Role of computers in learning--application in formative assessment

Computers can help to liberate students from the burden of rote learning of facts and enhance the role of reason and imagination in the learning process. Arguably, the computers constitute the most important single resource ever to become available to the teachers and students since the invention of the printing press, and may well have a similar revolutionary effect on the way education is carried out, bringing about the massive shift from conventional expository teaching to the mediated individualized learning which is interactive, stimulating and rewarding. Soon, computers will be involved in almost all teaching. Apart from acting as data bases for information, computers will guide students through hypertext and will provide assessment at critical junctures, giving immediate feedback.