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The article explores contradictions in teachers' perceptions regarding the place of computer technologies in education. The research population included 47 teachers who have incorporated computers in the classroom for several years. The teachers expressed positive attitudes regarding the decisive importance of computer technologies in furthering teaching, learning and their professional advance. However they mainly incorporated basic computer applications in their teaching, and hardly utilized computer mediated communication. It was further found that most teachers are convinced that meaningful learning can be attained without the need for computer technology. This position, together with the partial use of these technologies, exposes a rooted attitude according to which the teachers do not believe in the pedagogic advantages of computer technologies. The contradictions in their perceptions inhibit the process of change in attitude needed for the full assimilation of computer technologies in education.

The article explores contradictions in teachers' perceptions regarding the place of computer technologies in education. The research population included 47 teachers who have incorporated computers in the classroom for several years. The teachers expressed positive attitudes regarding the decisive importance of computer technologies in furthering teaching, learning and their professional advance. However they mainly incorporated basic computer applications in their teaching, and hardly utilized computer mediated communication. It was further found that most teachers are convinced that meaningful learning can be attained without the need for computer technology. This position, together with the partial use of these technologies, exposes a rooted attitude according to which the teachers do not believe in the pedagogic advantages of computer technologies. The contradictions in their perceptions inhibit the process of change in attitude needed for the full assimilation of computer technologies in education.

In "The Invisible Computer," Donald Norman illustrates his theory of invisible computers turning into information appliances with examples of past inventions like the radio, automobile, and phonograph. Second generation computers have evolved as far as technology will allow. At the present time, the technology itself is the driving force behind the production of computers. Computers are being built for the technologists who favor the expansions of technology over ease of use. This phenomenon is described as the period of innovators, followed by early adopters (the first generation of users), late adopters, and laggards/skeptics. Educators belong to the late adopter category; due to high cost, little technological support, and inadequate strategies for integration, schools have lagged behind business in computer implementation. An alternative to the limited number of prepackaged educational software programs is gaining access to the Internet. Examples of how teachers can incorporate the Internet into their classrooms include e-mail, global classrooms, ask-an-expert, information collection, online field trips, and electronic publishing. Until computers become invisible or incorporated into everyday life, the Internet is the medium which will promote fluid interaction between machine and students. (AEF)

This special anthology, published in 1885, is formed of seven stories, together with an introductory chapter setting up a framing narrative by Henry Norman, which is returned to at the end of each subsequent tale. This connecting narrative concerns a group of travelers on a transatlantic crossing. When their ship, the Bavaria suffers a ‘broken shaft’, they are forced to remain becalmed mid-ocean, telling stories to pass the time. - Summary by Ann Boulais