Last time how attempts to automate the learning process led to the appearance in the 60s of the PLATO system, which was very advanced at that time. For her, developed a lot of training courses in various subjects. However, PLATO had a drawback - only university students with special terminals received access to educational materials.
The situation changed with the advent of personal computers. So, educational software has come to all universities, schools and homes. We continue the story under the cut.
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computer revolution
The device that led to the personal computer revolution was based on the Intel 8080 microprocessor. The bus designed for this computer became the de facto standard for subsequent computers. Altair was developed by engineer Henry Edward Roberts in 1975 for MITS. Despite a number of shortcomings - the machine had neither a keyboard nor a display - the company sold several thousand devices in the first month. The success of the Altair 8800 paved the way for other PCs.
In 1977, Commodore entered the market with its Commodore PET 2001. This 11-kilogram sheet metal computer already had a 40x25 character monitor and input device. That same year, Apple Computer introduced its Apple II. He received a color display, a built-in BASIC language interpreter and could reproduce sound. The Apple II has become a PC for ordinary users, so not only tech-savvy specialists in universities worked with it, but also teachers in schools. This has spurred the development of affordable educational software.
At one point, US teacher Ann McCormick became concerned that some teens read extremely insecurely and slowly. Therefore, she decided to work out a new methodology for teaching children. In 1979, McCormick won a grant and received an Apple II from the Apple Education Foundation. She joined forces with Stanford PhD Teri Perl and Atari programmer Joseph Warren to found the company . Together they began to develop educational software for schoolchildren.
By 1984, The Learning Company had published fifteen educational games for children. For example, Rocky's Boots in which schoolchildren solved various logic puzzles. It won first place in the Software Publishers trade association rankings. There was also a Reader Rabbit that taught reading and writing. In ten years, it has sold 14 million copies.
By 1995, the company's revenue had reached $53,2 million. Children's Technology Review editor Warren Buckleitner The Learning Company "The Holy Grail of Learning". According to him, it was the work of Anne McCormick's team that helped teachers understand how powerful educational tools computers can be.
Who else did it
In the first half of the 80s, The Learning Company was not the only developer of educational software. Educational games Optimum Resource, Daystar Learning Corporation, Sierra On-Line and other smaller companies. But only Brøderbund managed to repeat the success of The Learning Company - it was founded by brothers Doug and Gary Carlston (Doug and Gary Carlston).
At one time, the company developed games, perhaps their most famous project is Prince of Persia. But the brothers soon turned their attention to educational products. Their portfolio includes: James Discovers Math and Math Workshop for teaching basic math, Amazing Writing Machine for teaching reading and grammar, and Mieko: A Story of Japanese Culture, a Japanese history course in the form of entertaining stories for children.
Teachers took part in the development of applications, they also made lesson plans using this software. The company regularly held seminars in schools to promote computer learning, published paper user manuals, and made discounts on programs for educational institutions. For example, with the regular price of Mieko: A Story of Japanese Culture at $179,95, the school version cost almost half as much - $89,95.
By 1991, Brøderbund had taken over a quarter of the US educational software market. The company's success attracted the attention of The Learning Company, which bought a competitor for $420 million.
Software for students
University education has not been left out of the computer revolution. In 1982, MIT purchased several dozen PCs for its engineering student classroom. A year later, on the basis of the university, with the support of IBM, they launched . The corporation provided the university with computers worth several million dollars and its programmers for the development of educational software. Students of all specialties gained access to new technologies, and a computer network was launched on the campus.
In the late 80s, a UNIX-based educational infrastructure appeared at MIT, and university specialists developed programs for other universities. One of the most successful was recognized as an integrated system for teaching natural science disciplines - university staff not only wrote a computer course of lectures, but also launched a system for testing students' knowledge.
"Athena" became the first experience of large-scale use of computers and software at the university and a model for similar projects in other educational institutions.
Development of the educational ecosystem
Entrepreneurs also began to show interest in educational software in the early 80s. After leaving Microsoft in 1983 due to disagreements with Bill Gates, Paul Allen founded Asymetrix Learning Systems. There he developed the ToolBook learning content environment. The system made it possible to create various multimedia products: courses, applications for testing knowledge and skills, presentations and reference materials. In 2001, ToolBook was recognized as one of the best interactive e-learning tools.
The distance learning ecosystem has also begun to develop. The pioneer was the FirstClass program, which was developed by Bell Northern Researchers Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury, and Scott Welch. The package included tools for working with e-mail, file sharing, chats, conferences for teachers, students and parents. The system is still in use and updated (it is part of the OpenTex portfolio) - three thousand educational institutions and nine million users worldwide are connected to it.
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The spread of the Internet in the 90s was the cause of the next revolution in education. The development of educational software continued and received a new development: in 1997, the concept of an "interactive learning environment" (Interactive Learning Network) was born.
We will talk about this next time.
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Source: habr.com