Microcomputers in education

A Microcomputing degree? You have go t to be kidding! No, this is precisel y what is being suggested by the publishe r of a leading microcomputer magazine [1]. Furthermore, a college in New Hampshir e is looking into this possibility, and i t is liable to meet with much popula r support. After all, there are mor e microcomputer systems in the "rea l world" than there are IBM 370's. Bu t why a college degree ? Have we gotten too involved in ou r academic research at the universit y level to notice what has been happenin g at the elementary school level? A s leaders in computer science education , maybe we have concentrated too long o n the junior college, two-year college , four-year college and universit y curricula. It is now time to think ou t a complete role for computer scienc e education because "I am anxiousl y awaiting the day when these kids ar e college freshmen and they walk int o their computer science course with te n years of programming already under thei r belts at age eighteen ." [3 ] The basic philosophy suggested in [1 ] has for the most part been accomplishe d at Loyola University in the last fou r years. We have slowly built up a n impressive microcomputer lab for th e Department of Mathematical Sciences, bu t we do not offer a microcomputing degree. Our degree offering is a B .S. i n Computer Science and we have adhered t o the ACM curriculum guidelines [4]. Ou r microcomputer lab is certainly wel l equipped to handle both our compute r science majors and our mathematic s majors with interests in compute r science. We started in 1976 with a SOL-20 from Processor Technology. W e then added a PET 2001, an APPLE an d finally a Model I TRS-80 level II. Fro m this beginning we have grown to tw o SOL-20's, two TRS-80 level II's, thre e APPLE II's and a TRS-80 Model II. O n loan from TANO Corporation (a Ne w Orleans firm) we have an OUTPOST 11 an d from ECLECTIC we expect to be receivin g a new PET with dual drives and printer. Each system in the lab is capable o f communicating with Loyola's academi c computer system, an !1P3000 Series III. Thus, the typical computer …