Melissa Evans-Andris is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Her interests include the sociology of education, work and occupations, and qualitative research methodologies particularly as they relate to schools and teaching. Her research focuses on school reform, sustainability of school improvement, and teacher quality. She authored a book in 1996 entitled An Apple for the Teacher: Computers and Work in Elementary Schools. Most recently she directed two research efforts, including a federal study entitled "Comprehensive School Reform, Educational Dynamics, and Achievement in Kentucky Middle Schools" and a state project entitled "A Research Study of the Kentucky Teacher Internship Program Pilot Project" that tracked the experiences of new teacher-interns during their first three years on the job. She is active in local and statewide discussion forums related to improvement in Kentucky schools. She received her PhD in sociology at Indiana University in 1991.
Factors that influence a teacher's decision whether or not to use computer technology as an instructional tool are explored in this book. Based on her own research, Melissa Evans-Andris discusses the ways teachers use computers; identifies administrative behaviours that support or inhibit the use of computers in schools; and recommends specific strategies for implementing educational computer use.