Teaching the history of computing (painlessly)

Authors:
John A. Rupf
Affiliations:
Southern Polytechnic State University, Marietta, GA
Venue:
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Year:
2004

Citing 3
Cited 3

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Abstract

Knowledge about the history of computing can provide students with a broad perspective and valuable insights into the "real world" and how things came to be the way that they are. However, there is precious little time in today's crowded computer science curriculum to devote to this subject matter. This paper investigated a leaning technique in which a significant "history component" was added to a computer architecture course. The students studied the history component entirely on their own and completely outside the classroom. An analysis of student opinions indicates that the students greatly appreciated the opportunity to learn about the history of computing and that the technique was very successful -- and is likely to be equally applicable in other academic areas.