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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
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