Historic Background
Before the 1944 G.I. Bill that provided free college education to World War II veterans, higher education was limited to a minority of the U.S. population. The trend towards greater enrollment notable by the early 1950s, and the problem of providing instruction for the many new students was a serious concern to university administrators. To wit, if computerised automation increased factory production, it could do the same for academic instruction. The U.S.S.R.'s 1957 launching of the Sputnik I artificial satellite energized the United States' government into spending more on science and engineering education. In 1958, the U.S. Air Force's Office of Scientific Research had a conference about the topic of computer instruction at the University of Pennsylvania; interested parties, notably IBM, presented studies.
Read more about this topic: PLATO (computer System)
Famous quotes containing the words historic and/or background:
“The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)