Computer-assisted instruction.

THIS ARTICLE reports on a program designed to develop computer literacy by offering instruction in a wide range of programming languages. Beginning in 1968, a computer-assisted course in computer programming was conducted through the Business Department of Woodrow Wilson High School, an "inner city" school in the Hunter's Point-Bayview area of San Francisco. Each day for three semesters, between July 1968 and June 1970,90 high school juniors and seniors in classes of 15 students interacted with a course designed to teach the fundamentals of computer programming for business applications. For approximately 50 minutes a day each student was on-line with a computer operated by the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences (IMSSS) on the Stanford University campus 30 miles away. The program was seen as a way of anticipating the growing demand in business and industry for people able to adapt to computerized operation of jobs. Such tasks as filing and stock-room control, formerly available to minimally trained individuals, would soon require personnel able to see and solve problems in terms understandable to a computer. Computer literacy and the ability to use computers would become important for all. Three courses were constructed in languages that were representative of the wide variety of programming languages commonly used at the time. Generally, the main goals of the instruction were to develop computer