Computers in the classroom

Computers in the classroom include any digital technology used to enhance, supplement, or replace a traditional educational curriculum. As computers have become more accessible, inexpensive, and powerful, the demand for this technology has increased, leading to more frequent use of computer resources within classes, and a decrease in the student-to-computer ratio within schools.

College campuses used computer mainframes in education since the initial days of this technology, and throughout the initial development of computers. The earliest large-scale study of educational computer usage conducted for the National Science Foundation by The American Institute for Research concluded that 13% of the nation's public high schools used computers for instruction, although non-users still outnumbered users at a ratio of 2 to 1. The study also concluded that computers proved to be very popular with students, and that applications run on early models included sports statistic managers, administration tools, and physics simulators.

In 1975, Apple Inc. began donating Apple 1 model computers to schools, and mainframes began to lose their former dominance over academic research. Computer usage continued to grow rapidly throughout this era. In 1977, it was estimated that over 90% of students at Dartmouth College had used computers at some point in their college careers. Walter Koetke, the director of a Lexington, Massachusetts school system commented that, "It's still possible for a student to get through here without using the computer, but he would certainly have to try to do it".

Computer-aided instruction gained widespread acceptance in schools by the early 1980s. It was during this period that drilling and practice programs were first developed for exclusive classroom use. Schools became divided over which computer manufacturers they were willing to support, with grade schools generally using Apple computers and high schools preferring DOS based machines. Hardware shortages in schools became a major issue, leaving many teachers unable to provide enough computers for students to use. Despite this, by 1989 computer usage shifted from being a relative rarity in American public schools, to being present in nearly every school district.

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