The History of Computers in Education :: Technology in Education Computers Essays

The History of Computers in Education Computers were first introduced into schools in the late 1950, however, at that time they were scarce officed by large universities for clerical work such(prenominal) as accounting, payroll, and for storing student records. Computers began to emerge more and more in the 1950, but it was dumb uncommon to see computing machines in schools. Today, one will find that instead the opposite exists. Since 1977 there has been a rapid growth in the use of computers through come to the fore schools. Today the average public elementary school has cx computers and 98% of these schools have access to the Internet. The ratio of students to computers, as of the year 2000 is little than five students per computer (Kafer np). Since their first appearance they have greatly changed genteelness and have proved to be useful, valuable resources both in and out of the classroom. In the mid 1960 through the early 1970 the cost of comp uters decreased, while the accessibility of the machines increased. This allowed more schools and colleges to buy and use computers. With this new technology, teachers, administrators, and other school staff office could complete required tasks in less amount of time. One chief(prenominal) benefit of computers in schools was that they saved the time and the energy of those who operated them. When computers were first introduced into schools they were more often than not used for secretarial tasks and administrative purposes. Records of the school students and faculty could all be stored on a computer. Also, inventory control and accounting could be do with a computer now. Computers allowed schools to keep and produce accurate records, which helped avoid monetary disputes. Grades and attendance could now be stored on a computer drive, which besides prevented disputes over miscalculations that might have occurred if records were kept by hand. Another administ rative convenience introduced with computers was the ability to process and print student schedules. School resources, such as library books could now be managed through a computer system, monitoring what books were on loan and what was available. Having computer access in schools was extremely beneficial for administrative purposes.