ICT Educational Pioneers





Introduction
My first ICT in education foray came in the summer of 1963 when I helped teach some high school students who were enrolled in an extensive ICT workshop. Two summers later I began teaching precollege teachers uses of ICT in precollege education. I was many years from being one of the earliest participatants in such endeavors.

The ICT Educational Pioneers project began on August 21, 2007. The goal was to collect information about (and from, when still possible) people who made major contributions to the early development and spread of the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education. During the subsequent ten years, a number of pioneers were identified and IAE-pedia documents were written about some of them. My expectation of getting a lot of volunteers to help in this endeavor was not met, so many of the pioneer pages are just "placeholders" rather than serious documents.

ICT in education Pioneers are people who were early adopters, took risks, made major and continuing contributions, and who have left a legacy of helping to improve informal and formal education. Many of the pioneers had a vision of major changes in the traditional educational system. I have been fortunate to know many of the pioneers and to see the fruits of their efforts over a period of many years.

The emphasis in this IAE-pedia document is on: teachers; teachers of teachers; developers of educational software; authors of computers in education books, articles, and other material; developers of educational hardware; and other people who paved the way for what now exists and what is yet to come.

In this document, the term Information and Communication Technology is used in a very broad sense to include the underlying theory, the applications of ICT, teaching about ICT, making use of ICT in teaching, and the integration of ICT into all academic subject areas. It includes a broad range of educationally-oriented tools and toys that impact both informal and formal education.

Information for Authors and Editors
This section was written for potential authors.

This is a project to create an IAE-pedia entry for each of a large number of ICT Pioneers who were early contributors to the field of computers in education. This is a work in progress. We need lots of volunteers who will help to identify pioneers, locate information about them, and write about them.

Authors were encouraged to use the following outline:

1. General demographic types of information such as birth date and place, education, employment, and so on.

2. Setting the scene. This might go all the way back to the Pioneer's childhood. Try to capture the essence of how the world was before the pioneer began to do his or her pioneering work. Pay particular attention to the levels of Information and Communication Technology, and their use in education, at the time.

3. Major pioneering efforts and contributions. Try to capture the essence of the Pioneer's legacy contributions to the field of ICT in education. Be factual. Provide references if possible.

4. Up close and personal stories about the Pioneer. These can be contributed by many different authors. Try to flesh out the pioneer as a person and his or her contributions as part of the overall human endeavor of developing the field of ICT in education.

5. Autobiographic materials written by the pioneer in the past and/or written especially for this document.

6. Interview. If the Pioneer is still living, try to gather interview information via face-to-face meeting, phone, or email. Here are three sample interview questions:


 * Q. Looking back over your pioneering activities, which do you feel best about? What is your legacy?
 * Q. Drawing upon your years of experience and accumulated wisdom, what do you think are some of the very best ways to improve our current informal and formal educational systems?
 * Q. What else do you want to say to today's students, teachers, parents, and other people?

7. References. This includes references to sources of information about the Pioneer as well as references to some of the published works or and other activities of the Pioneer.

Pioneer
This document does not try to give a careful definition of who was and who wasn't a pioneer in the field of computers in education. Many people ("unsung heroes") contributed—some quite broadly and some more narrowly. Their activities laid the groundwork for where we now are in terms of teaching and learning about, using, and integrating ICT into our informal and formal educational systems. Their early efforts empowered many students (of all ages) to learn to use computers and to make use of their learning.

Pioneer entries in the IAE-pedia will capture some of the "essence" of a large number of the early movers and shakers, the early adopters and leaders. Many were self-taught, learning alongside the people (typically students, educators, and parents) that they were leading. They were risk takers, willing to share their fragile knowledge and skills with all who were interested in learning about ICT. Their pioneering work and leadership defined the field of computers in education and helped to move it forward. They often worked in an environment of apathy, misunderstanding, and lack of foresight.

Many of the pioneers have been identified by organizations that give awards and honors to leaders. For example, in 1999, the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) honored 20 NECC Pioneers. All 20 had made major contributions to the field of computers in education over a long period of years.

At the same conference, NECC honored 17 NECC Leaders. Somewhat interestingly, only one person—Dave Moursund—was on both lists. With the definition of Pioneer being used in the IAE-pedia, probably all 17 of the honored NECC Leaders also fall into the category of pioneers.

Historical Tidbit from 1983 Time Magazine
The Information Age officially began in the United States in 1956. By 1958, a few precollege students were gaining access to computers, and computer courses were beginning to be taught in some colleges and universities. Notice the names of some of the computers in education pioneers mentioned in the 1983 material quoted below. Quoting from the TIME Magazine article, "The CRT Before the Horse," October 10, 1983:


 * Teachers want them. Parents insist on them. Business requires them. And children are drawn to them like electrons to a cathode-ray tube. Of all the remedies prescribed for the ailing schools, none has generated more excitement than the call for large numbers of desktop computers. This fall 86% of all high schools, 77% of all junior highs and 61% of all grade schools have at least one machine, according to Market Data Retrieval Inc., a Connecticut research firm. But the rush to hardware looks very much like a nationwide case of putting the CRT before the horse. No one has stopped to resolve the basic issue, says David Moursund, professor of computer science at the University of Oregon: "What and how much students should learn about computers."


 * Many computers are used as high-tech flash cards in math and spelling. Scorning such applications, computer scientists argue that students should be "computer literate," and then argue among themselves about what that means. Berkeley Computer Educator Arthur Luehrmann, who coined the term, has defined it as "the ability to do computing and not merely to recognize, identify or be aware of alleged facts about computing." M.I.T. Professor Seymour Papert, author of the influential book Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas, agrees, insisting that all children should be taught to program computers, both for the intellectual exercise and for the experience of mastering a piece of modern technology.

Current List of Pioneers
The Pioneers on this list represent the writings and verbal suggestions of many contributors. As more names are added, we eventually may have information on several hundred Pioneers. These are the people who helped to shape many of the effective uses of ICT in our schools today.

All of the Pioneer pages are considered to be works in progress. We welcome whatever information you can add to one or more names, and are especially interested in personal stories about the pioneers and their contributions.

The list is alphabetized by last name and numbered for the purpose of keeping track of how many names are on the list. Names in blue typeface are clickable links to pages already created. Some of these pages are quite extensive, and others are essentially placeholders waiting for more background information and stories.

We have not received enough information to create a page for the Pioneers whose names are in black typeface. We will be especially appreciative of anyone who will write about one of these Pioneers––even a short contribution will be helpful. Send the information to moursund@uoregon.edu.


 * 1) Acheson, Keith.
 * 2) Ahl, David H.
 * 3) Albrecht, Robert (Bob).
 * 4) Allison, Dennis.
 * 5) Anderson, G. Ernest (Ernie).
 * 6) Andree, Richard V.
 * 7) Armstrong, Sara.
 * 8) Atchison, William F. (Bill).
 * 9) Barkley, Tim.
 * 10) Becker, Henry.
 * 11) Bialo, Ellen.
 * 12) Bigham, Vicki Smith.
 * 13) Billings, Karen.
 * 14) Bitter,Gary.
 * 15) Bitzer, Donald (Don).
 * 16) Bork, Alfred (Al).
 * 17) Bransford, John.
 * 18) Braun, Lud.
 * 19) Brittain, David.
 * 20) Brown, Dean.
 * 21) Brown, John Seely.
 * 22) Brumbaugh, Kenneth (Ken).
 * 23) Bull, Glen L.
 * 24) Cappo, Marge.
 * 25) Carnoy, Martin.
 * 26) Cerf, Vinton.
 * 27) Charp, Sylvia.
 * 28) Chen, Milton.
 * 29) Cole, Phyllis.
 * 30) Collins, Sue.
 * 31) Conine, Rachel.
 * 32) Crane, Terry.
 * 33) Critchfield, Margot.
 * 34) Davidson, Jan.
 * 35) Dede, Christopher (Chris).
 * 36) D'Ignazio, Fred.
 * 37) Engelbart, Douglas (Doug).
 * 38) Dwyer, Thomas.
 * 39) Emeagwali, Philip.
 * 40) Feurzeig, Wallace (Wally).
 * 41) Finkel, LeRoy.
 * 42) Fisher, Glenn.
 * 43) Gilbert, Steve.
 * 44) Goodson, Bobby (Barbara).
 * 45) Hakansson, Joyce.
 * 46) Hawkins, Jan.
 * 47) Hiltz, Starr Roxanne.
 * 48) Honey, Margaret.
 * 49) Hooper, Grace.
 * 50) Hoffman, Irwin J.
 * 51) Hunter, Beverly.
 * 52) Hurley, Kathy.
 * 53) Johnson, David C.
 * 54) Jongejan, Tony.
 * 55) Kahn, Robert (Bob) A.
 * 56) Kahn, Ted M.
 * 57) Kay, Alan.
 * 58) Kemeny, John.
 * 59) Kepner, Hank.
 * 60) Koetke, Walter.
 * 61) Komoski, Ken.
 * 62) Kopec, Anita.
 * 63) Kurshan, Barbara.
 * 64) Kurtz, Tom.
 * 65) Kurzweil, Ray.
 * 66) LaFrenz, Dale.
 * 67) Lathrop, Ann.
 * 68) Licklider, Joseph Carl Robnett (J.C.R).
 * 69) Linn, Marcia.
 * 70) Long, Harvey.
 * 71) Loop, Liza.
 * 72) Luehrmann, Arthur (Art).
 * 73) McKenzie, Jamie.
 * 74) Means, Barbara.
 * 75) Molnar, Andrew (Andy).
 * 76) Moursund, David (Dave).
 * 77) Negroponte, Nicholas.
 * 78) Nelson, Theodor (Ted).
 * 79) O'Brien, Tom.
 * 80) Olds, Henry.
 * 81) Papert, Seymour.
 * 82) Peele, Howard.
 * 83) Perl, Teri.
 * 84) Piele, Donald.
 * 85) Poirot, Jim.
 * 86) Postman, Neil.
 * 87) Rawitsch, Don.
 * 88) Resnick, Michel (Mitch).
 * 89) Roberts, Linda.
 * 90) Rogers, Al.
 * 91) Roupe, Dick.
 * 92) Schank, Roger.
 * 93) Scheingold, Karen.
 * 94) Schrock, Kathy.
 * 95) Snyder, Tom.
 * 96) Soloway, Elliot.
 * 97) Suppes, Patrick (Pat).
 * 98) Sutherland, Ivan.
 * 99) Talley, Sue.
 * 100) Taylor, Robert (Bob).
 * 101) Thornburg, David.
 * 102) Tinker, Robert (Bob).
 * 103) Turkle, Sherry.
 * 104) Turoff, Murray.
 * 105) Vernier, David.
 * 106) Wagner, Sandy.
 * 107) Walker, Decker.
 * 108) Warlick, David.
 * 109) Watts, Dan.
 * 110) Watts, Molly.
 * 111) Weizenbaum, Joseph.
 * 112) Whitney, Rusty.
 * 113) Withrow, Frank.
 * 114) Yoder, Sharon.
 * 115) Zamora, Ramon.
 * 116) Zinn, Karl.

Pioneer Projects Being Done by Other People & Groups
A number of people and groups are collecting and/or have collected lists of names of people that they feel are pioneers. Here are a few of these activities.

Charles Babbage Institute (CBI)
Quoting from About the CBI Archives:


 * The CBI Archives collects, preserves and provides access to rich archival collections and rare publications documenting the history of technology, from the era of tabulators and electromechanical calculators in the period prior to World War II, through the development of the electronic digital computer, mainframes, mini and microcomputers, software and networking. Oral histories, photographs, journal and serial publications and a reference library....

Various Early Publications
Various early publications are still available on the Web. The authors of articles in these publications, as well as the editors and publishers, are good candidates for the pioneers list.

People's Computer Company Newsletter. PCC was founded by Dennis Allison, Bob Albrecht, and George Firedrake in Menlo Park, California. The first newsletter was published in October, 1972.

The Oregon Computing Teacher. Edited by David Moursund, the first issue was published in May, 1974. The name of this periodical was changed to The Computing Teacher in 1979 when David Moursund founded the International Council for Computers in Education (ICCE). The title was changed to Learning and Leading with Technology, effective with the May, 1995 issue.

The Best of Creative Computing. Edited by David Ahl, began publication in 1976. See http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/. See also http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc2/ and http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc3/.

Authors of this Document
This document was initially created by David Moursund. In its current form, it reflects input by several other volunteers, including Grant Conway and Dick Ricketts.