Computer advice criticised

Press, 3 February 1983, Page 11

Computer advice criticised

PA Auckland The Government has abandoned its responsibility to guide teachers in buying computers for schools, education and computer leaders say. The New Zealand Computer Society's representative on the Government’s consultative committee on the use of computers in schools. Mr lan Mitchell, hascriticised the Government’s action in approving a list of five micro-computers. He said the Government

had been unable to come to a meaningful decision when it listed five micro-computers as being approved. The Government approved the Apple 11, BBC micro, BMC 800, NEC PC 8001, and the New Zealand-developed Poly as all being suitable for use in schools. The president of the PostPrimary Teachers’ Association, Mr Desmond Hinch, said schools expected detailed evaluation of each computer and some provision for financing the equipment. The Government had

simply produced a list of five machines and had avoided publicly endorsing any brand. “In effect, the Government has avoided making a decision which will be of any meaningful use to teachers,” Mr Hinch said. The consultative committee was “extremely disappointed" that its recommendations on use of computers in schools had been virtually ignored, and so much effort by knowledgeable people had been disregarded, he said. The Education Department had yet again let teachers down.

The Computer Society, although not in a position to endorse any computer, would continue to make representations on computer classroom use to the Government, Mr Mitchell said.

The general manager of Polycorp, Mr Richard Greenbank, said that although Polycorp and Progeni regarded inclusion on the list as official Government support for the Poly computer, it was a rather “hollow victory.”

“We regard the report as a clear demonstration of Government support for our product, but by announcing five separate machines, the Government has clearly changed its earlier direction of arriving at a standardised machine and operating system,” Mr Greenbank said.

The Government had “changed tack” and had produced an inadequate and unreliable list. Because it had now departed from its original computer specifications, it was not helping produce a co-ordinated approach, Mr Greenbank said.

Some of the approved computers failed to meet the original specifications set down by the Government and the report would encourage the proliferation of many different brands of computers in schools, he said.