Computers Evolvement in Education :: Technology in Education Essays

Computers Evolvement in Education Picture rows of students all of different ages, having different knowledge and scholastic aptitudes, all in one classroomà ¤with one teacher. This is the late 1700s when the teacher was the sole manager and source of knowledge in the classroom. Not until two hundred years later in 1951 did the slightest bit of outside technology enter the classroom when the television was first used as a classroom instructional aid. In the middle of the Cold War, President Eisenhower passed the National Defense Education Act of 1958, bringing more money into the countryÏ€s schools to purchase new technology such as mainframe host computers. The problem was that many school systems were stuck to their ways, and insisting on continuing use of the 1700s-style instructional teaching method. President Kennedy further supported technological advances with his 1963 Vocational Education Act. Teachers and schools again rejected technology, refusing to include the expensive mainframe and minicomputers into their lesson plans. It is surprising that computers ever got as far in education as are they are now. Two years later, in 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was born, giving public schools enough money to put the computers in all schools, but unfortunately, not in the classrooms. Computers were used primarily in administration and counseling offices at that point, not addressing the studentsÏ€ instructional needs. President Richard Nixon decelerated the countryÏ€s advances for technology in the classroom. During his presidency numerous programs designed to give more money to the nationÏ€s schools were cancelled. Host computers at this time were also rejected in the school systems, as they were seen to be unnecessary classroom components. After all, what more information do students need besides that given to them by their teacher? In 1975, about six years later, some schools across the nation finally were beginning to use mainframe and minicomputers, rejecting personal computers (PCs), which were steadily increasing in use and popularity outside the classroom. Apple Computer Company even donated Apple I PCs to schools that year in efforts to market PCs to primary schools.