1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Episode 10. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:16,400 The history of any technology plays an important role in defining its future. 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:21,080 The devices that exist along with the social conventions surrounding those devices become 4 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,320 the foundation for all future activities. 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:29,680 It requires time, energy, financial, and even political resources to modify the social practices 6 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,880 and the technological landscape of a school. 7 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:37,480 So extent technology, that stuff that we already have there and those things that we are already 8 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:40,680 doing there, affect future directions. 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:46,720 So, if we want to understand the current and future realities of IT and schools, it helps 10 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:48,240 to understand its past. 11 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:49,920 Yeah, I think so. 12 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:51,360 How far back do we go? 13 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,680 Well, historians of technology trace the beginnings of computers back to the analytic 14 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:01,000 machine that was invented by Charles Babbage and programmed by Ada Lovelace in the 19th 15 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,000 century. 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,560 The history of electronic digital computing is usually marked from the creation of the 17 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:12,000 electronic numeric integrator and computer, or INEAC, that computer is built to handle 18 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:17,800 the massive computations necessary for military applications, including, unfortunately, the 19 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,840 Manhattan Project which designed the nuclear bombs during World War II. 20 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,720 So some of us believe that the computers actually had a rather dark beginning. 21 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:32,520 After the war, computers were slowly introduced into other information-rich industries, including 22 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:38,440 those related to continued military production, insurance companies, airlines, things like 23 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:39,440 that. 24 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,640 In the years immediately after World War II, the annual sales of computers could be counted 25 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:45,760 in single digits. 26 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,680 After that slow start, however, the computer industry grew rapidly with both industry push 27 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:57,760 adding new models and market pull driving innovation and defining new computational needs. 28 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,360 As the market expanded, more money became available to support research and development 29 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,240 by computer companies. 30 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:09,320 These investments led to advances that expanded the capacity of the computers while reducing 31 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:10,520 costs. 32 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:17,240 Both of these factors expanded the potential consumer base for computers into more organizations 33 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,360 that had more diverse needs and more modest budgets. 34 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,960 Since computers arrived, educators had been refreshing their practices for new generations 35 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,240 and each has negotiated how that technology will affect their work. 36 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,720 What can you tell us about how computers entered schools? 37 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,680 Early in the 1960s, the price of mainframe computers had decreased to the point where 38 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,000 sales to education markets became possible. 39 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,760 At about the same time, the potential of using computers in schools was recognized, but some 40 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:51,800 observers suggest the educational applications of computing were invented so that sales could 41 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:53,880 be made in that market. 42 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,800 Regardless of the goals that motivated early advocates for computers in schools, computers 43 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:05,200 did begin arriving in schools within about a decade and a half of their invention. 44 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,440 Don Bushnell writing in a monograph for the Department of Audiovisual Instructions for 45 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:15,480 the National Education Association in 1963 predicted, and I quote, the digital computer 46 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:20,080 and its peripheral equipment will support most of the subsystems and the total school 47 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:21,080 complex. 48 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:22,720 That ends as quote. 49 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,400 Bushnell predicted computer rich classrooms would be places in which a standardized curriculum 50 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,120 would be delivered to all students via computer terminals. 51 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,640 Students learning would be measured based on their ability to provide correct answers 52 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:37,400 to questions posed by the computers. 53 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,120 The correctness of those answers, of course, would be judged according to whoever programmed 54 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:42,880 the computers. 55 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:48,560 This picture of a highly standardized computer mediated curriculum instruction was promoted 56 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:53,840 as a very efficient method of instructive, and it really reflected the dominant pedagogy 57 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:54,840 at the time. 58 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,640 In the teaching and vision by Bushnell, students and teachers would interact with information, 59 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:05,200 but the computing devices would remain unseen by and untouched by students and teachers. 60 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:09,400 But this is not unlike the model of computing in other businesses and industries at the 61 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:10,760 time. 62 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:16,200 Computer deficiency and productivity were predicted for all computer mediated tasks, 63 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,760 even when technicians still operated the computers and computers were programmed by 64 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:25,000 physically reconfiguring their circuits or by punching cards. 65 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,280 The development of the general purpose computer that sat on a desktop and came with a graphic 66 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:35,280 user interface to facilitate use by almost anybody to perform almost any tasks they desired 67 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:37,720 was still decades in the future. 68 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,720 But still advocates for information technology were predicting increased efficiency through 69 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:44,120 the use of computers. 70 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,720 Was this ever realized in schools? 71 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:51,600 Some public schools did establish connections to mainframe computers located at colleges 72 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,320 and universities that were away from their campus. 73 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:59,240 Students and teachers and other users would program data on teletype terminals in the 74 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,560 schools to write programs. 75 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:06,680 Commands were entered in the teletypes, then sent over plain old telephone system connections 76 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,000 to the mainframes where they were executed. 77 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:15,000 The results were sent back over the same telephone lines and displayed on the terminal. 78 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,240 One of the largest expenses associated with these efforts was the cost of long distance 79 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,040 telephone charges. 80 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:24,840 These efforts tended to be localized near colleges that were willing to support them. 81 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:28,960 While many of the original projects are largely forgotten, except for by the participants, 82 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,320 some projects that emerged out of them are very well known. 83 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,200 Basic for example emerged out of New Hampshire. 84 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,400 The effort in Minnesota led to the development of the Oregon Trail which was used and loved 85 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,600 by generations of students. 86 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:46,920 In Illinois the PLATO system included many tools that later became central to the internet. 87 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:52,080 The institutions hosting these systems were recognized as early leaders in computer science, 88 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,520 research and education. 89 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,520 While there's a rich narrative that the technology gurus working in Silicon Valley 90 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:04,400 were the innovators who built the computer revolution, historian Joy Leasy Rankin claimed 91 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:11,080 the teletype users in schools were as important in laying the foundation to our current computing 92 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:15,760 landscape as those technology gurus in Silicon Valley. 93 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:20,240 Check out her 2018 book, The People's History of Computing in the United States for the 94 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,000 full story of these projects. 95 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,320 And actually I do have first hand experience in these. 96 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,160 I graduated from a New England high school in 1983. 97 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,600 My school had a book storage room that had been converted into a computer lab where there 98 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:35,280 were six computers. 99 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:39,040 Two of these were standalone computers with programs loaded from five and a quarter inch 100 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:40,560 floppy disks. 101 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:45,960 The others were connected to Dartmouth College's shared time computing for high school students. 102 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,960 I used the standalone machines a few times and I watched others scroll through the screens 103 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:55,480 filled with green text to accomplish something when they were connected to Hanover but I 104 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:57,760 was not really sure what they were doing. 105 00:06:57,760 --> 00:06:59,720 What about desktop computers? 106 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,800 In the United States desktop computers arrived in classrooms beginning in the late 1970s and 107 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,080 early 1980s which is when they arrived on the consumer market as well. 108 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:13,160 If you walked into a classroom where those first desktop computers were installed you 109 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,440 probably would have seen one or two computers on the margins of the classrooms. 110 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:22,960 Nearby there would have been a box of disks with applications and another box of disks 111 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:24,720 with data stored on them. 112 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:29,680 To start a word processing program for example you'd insert the disk with that application 113 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:31,760 then boot the computer. 114 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:36,080 Another disk would be inserted to load the documents that you wanted to work on. 115 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:40,880 To use a different application the user powered down the computer, took out the application 116 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:46,880 disks, inserted different application disks and rebooted the computer. 117 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:51,600 Eventually both the teletype systems and the one or two computer classrooms were abandoned. 118 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:56,960 As demand for computer courses increased larger numbers of desktop computers were installed 119 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:01,800 but rather than placing them in individual classrooms technology leaders installed them 120 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:08,600 in computer labs which was a dominant model of computer based education until early 2000s. 121 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:13,720 In elementary schools classroom teachers typically took their students all at once to the computer 122 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:19,000 room for special instruction at regularly scheduled times and in high schools students 123 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,440 enrolled in computer literacy or programming courses as electives or teachers took their 124 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:31,280 students there to work on special projects or lessons typically typing up research papers. 125 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:36,160 The computer lab model of technology based teaching generally found all students doing 126 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:40,200 the same type of work at the same time and in the same place. 127 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,560 How did the internet arrive in schools? 128 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:47,820 Late in the 1990s two programs supported by the federal government increased the computing 129 00:08:47,820 --> 00:08:51,280 infrastructure in schools in the United States. 130 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:56,880 Technology Literacy Challenge or TLC grants provided funds to schools to purchase computers 131 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,480 and to support the professional development of teachers. 132 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,920 The schools and libraries program of the Universal Service Fund or e-rate provided financial 133 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:12,000 support for local area network infrastructure and to defray the cost of internet access. 134 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,480 Schools have largely assumed responsibility for purchasing devices and teaching teachers 135 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:21,360 while e-rate funds continue to support internet access in schools. 136 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,600 IT professionals are usually assigned the task of preparing and submitting the schools 137 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,480 e-rate application each year. 138 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:32,360 Another effort led by local activists were called net days. 139 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,880 These found volunteers installing the cabling necessary to connect the new computers or 140 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:42,960 purchase with TLC funds to the internet connections that were supported by e-rate. 141 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:47,400 This was necessary because the schools were built before computer networks were necessary 142 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:52,960 and few budgets allowed for the considerable capital expense of installing cat 5 cables 143 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,240 throughout older buildings. 144 00:09:55,240 --> 00:10:00,160 Such amateur endeavors are no longer common in public schools but the fact they were once 145 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:05,200 common is an interesting reality of the history of computers in schools. 146 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,200 So you have told us about technology. 147 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:09,840 What about how it is used? 148 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:14,600 At about the same time schools were getting online the findings from Apple's Classrooms 149 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,840 of Tomorrow project were influencing many educational technology initiatives. 150 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:24,880 One of the important observations was that access to computers was not sufficient for 151 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:27,400 teachers to create effective lessons. 152 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:32,400 They needed help understanding how to use computers and also how to use computers in 153 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:34,040 their teaching. 154 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,360 This explains in part the inclusion of support for professional development and the projects 155 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,560 that were awarded TLC funds. 156 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:45,760 Even today IT professionals are frequently involved with training teachers how to use 157 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:52,040 the IT systems and in some cases even teach with the systems that they manage. 158 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:56,320 As computers arrived in schools that had high speed internet access in each instructional 159 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:02,440 space and as teachers began to gain experience teaching with them there was increasing interest 160 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,600 in moving computers back into the classrooms. 161 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,960 It was reason that teaching with computers required they be in the classroom so they 162 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:14,640 would be available when students were engaged in all of the classroom activities and in 163 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,360 the same space where other materials were available. 164 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:22,480 More frequent access to computers in classrooms allows for easier technology integration which 165 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:27,000 has become the most popular model of organizing technology-rich teaching. 166 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000 How about the more recent history? 167 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,960 Since about 2010 one-to-one computing and cloud-based computing have come to dominate 168 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:35,520 school computing. 169 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,400 In many schools students carry Chromebooks with them and sometimes even take them home. 170 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,760 While the market share for educational computing devices is difficult to ascertain with certainty 171 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:51,640 estimates are that Chromebooks represent over 60% of the devices that are in schools. 172 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:56,440 Some schools do continue to maintain computer rooms for special purposes and they have computers 173 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:01,600 with full operating systems for administrative staff but in many schools Chromebooks are 174 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,560 the only devices maintained by IT professionals. 175 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:09,920 And this can be a less than optimal situation for many educators. 176 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:14,080 Google Workspaces provides most students with productivity applications. 177 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:18,920 Student information systems including grade books and things like library card catalogs 178 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:23,920 and learning management systems are all web based now so students can access them from 179 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,060 home or from school. 180 00:12:26,060 --> 00:12:31,560 Because those systems are based in the cloud, robust, reliable and secure networks are essential 181 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:33,720 to school function. 182 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,520 While the move to cloud-based computing has many benefits for students, teachers and IT 183 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,800 professionals it has introduced some inequity into education. 184 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:47,560 The term digital divide has been used to describe inequitable access to digital learning for 185 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:48,560 generations. 186 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:52,680 Originally it was used to describe the fact that marginalized populations often intended 187 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:55,600 schools with fewer computing devices. 188 00:12:55,600 --> 00:13:00,040 It's also been used to describe inequitable access to high quality instruction with digital 189 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:01,840 tools. 190 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:07,240 As cloud computing has become ubiquitous it has been used to describe inequitable access 191 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,680 to network connections away from school. 192 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:14,800 That problem was particularly cute during the remote teaching necessitated by the pandemic 193 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,680 in 2020 but it continues to be a problem. 194 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:20,160 So where do we stand today? 195 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,280 Yeah, you know, it sure depends on local circumstances. 196 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,000 The technology infrastructure determines much that we can do. 197 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:32,240 Cloud teachers have been using technology affects what decisions they believe are appropriate. 198 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,280 And the degree to which leaders play an active role in determining the direction of technology 199 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:59,800 in the schools matters as well.