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| Smart Computing® Encyclopedia |
| Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations (PLATO) | ||
| The PLATO instructional computing system provided many children in the 1970s with their first experiences with computer systems. PLATO, developed at the University of Illinois, was
a computer learning system designed to give students an opportunity to learn at a self-directed pace. Although PLATO is short for Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations, it is almost always abbreviated. PLATO consisted of a network of terminals and a mainframe computer. Students could log in to any of the terminals and complete any of the thousands of lessons available on the system. PLATO tracked the students' progress and provided guidance to the appropriate skill levels. Instructors could program PLATO to give advanced students the ability to branch away from the main subject area for additional learning, while keeping students who were struggling on the main path of lessons. Programmers could write lessons for PLATO using a language called TUTOR. PLATO eventually spawned a "virtual community" of instructors and individuals involved in developing the system. The people who were involved with PLATO could converse with each other using a rudimentary email system and a group notes system in the mid-1970s. Many experts consider PLATO one of the first virtual communities. Most people credit Donald Bitzer, then a professor at Illinois, with inventing PLATO in 1961. Bitzer also holds a patent for inventing plasma-display panels, which came about as a result of his work on PLATO. Bitzer and H. Gene Slottow were looking for a touchscreen to use with PLATO when they came up with the idea of plasma-display panels. "We actually figured out how to make these screens in about 15 minutes while waiting for our wives to come pick us up," Bitzer said in a 1999 interview. Several other people in Illinois' CERL (Computer-based Educational Research Laboratory) had a hand in developing the system over the next couple of decades. During its development in the 1960s, PLATO was a small system, supporting only one room of terminals. However, by 1972, newer mainframes allowed support for as many as 1,000 terminals simultaneously. Students could also use modems to dial into the mainframe and access PLATO by the mid-1970s. Students in many countries, including South Africa, Australia, and Israel, used PLATO. Experts often say PLATO was several years ahead of its time. It offered high-resolution graphical interfaces and touch screens, which made using the system easy and enjoyable for children. In fact, many experts favorably compare PLATO's look and feel to today's World Wide Web. Today, the PLATO brand name has evolved into a software company with a focus on educational tools. After obtaining the rights to the PLATO name and product in 1976 from Illinois, CDC (Control Data Corp.) began marketing PLATO. In the late 1980s, TRO (The Roach Organization) obtained PLATO, and the company changed its name in 2000 to PLATO Learning, which is based in Bloomington, Minn. | ||
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