History of Computers in Education

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Computers have been a great influence in the education system. Educators are changing their methodologies for teaching because of the advent of computers in education. However, the history of modern computer age is a brief one. It has been about fifty years since the first operational computer was put into use: the MARK 1 in 1994 at Harvard and ENIAC in 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania (Molnar). Early use of computers in education was primarily found in mathematics, science and technology in 1958. However, the focus was placed mainly in vocational education by the National Defense Education Act; which was created as a result of the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union (A Brief History of Computers in Education). Major national efforts were made to reform education. While many of the problems in education were not new, other new and different demands were changing the basic structure of education. First there was a change in national philosophy and then preparation for children for a new type of society that did not exist yet. The new emerging educational technologies were to become an important catalyst for rethinking education. 1963 saw the Vocational Education Act. The computers that were being used did not lend themselves well to inclusion within schools. It was at this time that teachers were considered to be the leaders of student education and computers were not part of this education model. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act allowed mainframes and minicomputers to be sent to some schools in 1965. However, they were mainly used as administrative tools. In 1967 educational programs were put into place to educate students on computer programming and repair, and programming language were being taught at a university level. By the 1990s, education was using multimedia computers as part of the classroom experience. The Internet also launched
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