The French National experiment in computer based education

niorth-Holland Publishing Compwy Micraprocessing and Microprogramming “. -________-

7 llY811 82-91

-

The French National Experiment Computer t3ased Educ&on*

Alter a description of the gutdeiines along which the first experiment (7970-19761 of CAI was organized in France, this il-rperiment i:. deswbed in detail itwining of leachers, hardware development of a new fr:nzh-speaking configurations. programming language. development of courseware. etc.1 The scrorrd part of the piper describes the recent “10 t)lq microi:olnplltett pion” and shows that the teachny of computer SI:IOIICI?$17swondary schools wll not solve the problem to pwpore students to live in a “computerized society” because that SOEIL‘~Ywill not be characterized by the ubiquitous prusence 01 the computer but by the ubiquitous presence of sophisticated tools and sewces based on computers. The cito~lcr~guIS then tu familiarize students with the use of these tot& through their use +n CAI.

in

secondary education is called “Baccalaur&at” (at the age of 18) but school is compu.lsory only until 16. Any student who succeeds at the f3accalauriat of his choice. can enter the University The important point is the monolithic structure of the educational system where the hierarchy ranges from the ordinary teacher up to the Ministre. The curriculum for each school-year is the same for all the schools :n the country and can only be changed bv a decision from the Minister. All curricula are defined in a very detaiied fashion as to their content. Also the number of teaching hours per week and per discipline is imposed. It has been x&id that the Ministry of Education is the biggest company in France with its over 800 000 employees but beside some drawbacks, such a centralized system has some advantages when it comes to decision-making as has been the ca,c: with the introduction of computers in education.

2. The First Experiment

(1970-1976)

Before we enter the description of the experiment it is important to recall the guidelines along which this experiment was organized. 2.1.

Methodolog_v

When programmed learning along the Line of Skinner and Crowder first appeared, it aroused great enthusiasm despite the fact that, from d psychological point of view, it singularly recalls the conventional techniques of inducing conditioned reflexes in living organisms. There is nothing very surprising in that enthusias,m in view of the fact that much of our social life is based precisely on the assumption that man’s capacity to be conditioned is infinite. Obvious

examples are the kind of psychr and

brain-wa;hing

practiced

not !o speak c f the advertising motivation

+$a!

sztg~cstion

by the ITEM technique\

media,

bawl

WI

sl\ldlcs.

These psychologicat

and sociological

consirlera-

tions are to bc added to the fact that such conditioning

runs

counter

to the

sort ot adaptability

which is more necessary than ever al a rime when I! is foreseen that today’s school children change

occupations.

working

two

or three

life and explaics

ing as a generul rejected.

will have to

limes

in their

why programmrd

method

ol’ cducat~on

learn-

has been

This technique however stiii has applica-

tions in some limited those technical

~~;nl)

i!!

areas where t’ I skiiih required

areas of trajziing;

;irt

more or less of the kind of conditioned The axiom

behind

education

is nothing

knowledge

and that

can be optimized techniques.

programmed more

than

the proce~

reflc~e,.

learning

ui

of transmission

by using the proposed

In fct,

:.; thar

transmission

teaching

it is obvious that any technique

used to teach more things in less time has a ~~ofold limitation:

the

speed

of learning

which

hat

an

upper limit and the time a person can devote IO the learning

process.

the product

As each of these terms is f’inilci,

of both is aiso finite.

there is an upper limit in an individual

can acquire,

life

Unfortunately,

learning.

perts,

the quantity

This means iha!

the quantity of kno\bledge even if he spend5 all htl according

of information

to all cs-

gencratcd

by

our society now doubles every ten years and there does not seem to be any foreseeable

end IO the pro-

cess.

The result is that whether optimized or not, an) system of teaching based on the transmission ol accumulated knowledge is bound to fail and the net effect of optimizing the process is merely IO postpone the hour of failure. Until the last twenty or thirty years, education the broad sense was considered of accumulated

knowledge

in

as the transmission

and one could live life-

long with what one had learned in school. This has been challenged technological

by the ever increasing

and scientific growth.

speed of

Faced with the

increase in the mass of accumulated knowledge, the educational system reacted by inflating the curricula and increasing the number of subjects taught. As the pace of technological progress

participation of the student and to stimulate creative and imaginative thinking. These are difficult, if not impossible, to induce in learners through any other kind of activity. In this sense, modelling and simulation in computer based learning, because they insist on the methodological approaches to problems much more than 011 acquisition of knowledge, are a partial answer to the challenge of modern teaching where the objective is to educate people so as to make them able to lose successfully with the world oE tomorrow IS]. 2.2.

The e.uperimeni

In 1970 a decision was reached to introduce computers in secondary schools for students between ! S and 18. The idea was not to teach programming and,‘or computer science bur to investigate the use of computers as a pedagogical tool wirh W0 main aims: a) to use the computer as a tool to introduce new methods of logical a,pproaches in the teaching of variour disciplines (programmed learning was excluded) b) to emphasize a more systematic use of modelling and simulation in the teaching/Eearning proEfl‘j. ?ne alms were ambitious and even more so bccause if we were able to define the sims in abstract terms, nobody knew at that time how to implement them concretely. Only a few publications with the same aims were availab!e intetnationall,, at that time and little previous experience existed in France. To try to solve the problem a set of decisions wxs made: - to train each year 100 teachers (volunteers) from secondary education in computer science. For that purpose the group of 100 teachers was split in 5 small groups and each group sent for a full academic year (during which each teacher earned From 1970 to his norm;1 salary) to a Unixrsity. 1976 about 600 teachers received that training.

- to rely on the trained teachers for discovering means and ends to implement concretely the above mentloned aims. For that purpose each teacher had to define and implement a project for a pedagogical use of computers in his discip-

tine during the last three mr:~. ii%of his training at the Univer&y. ‘To set-up d course by cJrrcspondanrr tn HVI1” puter science oriented toward teachers of cccondary education and pedagogical applicatir~ns 161. This course was distributed through an already existing institution of the Ministry of Education at a cost of 12s for one year. The course was sent out at the rate of one chapter every two weeks. Each chapter incltidsd homc-

work to be sent back for correction.

Firrally for

all the teachers who Vof?Jltetl~i ‘31” that iourw a three-day seminar w~cj .~.gar&.i y+tthe end of the academic year in different iin:v,:rs;:!e LLra4 and hotel paid by the Mir istry) N n:re Lheg cold work with compute] s and discuss the c~tents of the course. From 1470 to 1976 aoou: 5 t&Q teachers volunteered for the course by correspondence. a standard hardware configuration was defined based upon a time-shared mini-computer system able to accomodate 16 terminals at a nominal price of 70 OOO$. After bidding two French companies were awarded the contract (Compagnie !nternationale pour I’lnformatique with M ITKA 15 and Telemecanique with T 1600). to avoid spending a lot of time and mane! Lo rcwrite programmes from one language to another it was decided to use one single programming language for the entire secondary education systern. After lengthy discussions the Computer Science Department of the EcoIe Superieure d’Electricite received a contract from the Ministry of Education to develop a programming language based on its previous experience in that area and with the following specifications: - the language should use the French vocabulary - it should be highly interactive at the linclevet which implied an interpretative mode - it should be easy to learn for a beginner but still be sufficiently sophisticated to be effective for experienced programmers - it should have an extensive set of functions on character strings (for literary disciplines) - it should have a sophisticated file-handling system - it should have a very extensive set of ertormessages during compile-time and Lun-time

I36

J. Hebenstreit / The French National Experimenr

have Computer Science taught in secondary education but to have a teacher of any discipline use a computer for a better teaching of his own discipline. So, the teachers were strongly discouraged to teach Computer Science as such. The “programmed lenrnilTg” was discouraged because of the dangers of over-simplification introduced by its apparent simplicity and also because of its limitations. The objectives assigned to the research Groups were to write teachware modules based on modelling and “closed si/??ululion” (guided discovery) or “open simulurion” (the so-called “in vesligation mode” or ‘ha~~htrmode ’‘)

All this together explains rhe difficuhies met by the teachers when they started developing teachware. They were really asked to work the hard way and as a result two full years elapsed before the first packages did appear. But afterwards production increased steadily*

3. The IO 000 Micro-Computers

Plan

In 19’79the decision has been made !o introduce 10 OOOmicro-computers in French secondary education in the period 3980-1985. 800 micro-computers have beer, urdered in I979 and about IO00 ordered in 1980. A double controversy is now going on; one controversy is personal computers verbs time-shared computers, and the other controversy is teaching computer :icience as a subject versus using computers as a pedagogical tool to teach all disciplines.

Computers As has already been mentioned, about 1200 microcomputers will be installed in 1980 and 1981. These will be the kind cf machines presently available in stand-alone form. It is however not evident that Olis is the best configuration to be used in schools and that is why a study wilt be made in I981 to compare the pedagogical results of using standalone c.omputers versus time-shared computers. There are good arguments for interconnecting the computer of a class:

- it is less expensive pack

than

t0 sttsre zn*_ large hard

to have

two

flopp.

drives

disk-

on each

computt:r - there is m0re space available - it is more

for cverybodb

reiiable

- access to a Library of packages is easier and faster and cheaper (na duplication of flappy disk?! - the work done by any user can be stored on the central

disk facitity

and the teacher can check the

work done by the whole class from

the keyboard

of any computer

whereas it is an impossible

with

computers

stand-alone

- teachers

and

students

can leave

each other at any moment;

what rhey have nwt understood achieve

message5

stu&nts

unable

to

certain

teacher

can call the attention

task for

may specify

or why *he, we:\

things

x hrreas

of a given

the

stlldcnt

to specific points he has missed - there would be no problem, once the computer loaded

with

connect

the necessary

it from

stand-alone central

programmes,

the disk facility

mode

memory

provided

is

tw dis-

and to use it in there

in the CPU (but

is

enough

this will

be less

and less a problem). Today’s

technology

centralized

accept it without

However

further

will

handling

irtcrcase

tion

becomes

This

implies

we

consideration.

pu~srs are information fulness

us a fully

is offering

solution.

should

deno1

Since com-

devices their

use-

each time access to infetma-

faster,

easier,

networking.

simpler

and cheaper.

Moreover

since

educa-

process between the teacher and

tion is a tw0-way

the student the more communication

we can offer

the

implies

better

it

is and

this,

in

turn,

net-

working. In fact,

the Computer

ESE is presently

working

ture and a prototype

Science

Department

of

on that kind of arihitec-

should

be ready totiards

rho

end of 1980. 3.2.

TParhing Cbnlprcte+T Sciertre vP~sris Using Cofnputers

Already

in 1970 there were experts

teaching really

us To&

computer

only

science

important

on the

importance

gogical

tool

z:m whereas 0f

who said that

as a subject others

the computer

for alf teachers.

In fact,

was the insisted

as a pedain each case,

suppressel

rhe sake of the introduction

for

of pro-

gramming. 3.2.3. The ‘reaching ~,f AIgorifhtns The teach;ng of algorithms as a new discipline should teach the students - to formulate correctly problems - to a!~.Jyse a problem an? divide it in subprobiems - to solve the problems

by writing

of teaching problem

The ideP

algorithms.

solving

methods

is

to the French philosopher or the 17th century f&wP Descuriw bur there has been very little progress in that area since nothing

!tew as it goes back

then. Traditionally it was admitted that the teaching of math< rlatics had exactly the objective of @ing the students

the tools

problem,> by teaching

and the methods t&m

general logical mechanisms. in

the

vast

majsriry

unable

io apply

comext

where

mathemaiics.

of

they

tke

cakes

learned

them

some experts

scudems outside

are

of the

of

i.e. outside do not h&ate

the teaching of algorithms as a new Ihe students what the teaching

will give

mathematics

except

and

We have to admit that

these mechanisms

Tptiay

to state that discipIine

of

to soive

the most abstract

has been

to rhe very

University.

sma!l

However,

lrnable elite

when

to give

who we

happens in the area of professionals

them

continues

look

to

what

at

in informatics

there is ?roU~ing which allows us to state that those professionals

who have been trained

are more apt than rectly a problem.

others

in algorithms

to state and soIve cor-

As long as ;here will be no other

of teaching algorithms rn secondary education than pure statements it will be proof

of

the

value

0.” no use and even dangerous

to introduce

such a

teaching. Moreover,

the intraduciion

flew discipline teachers natural

in

schools

co use computers. reaction

of will They

&format&

as

discourage

all

will

have

the

to say that they are not concerned

and that anytXng

related

to computers

has to be

taken in charge by the “specialist”. 3.2.4.

Second Version “computerized society” is also a

In this version the society

in which

every

person has access to com-

puters

but the big difference

is that ,-niy specialists

write programmes for these computer!,, the normal citizen using these computers as a set of re~ourccc and services. In other words in the “curr~pulrri;rri society” we will live with computers around but nohody will be any more concerned with computers than anybody of our “elecirof~ic society” i5 concerned with electronics. The ‘computerized society” will oifer to everybody more services and more complex re*,outces which will allow to spare time or make living simpler or allow to do things which arc foday difficult or impossible. Let us only thmk of the following - the credit card including a micro-pmceqs;r w~h an instant balance - electronic mail with instant transmission cf IC?L and pictures - consultation at a distance of manuals. direstories, dictionaries, encyclopedias without going through a whole cubic meter of paper - the possible dialog with any foreigntr using a real time electronic translator wirh voc:al input and output ~ etc. This kind of ‘Y~=z~~urerized society” is much more likely tc happen than the hypotherical one where everybody has to find an algorithm and to write a programme each time he wants to get help from a computer. In that pragmatic view of rhe “corquu~erized sociefy” the computers as such vanish, they are in the majority of cases a part of sophisticated mechanisms from which the user only perceives the service he gets and these mechanisms will necessarily have to be simple because if they are not they will not be socially accepted. The history of informatics in the last 20 years shows clearly that tremendous efforts have been made to simplify the use of computers so as to put the machine under control of meu i.e. to eliminate all the com[iIex details one had to learn 20 years ago. The most typical example is the chess playing machine. The first machines had a keyboard and a display where each move had to be typed in. The recent one is just a chess board where the human just plays normally and where the machine indicates its moves by 2 flashing lights on the chess board.

90

J. Aiebensxeit / The French Nationalfxoeriment

:rspcct of music* arrd that talent and invention and musical geniub are elsewhere? The example of mu:;~c is an extreme one and has been chosen on pttrpose but the same things can be said for every discipline. Problem solving through algorithms should be very much discipline oriented as are modelling and simulation and that is why we will have more results by involving all teachers in all disciplines than by having an abstract teaching of problem solving,

lf‘ me try to look into the furur.:, there a set of puhsible ~lternatirrs depending on whether you are au optimist, a pessimist or a realist [g]. Optimists believe that any technical or technological progress finally turns OUIto be benet’icial to %rcicty at large. i musr say that their audience in the itist 30 yc:tr\ has constantly shrunk and for predict Apocalypse t‘i idcut reasc)n~. E’rssmists NOI\ tw to-rnorrou md a~ !he latest the day after IO-mar;a~). These are the best known and have an ~n~rtlasiti~: audience for the same evident reasons. Rcrtlt~~ think rhat the future is probably some\~hi;rc in hrt\veen ~lnd tht’y beiicve t,cry much thar ~irimrs

arc .tb!r to rtxxt

~zor~t disastw.

sensibl>

and to avoid

the

speeches of Government officials. CA1 has become i’omplcter Assisted Indcwtrination. b) The optimist’s forecast is the liberal version of what has been described. Everybody has a terminal in his home but it has been bought as a free choice. Networks are owned by big private companies. Democracy is at its highest level. No Parliament or House of Represcntati ves exists. For each decision a2 citizens vote through their home terminals. Newspapers no longer exist for ecological reasons but thousands of newspapers can be accessed through the terminal. Any citizen can introduce his own newspaper in a data base and make it available to all the citizens of the world for a few do!lars, a negligible amount compared to what is needed to-day to establish a newspaper. Any network in the world can be acce:;sed from any terminal. Schools no longes exist being replaced by house terminals and the existing courseware is so sophisticarsd, because of the use of .4rtificial Inrelligrnce, that el’er; child can obtain the national Ph.D. degree at the age of 15. CAl has become Coalpu!Pr Assisted intefhgenre. c) Rea’ists thi:ik thar rhings change much more slowly than most people say. They think that there is muc;~ ex-itcment about the few thousand cornputers whica are going into the 5cbooIs, but that the excitement will be much less when there wi!l be 1 million ccmputers in rhe schools and a few more thousand ate added. They believe that when many million computers have been install-d, there will certainly be experts raising their hands and esplaining that school buildings are expensve. that teachers are expensive and that what is done in schools could as well be done at home with a fantastic decrease in the cost of education. They nlso beheve that in periods of economic difficulties there will be Rlinisters of Finance who will listen to these experts and find arguments to follow their advice. But they do also believe in democracy and in the capacity of people to react sensibly provided that we pay attention rigkt ww to the way computers are used in education and avoid any further misuse. Computers should be regarded as add-on devices which should not replace anything else. They are technological tools which should be used at the

right time, to the right amount and in the right way to impro;e wha? has already be,~ done with books, cassettes, Gdeo recorders and othet- media. And over atl, t!ie choice to use, or not to use, the computer, the choice of when and how to use it should, by u/l IMUIS, be left ?o the responsibility of the teachers and of the teachers only. If we are not careful in this respect right now then we may wake up one day with a situation which everybody feels is intolerable - but it will be too late to change. We must remember that technology ii ne~rrrul but that the way technology is used is always the result of a poli~icol decision

References I!1 J. Hebenstreit. “IO 032 micro-computers tar the French secondary schools”, “Computer”

121 M.B. Hessa. “Mod& i31

{July 19&W.

and analogies in stance’

Dame’Press. Indiana. 1966 “Computer Rosenbaum,

Simulation

fo:

tiotw

high~schoal

SrL-Jenrs”. Westmghouse LearIlIng Ccrporat1on

t 1970!

J.M.

Ogborn and A. Malpas. “Can Computers simuia~e

exl>eriments”’ Project S1rnulate Newsreker. No. 4. Chclsea Caifege. London L19731. T.A. Dwyet,

“Heuristic strategies for usrng computws to

enrich education”, lnternationai Journal of Man-Machine Studies. No. 6 119741. J.

Habenstreit,

dance”, fl971).

“Cows

d’fn?ormatrque

par

correspond

Centre Nattonal de TRIO-Enseigncmani, France

LSE. “Marwe/ d’utilisahor.“, INRP. France lf9731. Micro-compute:n, rn secondary educahon, the IFIP Workin,

Proceedrrrg of

Cr~nfer+mcc hetd in Paris (April 198g0,.

North-Holland. J. Hebenstreit was born ?926. Electrical Engrrxw 1949 Phi3 rn Mathematics University of Paris. Professor of Computer Scrence and Head of Computer Science Department at Ecole Supariecrre d’Electricit8. Cecturer rn Computer Screncc ar rhe LJnivers.iv of Paris. Former member of the French M&try r,f Univerhlr~r:s’Commikee on Informatrcs. Member of the French Ministry of Eoucatron’s Committee on Informatrw. Member of the French National PedagogIcal Commntee for Vccahonal Training v .~~formakcs Charrman of IfIP’s Technical Commrftee fo’ f .‘:KXIOR “Jlember of the edrtorral board for the r’rench .rcr>~?al ‘Ed?l~anon et fntormatrque”. Member of the edztorial bowl to! rhe Srrtsh _lournal ‘Digita! Processes”, senior ! It I::% iTeE Ha? pubilshtd a number of papers on CAI In inielna? in-*: ,wurns!c