The following factors to be taken into account when introducing computers into schools have been adapted from article Computers in Schools: 10 Points to Avoid Past Errors.

1. It is vital to ensure that in the initial stages people are not demoralized by weak or disastrous results.
2. Computers require maintenance. Maintenance budgets are essential because without maintenance, schools quickly become huge digital graveyards. Some schools prefer to buy computers at a higher price but with longer maintenance contracts built in. This is because it is easier to obtain funds for the initial purchases than for the subsequent maintenance. Therefore, computers should not be shipped to schools until the financial and logistical problems of maintaining them have been solved.
3. Computers should not be shipped to schools without a minimum kit of software. Expecting schools to purchase software before they become used to having computers in classrooms is not realistic and will delay their introduction, with all the problems it creates.
4. Almost all evaluations indicate that lack of preparation of teachers is the number one difficulty. Successful initiatives result from a serious and well-thought-out effort to train teachers to use the computers.
5. In order to ensure the political survival of the initiative, it is necessary to ensure immediate utilization of computers. Therefore, a fail-safe strategy is required. In other words, a strategy is needed to get computers going immediately after their installation. From a political point of view, it does not matter if the initial uses are neither brilliant nor ultra-creative.
6. There are at least three schools of thought in the utilization of computers in schools. The first sees the computer as a teaching machine for spelling, simple arithmetic and the like. The second is to use the computer to develop thinking skills and to enrich education, deploying its potential to simulate problems and stimulate the intellect. The third is to use the computer as a tool in the way that enterprises do. In this case, computers are preparing students for the use of computers at work. Schools will have to choose amongst these uses or a combination of them.
7. The development of intellectual skills does not offer a viable rationale for the massive introduction of computers in the short run. Computer programmes such as LOGO teaching how to think or fascinating simulations should only be introduced in favourable conditions and where teachers have been trained adequately.
8. Teachers will only use the computer if they find that it benefits them. They will not use them if it takes too long to master the skills of using the machine and its software; if it takes longer to prepare classes; if there is the risk of an embarrassing situation where the computer gets stuck or crashes (with the even greater risk that some insolent kid will get it unstuck); if its proposed use does not follow the curriculum; or if the skills learned are not required in tests. Experience shows that teachers appreciate drill and practice programmes - save time, energy and drudgery, and hence they are used. As an initial strategy, there are excellent reasons not to snub this use of computers. On the contrary, it is necessary to provide schools with drill and practice programmes and to prepare teachers to use them.
9. Today, a run-of-the-mill educational software programme will cost at least $100,000 and the more sophisticated considerably more. Therefore, national programmes to introduce computers need to check existing software and decide whether there are exceptional cases where new software needs to be commissioned.
10. Teaching students how to use word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and graphic tools is a safe way to bring computers to schools since these are the productive tools required later on in life. Computers should not be shipped to schools without a complete package of productivity software. Installing the software is a task beyond the capabilities of most schools. The next task is to develop appropriate strategies to use these productivity tools. To begin with, touch-typing is a valuable skill, keyboard training is a good way to start. It is also important to prepare teachers to give their students interesting and practical exercises for the productivity tools.