University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Uses Of Plato: A Computer Controlled Teaching System

Easley, J.A.; Lyman, Elisabeth R.; Bitzer, Donald Lester

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1760

Description

Title
The Uses Of Plato: A Computer Controlled Teaching System
Author(s)
  • Easley, J.A.
  • Lyman, Elisabeth R.
  • Bitzer, Donald Lester
Issue Date
1966
Keyword(s)
Libraries --Automation
Abstract
The use of a high-speed digital computer as a central control element provides great flexibility in an automatic teaching system. Using a computer-based system like PLATO permits versatility in teaching logics, since changing the type of teacher merely requires changing the computer program but not the hardware. In addition, having access to the decision-making capacity of a large computer located as one unit permits complicated decisions to be made for each student. Such capacity would be prohibitively expensive to provide by means of decision-making equipment located at each student station. Studies of queuing that occurs with multiple student requests show that the system could teach as many as a thousand students simultaneously without incurring a noticeable delay in processing any student's request. The educational results thus far have been extremely encouraging. However, reliable conclusions on educational achievement must await the results of more thorough experiments now in progress which include larger numbers of students learning under a variety of conditions. The adaptability and usability of the system for a variety of purposes in education (including the behavioral and physical sciences) have been clearly demonstrated.
Publisher
Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Series/Report Name or Number
Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (4th : 1966)
ISSN
0069-4789
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1760
Copyright and License Information
Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1966.

Owning Collections

1966: Proceedings of the 1966 Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing PRIMARY
4th Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (1966). Edited by Herbert Goldhor.