A Collaborative Effort: The People Behind PLATO
Around 1959 Chalmers Sherwin, a physicist at the University of Illinois, suggested a computerized learning system to William Everett, the engineering college dean, who, in turn, recommended that Daniel Alpert,
another physicist, convene a meeting about the matter with engineers,
administrators, mathematicians, and psychologists. After weeks of
meetings they were unable to suggest a single-design system, yet, before
conceding failure, Alpert mentioned the matter to laboratory assistant Donald Bitzer, who had been thinking about the problem, suggesting he could build a demonstration system.
Bitzer,
regarded as the Father of PLATO, recognized that in order to provide
quality computer-based education, good graphics were critical (this at a
time when 10 character per second teleprinters were the norm). In 1960,
the first system, PLATO I, operated on the local ILLIAC I computer.
It included a television set for display and a special keyboard for
navigating the system's function menus; PLATO II, in 1961, featured two
users at once.
Convinced
of the value of the project, the PLATO system was re-designed, between
1963 and 1969; PLATO III allowed "anyone" to design new lesson modules
using their TUTOR programming language, conceived in 1967 by biology graduate student Paul Tenczar. Built on a CDC 1604, given to them by William Norris, PLATO III could simultaneously run up to 20 lessons, and was used by local facilities in Champaign-Urbana that could enter the system with their custom terminals.
Click to Learn More About the Individuals Behind the Technologies:
- Donald Bitzer - regarded as the Father of PLATO; developed the early design while a lab assistant at UIUC. Click here to watch Don Bitzer talk about the unique collaborative environment behind the PLATO project.
- Chalmers Sherwin - physicist at UIUC who had early involvement with PLATO
- William Everett - Dean of the college of Engineering who had early involvement with PLATO
- Daniel Alpert - Physicist at UIUC who had early involvement with PLATO
- Paul Tenczar - A UIUC biology graduate student who developed the TUTOR programming language, which allowed any user the ability to create new lesson modules
- David Woolley - Developed PLATO Notes, a precursor to today's online forums and message boards
- Kim Mast - Developed Personal Notes, a precursor to today's email
- Bruce Parrello - Developed a precursor to today's blogging, called News Reports, which allowed users to post news stories for other users to read
