A foundational paper by IER Chairman David Loader OAM, co-authored with Liddy Nevile. Written in the early years of the MLC laptop program, it sets out the intellectual case for personal computing as a vehicle for a constructivist pedagogy, not simply a new piece of classroom equipment. Loader and Nevile argue that the computer’s value lies in enabling students to construct knowledge, take real responsibility for their learning, and work with the “three R’s” of reality, risk and responsibility. The paper is an early articulation of a theme that runs through Loader’s later work and IER’s current research focus: that meaningful learning depends on the conditions schools create, and that those conditions are a matter of design, not accident.