Ronald E. Anderson, University of Minnesota 

TITLE: What Can Be Learned from International Comparisons 

Large-scale USA surveys in the early 1980s found that minority
and low income students were being cheated out of computer
access. In the last 10 years this inequity has been largely
resolved through Chapter 1 and other programs targeted.
According to the 1992 IEA Computers in Education survey,
minority students still do not learn as much about computers
nor do they necessarily get equal access to constructivist
computer activities. None-the-less, the research results led to
awareness of needs; the needs w ere addressed with policy
changes; and computer inequity has declined. 

A similar type of impact will accrue from international
research comparisons. The first large-scale international study
of educational computing is the International Association for
the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) study of
Computers in Education. Here are three highlights of this
study, which will be released prior to the NECC'94. 

* In a test of practical computer knowledge, American students
  outperform Japanese students at both 8th and 11th grade levels.
  Yet, at both levels the United States students perform below
  those in the Western European countries in the study, namely
  Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands.

* Data from the USA show that students who are only self-taught
  in word processing are much less likely to do a substantial
  amount of computer-based writers than those that are school
  taught.

* Compared to many other countries studied, the computers in
  American schools are very much out of date (mostly 8-bit Apple
  II) and yet schools continue to buy these low-powered, obsolete
  computers.

These findings illustrate some major needs to be addressed by
the American educational system: computer fitness (computer
knowledge and skill) and hardware upgrades. What will people
who make decisions about curriculum and about hardware do with
these results?

Perhaps the value and impact of the research will depend upon
the additional details of the research reports; perhaps upon
the publicity and dissemination of the results; perhaps upon
our openness to learn from other cultures and other systems of
education that may being doing better than we are. 

Multinational studies can help countries to see the range of
approaches that have been used as well as the likely effects of
various policies and practices. In the early 1980s, people came
to the United States from all over the world to learn how we
were using computers in schools. Now to complete in the global
economy Americans need to go to other countries to see how they
are able to effectively use computers in their instruction. 

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