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Oversold  Underused  

 

After  reading  this  book,  I  learned  that  we  should  think  critically  about  the  

role  of  technology  in  our  school.  Many  educators  and  all  school  stakeholders  just  

believe  in  the  role  of  computer  to  create  better  education,  but  only  few  know  how  to  

utilize  computers  to  enhance  learning  and  the  quality  of  education.  Therefore,  in  

this  paper  I  would  like  to  share  about  Cuban’s  thought  regarding  this  issue  and  my  

reflection  and  expectation  of  our  future  education.  

Cuban  (2001)  mentioned  a  syllogism  that  reflected  venture  capitalists’,  

software  engineers’,  and  computer  programmers’  beliefs  of  technology  in  Silicon  

Valley  as  follow:    “Change  makes  a  better  society,  technology  brings  about  change,  

therefore,  technology  makes  better  society.”  (p.29)  For  them  computer  is  a  “magic  

bullet”  to  create  better  education.  In  fact,  based  on  the  researches,  Cuban  shows  that  

technology  did  not  make  change  in  the  quality  of  education  itself.  The  problem  was  

that  although  teachers  and  students  have  maximal  access  to  computer,  there  were  

minimal  changes  because  computers  were  not  integrated  in  classroom  practice.    

In  the  book  oversold  underused,  Cuban  provided  analysis  about  how  

computers  are  utilized  in  school.  Based  on  some  researches  mentioned  in  the  book  

regarding  computer  usage  in  schools  and  university,  he  said  

 

“Like  Silicon  Valley  teachers  in  preschools,  kindergartens,  and  high  

schools,  Standford  professors  are  hardly  technophobes  or  skeptics  

resistant  to  using  technology  outside  of  their  classrooms.  Why,  then,  

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in  the  heartland  of  high-­‐tech  innovation,  where  beliefs  in  

technological  progress  run  strong  and  equipment  is  abundant,  has  

there  been  so  little  use  of  the  new  machines  and  software  inside  

classrooms  and  so  little  change  in  existing  teaching  practices?”  

(p.130)  

 

Further  in  chapter  five  he  mentioned  several  findings.  One  of  the  findings  is  that  less  

than10  percent  of  teachers  were  serious  users  that  utilize  computers  in  classrooms.  

These  teachers  were  using  computer  once  a  week.    20  and  30  percent  were  

occasional  to  rare  users,  and  over  50  percent  were  nonusers.  Based  on  the  research  

he  wants  to  show  although  many  schools  in  Silicon  Valley  have  sufficient  

technology,  it  does  not  guarantee  that  educators  and  students  have  used  them  

effectively  in  the  classroom.    For  teachers,  computers  are  used  mainly  for  preparing  

lessons,  doing  research,  and  administrative  things  whereas  for  students,  they  mostly  

used  computers  to  type  papers  or  assignment,  play  games,  explore  CD-­‐ROMS  and  

Internet  browsing.  Cuban  also  mentioned  in  his  findings  “we  found  no  clear  and  

substantial  evidence  of  students  increasing  their  academic  achievement  as  a  result  

of  using  information  technologies”  (p.133)  

  I  learned  from  this  book  that  many  people  believe  in  computers,  but  only  few  

people  are  serious  users.  I  personally  believe  that  if  we  can  utilize  computers  very  

well  and  integrate  computers  into  our  curriculum  instruction,  education  will  be  

meaningful.  Cuban  does  not  say  that  computers  should  not  be  used  at  school,  but  he  

tends  to  make  us  questions  the  role  of  technology  and  think  how  we  use  these  

technologies  to  create  better  society.  Those  thoughts  are  very  important  for  

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educators  and  all  schools  stakeholders.  Teachers  mainly  use  computers  to  just  

maintain  old  classroom  practices  that  have  tendency  to  be  teacher-­‐centered.    

  We  realized  that  currently  computer  is  a  common  tool  for  teachers  and  

students  all  over  the  world.  The  development  of  technology  is  also  encouraging  

people  to  get  familiar  with  it.  We  live  in  technology  era  and  many  students  are  even  

digital  dossiers.  They  are  growing  up  with  technology  that  makes  them  computer  

literate.  This  affects  their  learning  styles.  However,  I  found  out  that  not  many  

educators  ready  for  that.  Based  on  my  experience  teaching  in  Indonesia,  there  are  

many  teachers  that  have  lack  of  skill  in  utilizing  computers  to  enhance  learning.  

Therefore,  there  is  an  urgency  to  provide  training  for  educators  so  that  we  can  take  

benefit  from  the  possibility  of  computers  to  help  our  students  to  be  better  citizens.    

  I  am  glad  that  in  the  discussion  forum  about  this  book  I  posted  a  question  

regarding  an  ideal  school.  I  got  many  important  information  regarding  ideal  schools  

in  the  forum.  Based  on  the  discussion  most  of  us  have  similar  expectation  to  have  a  

school  that  embrace  students’  creativity  and  talent.  There  is  no  standardize  test  and  

mainly  students  do  project  instead  of  just  having  lectures  and  paper  test.  In  order  to  

prepare  students  for  their  future  job,  school  provides  apprentice  for  students.  

Students  learn  through  experience  and  they  also  learn  about  collaboration  and  

teamwork  with  their  friends.  The  school  is  not  really  a  school,  but  it  is  a  learning  

community.  The  role  of  technology  here  is  as  supplement  to  enhance  student-­‐

centered  learning.  The  school  like  high-­‐tech  high  seems  to  be  our  ideal  school.  I  

want  to  build  the  similar  school  in  Indonesia.  I  am  really  a  dreamer  here,  but  I  really  

hope  that  this  dream  will  come  true  in  the  future.    

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  The  fact  that  educators  are  lack  of  skill  in  utilizing  technology  to  enhance  

teaching  and  learning  makes  me  think  that  there  is  an  urgency  of  training  about  

education  technology.  As  21st  century  teachers  we  should  be  ready  for  helping  

students  to  learn  with  technology.  Thus,  an  ideal  school  in  technology  era  should  

provide  access  and  skill  to  educators  and  students  to  be  media  literate.  Technology  

will  be  used  as  tool  to  help  students  increase  their  creativity  and  talent  and  help  

them  to  be  better  citizens.  

   

 

Reference:  

 

Cuban,  L.  (2001).  Oversold  and  underused:  Computers  in  the  classroom.    Cambridge:  

Harvard  University  Press.