and what kind of training and support to provide, by teachers about how to integrate computer usage with their personal style of teaching and the existing curriculum, and by students about whether and how to use computers in their work all jointly create the package of “technology in use,” which in turn may alter existing attitudes, interaction patterns, and social structures.

This chapter focuses on one striking finding that emerged from the study of computer use at Whitmore. With a few notable exceptions, such as the geometry and computer science classes, computers were actually used very little in Whitmore's classrooms. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the numerous intertwined factors that led to this situation. However, before turning to a discussion of why computers were used so little in most milieus in which they were available it is necessary to lay out in some detail the evidence on which this conclusion rests.