Colleagues at Blackpool & Fylde College in the 1970s/1980s, Terry Cowham & Pat O'Connell in particular, were early into the exploration of how the new 'microcomputers' like the Research Machines 380Z and the 'PET' could be used.

 

When I got involved in 1980 these devices were around in growing numbers and there was a recognition that something quite significant was about to happen.

At the time I was a teacher of geology, environmental science and energy studies. I had come across a project run by the UK's Schools Council, the Computers In The Curriculum project. It was their "Home Heating" software rather than the technology itself that sparked my interest! I somehow persuaded my boss to buy an Apple II for my lab, and I learned to program in Applesoft BASIC so my students could run the Home Heating software on it.

I realised that the same machine could provide tutor group lists and other admin windfalls - and that would let me make the case for more equipment! We soon had a small stable of really neat Apple IIs and a computerised timetable system.

 

This system, HITIME, was sold to a couple of hundred colleges once it was converted to run on the BBC micro ..... and so started my career-long interest in using technology to support both learning and the management of learning.

Educational Computing : The View From A College, 1981

I needed to write a 3rd-year Masters' dissertation [Lancaster University Department of Educational Research 1978-1981 PT student] and took the opportunity to explore the "educational computing" field, and to put that into a practical context at Blackpool & Fylde College.

 

If you're interested you can download this ancient MA Dissertation in chunks from the list above. Many of the needs remain much the same now, 30 years later.