[Squeakland] Computer as Tutor

[Gary Fisher]

Alan & all;

A draft of the paper cited can be found at
http://www.lists.pdx.edu/waoe-views/current/att-0016/Blowing_learning_to_bits.doc.

"The computer as tutor" was a hot topic when I was in college during the
late '60s and early 1970s, and I was peripherally involved in the
development of several experimental "learning laboratories" at the time.
Sadly, "the powers that be" on these projects universally adopted the
hopeless "programmed learning" concept which replaces pedagogy with a dreary
form of mechanized pedantry.

Though it could be done much better now (and could have been done much
better then as well) I lack the imagination to see how genuine understanding
can be imparted to a child by a tutor unable to discern the furrowed brow,
or to cheer the sudden gleam of comprehension.  I'm sure computers have a
proper place in education, but not absent a dedicated educator.

Gary Fisher


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Kay" <Alan.Kay at squeakland.org>
To: "Doug Wolfgram" <doug at gfx.com>; <squeakland at squeakland.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2004 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Squeakland] Computer as Tutor


> Hi Doug --
>
> Al Bork is very well known in this area going all the way back to the
> 60s. There is a great old book called "The Computer as Tool, Tutor,
> and Tutee" which contains seminal papers by Bork, Papert, and others.
>
> I couldn't find "Blowing Learning to Bits" on Amazon.
>
> One of the original ideas about all this stuff back in the 60s was
> that some form of AI would develop enough to allow the computer to
> "understand" enough of a subject to be able to gently correct and
> steer. This just didn't happen. Some of the near misses (many done at
> CMU) are quite interesting. Plato (at the U of Illinois) was a huge
> system in the 60s and 70s that did a kind of tutorial on many
> subjects. It's worth studying, but it never got up to what Seymour
> and I thought would be at all reasonable.
>
> There have been some proposals for making a tutorial interface for
> the Squeak Etoys that use a number of techniques to handle the
> detecting and gentle correction of errors. I'm hoping to get at least
> one of these started towards the end of the year.
>
> It would be great to hear from people on this list just what "the
> computer as tutor" means to them.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alan
>
> At 10:56 PM -0700 4/9/04, Doug Wolfgram wrote:
> >I was recently introduced to Alfred Bork's papers on 'Computer as
> >Tutor' and am getting very interested in his work. He is professor
> >emeritus at UCI (U of Cal Irvine) and is starting a company to build
> >large scale educational systems spanning preschool through adult
> >education.  I don't want to misstate his goals here, but if anyone
> >else has heard of his book, 'Blowing Learning to Bits', I'd love to
> >hear about it.
> >
> >I believe that Squeak is the perfect environment for having the
> >'Computer as Tutor'. Are there ay specific papers on this subject,
> >even if by another name? Are any of you working on projects where
> >you could stand back and say "yes, we designed this because we saw
> >the computer as the tutor?" I don't believe that Dr. Bork wants to
> >replace teachers in any way, he is just focused on that 'additional'
> >teacher in our lives, technology.
> >
> >Cheers!
> >
> >D
> >
> >
> >_________________________________________
> >
> >"If you're not in e-business ... you're not in business.."
> >_________________________________________
> >
> >Doug Wolfgram
> >GRAFX Group, Inc.
> >Cell: 949.433.3641
> >http://www.gfx.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Squeakland mailing list
> >Squeakland at squeakland.org
> >http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>
>
> -- 
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