The computer in education—Some examples

Abstract

Educational institutions are now beginning to develop projects and programs, and to find the people to carry out both administrative and instructional activities which involve computer technology. The examples in this paper cover a broad spectrum of activity in handling information which is important to educational decision makers--the teacher, the guidance counsellor, the principal, the administrator--relating to the allocation of resources, to the effectiveness of educational programming, and to learning more about the process of education itself. Included in the paper are a discussion of the Palo Alto School District Educational Data Services operation and an explanation of the developing regional data processing concept in California. Later, the notion of the Computer Utility Data Bank is explored in terms of the present and future state-of-the-art as they are related to educational applications. Finally, the relationship of information to the user outside of the formal instructional situation (in the school) is considered in the light of new styles of urban planning and the total communications requirements which may be suggested for the user's home. The focus here is on Columbia City, Md. This sampling, and it can only be that, should suggest that a major revolution is in the offing. It will change our notions of how people learn, of what information is required for the meaningful life and for the contributing and participating citizen. As with other disciplines, the dialog between the educator and the computer scientist has barely begun.