Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsrgv.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!perelgut From: perelgut@utcsrgv.UUCP (Stephen Perelgut) Newsgroups: net.micro,net.research,net.cse Subject: First Summary of PC's in Education Survey Message-ID: <3459@utcsrgv.UUCP> Date: Tue, 6-Mar-84 13:57:17 EST Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.3459 Posted: Tue Mar 6 13:57:17 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 6-Mar-84 14:09:59 EST Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto Lines: 95 (..) \/ Here are the preliminary results of my survey about personal computers in a formal education environment. With the possible exception of Dartmouth, nobody seems to really know what to do about student purchased pc's in the classroom situation. I am presenting the results. A follow-up questionnaire will be posted separately. ----------- Summary (it really is a summary, just not concise) ----------- University of Toronto - We are currently looking into teaching introductory computing on a pc based system (8086-family, MS-DOS). The language will be Turing (developed at the U. of T. and accepted for all intro. computing courses here.) - Initial plans are to develop a lab of 15 pc's and use it to teach a course. Other problems being investigated are networking and file servers. - The University is trying to work out a deal for making computers cheaper for students to purchase. A minimal machine will be designated and a good price for a particular version will be negotiated with the manufacturer/dealer. Rose-Hullman @ Indiana - Classrooms, study areas, dorms, etc. all have computer ports - Students required to purchase a small, portable PC with AC/battery pack that can be tied into a large computer network. North Carolina State - Introductory courses now taught on micro-computers using the Sage IV running a multi-user P-System. Each Sage IV has 5 (?) terminal attached. Other courses use an IBM 4341, Data General MV-8000, and a lab full of PDP-11's - Students can purchase a single-user Sage II running the UCSD P-System. - A Sage is based on the 68000 processor. The Sage II has 2 floppies (DSDD), 512K (?), 2 RS-232 ports, a printer port, and an IEEE-422 (?) port. The Sage IV has 1 floppy, 1 hard disk, 1M RAM, 6 serial ports, 1 parallel port, and an IEEE-422 (?). University of Waterloo - Many introductory courses use pc's in networks. There are several Janet networks of IBM PC's and several Waterloo MicroNets using IBM Series 1's, PDP-11's, and big IBM's as central file servers. Languages include Pascal, Basic, Cobol, and Assembler. - Students cannot use their pc's at home and cannot get copies of Watcom software. Network pc's have no floppies, only shared file servers. Looking Glass Software - currently designing a programming environment based on syntax-direct editors to run on the ICON (Bionic Beaver) pc. - These will be purchased by high-schools in Ontario and are not likely for students initially. - First target is a Pascal environment. MIT - uses HP machines based on 68000's with 4M main memory for introductory programming. - Project Athena at MIT will use lots of DEC Pro-350's and some IBM PC's, all donated. University of Saskatchewan - currently looking for 50 networkable micros to replace the 11/70 being used for RJE. - Will probably standardize on MS-DOS and are looking into Modula-II Simon Fraser University - May be doing same things as Sask. Harvard - Plans to use Macintoshes to teach introductory courses next semester. - Will be developing software over the summer. - Developing introductory Pascal and more advanced assembler courses. Pascal environment may eventually use three windows on the Mac -- one for source, one for output, and one for condition of data structures. - Currently using IBM PC's in an extension course teaching Pascal. Ok experience but a pain with printers. UCSD - has been using micros since 1978. First used Teraks but they were too expensive for students ($8K). Course switched to Apple ]['s and IBM PC's. - project involves groups (2-3) of students so usefulness of personally owned PC's is debatable. Dartmouth - Any student can buy a PC or get financial aid to help buy the PC. - DCS assuming all students will have easy access to a PC. - Introductory: will use True Basic on a Mac - Followup: will use Pascal on Mac - Assembly: will probably use Mac (68000 is a nice assembly lang.) University of Alberta - Getting a lab of PC's but aren't quite sure what to do about it. New Mexico State University - uses Terak (11/03) to teach UCSD P-system Pascal for intro. computing. -- Stephen Perelgut Computer Systems Research Group University of Toronto Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsrgv!perelgut CSNET: perelgut@Toronto