Back to the future

I was lucky to witness firsthand some of the earliest attempts at educational computing in the UK. In 1976 we set up a project called Investigations into Teaching with Microprocessors as an Aid (ITMA). I was in the technical team that built some of the first personal computers from kit form, which we then deployed among our student teachers to explore how these new tools might possibly be used in teaching and learning. Educational computing was still very much in its infancy, and there was a lot of interest in whether they could or would actually change learning.

Later, in 1981 I changed jobs to work in a nurse training school in the National Health Service where the only computers were very large ones that were used for management and administration. They were kept behind locked doors, and only a few select individuals ever got to enter the room.

Around 1981, Acorn and the BBC joined forces to produce one of the first affordable educational computers. It was called rather obviously, the BBC Microcomputer. Various versions were released over the decade including the 'B', the 'Master' and the 'Archimedes'. Each had to be supplemented by an external 5.5 inch floppy hard drive and a metal cube screen Microvitec monitor. The entire set was cream coloured, and could be further supplemented by a plinth which housed the whole ensemble. My nursing school, with my encouragement, purchased a dozen or so, and then it was my job to deploy them in meaningful contexts to promote learning. I placed one in the corridor outside my office, and wrote a small programme which printed out on a dot matrix printer information about every single transaction that took place each day. When a student nurse accessed a programme, the printed record showed me the name of the programme, when it was activated, how long the student remained on the programme, and even what score they achieved in the tests on the software. I discovered that the programmes, simple as they were, had the effect of drawing students to engage with learning on a mostly informal basis, anytime they were passing my office on the way to the training rooms, library and coffee area. They were in effect, one of the first technology supported self-directed study methods ever used in nurse education.

I deployed a second BBC computer alongside the first, and the use increased. Very soon I procured a small room in which we positioned an entire suite of BBC computers. I began writing programmes in conjunction with the nurse tutors, and in no time at all we were selling the Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) packages to other nursing schools all across the country. The software was written in 'BBC Basic' (Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) and were indeed basic, mainly consisting of text, questions and tests, and remedial loops with a score presented at the end. In the mid 80s, this was fairly leading edge, and seemed to align comfortably with the teaching ethos of the time, which in nurse education was essentially a behaviouristic 'drill and practice' approach. Today, the programmes would seem primitive, inappropriate and probably very very boring. In the mid 80s, they attracted students like bees to a flower garden. They queued to used the computers. One programme I wrote was a remix of the Basically Eliza programme, which mimicked a therapist by matching inputted questions with a small data base of responses. My programme had a twist. Instead of merely trying to converse with the student nurses, the programme threw insults back at them too, taking the conversation to an entirely new and hilarious level. It became the most popular programme in the suite, especially for our mental health nurses.

It was with a wonderful feeling of nostalgia that I walked into the National Museum of Computing dome at Learning without Frontiers and saw the array of BBC computers on display. They were even accompanied by the BBC Acorn User Guide with it's glossy coloured cover and spiral binder. The sight took me back over three decades to the time I wrestled with how to deploy new and untried technology in authentic learning contexts. I remember the excitement I experienced when I unpacked the BBCs for the first time, and connected and switched them on, to see what they were capable of. We have come a long way since those early pioneering days, but the same questions still remain. How can we embed new technology effectively? What can we do with this new technology that we couldn't do before? How will this new technology effect and affect pedagogy? Even then, 30 years ago, I believed fervently that computers would radically transform education and training, and I still hold that hope. Education has indeed changed, and continues to evolve as technology drives change. Radical change though, will only come when teachers everywhere see the potential and power of technology to extend, enhance and enrich learning for all.


Back to the Future by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.