Beepers would have both telephone and television capabilities. All bills would be paid, stocks and bonds bought and sold, and travel reservations made directly from home computers. But we do not have to imagine this world-we are living in it. These and many other technological advances are already available in business, industry, science, and the military. Computerized technology is everywhere-at the market, the gas station, the dentist's office, and even in homes with VCRs, camcorders, microwaves, telephones, alarm systems, and coffeemakers.
Limited budgets dampen the speed at which expensive technology can be acquired in schools.
Now, slowly but surely, these advances are appearing in the educational arena. They can create multimedia presentations using computers to combine text, graphs, charts, digital images, photographs, slides, real-time video, and sound. No longer do class projects have to be static-they can be dynamic, through the use of technology. Students today are in the midst of an explosion of academic information that is there for the asking. Through computer technology, students can assume more responsibility for their own learning.