[SPG_Active_Members] RE: Ron, this was not sent to the others I gather--First computer literacy class?

[Ronald Mak]

Hi, Ed.
 
I wonder if you're on the SCC mailing list under your Stanford email
address.
 
-- Ron

  _____  

From: Edward Feigenbaum [mailto:feigenbaum.ea3 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 10:57 AM
To: Ronald Mak
Subject: Ron, this was not sent to the others I gather--First computer
literacy class?




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From: scc_active-owner at computerhistory.org

Subject: Re: [SPG_Active_Members] First computer literacy class?

Date: January 5, 2012 9:00:00 AM PST

To: feigenbaum.ea3 at gmail.com


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From: Edward Feigenbaum <feigenbaum.ea3 at gmail.com>

Subject: Re: [SPG_Active_Members] First computer literacy class?

Date: January 5, 2012 9:21:19 AM PST

To: "Ronald Mak" <ron.mak at sjsu.edu>

Cc: <scc_active at computerhistory.org>, <1401_all at computerhistory.org>,
"'Robert Garner \(@us.ibm.com\)'" <robgarn at us.ibm.com>, "'Jim McClure'"
<mcclure at computerhistory.org>, "'Jon Pearce'" <jon.pearce at sjsu.edu>,
franklin.stan at gmail.com, "'Ted Kahn'" <ted at designworlds.com>




On Jan 4, 2012, at 11:52 PM, Ronald Mak wrote:


His question that he posed to me, and which I'm passing on to all of you, is
whether this was the very first university computer literacy course.



Dear Ron,

I initiated one at Stanford in the early 1970s (approx. 1973). There had
been an undergraduate course in the Physics Department
that as either literally called "Physics for Poets", or humorous nicknamed
that. In any event, I elided
that was a great idea, so I taught one of those. The CS Faculty did not like
the idea of calling mine "Computers for Poets"
so I gave it a very ordinary name starting with "Introduction to ."

It was successful, and therefore I offered it at least once more, maybe
several times more.

I want to emphasize that this was NOT a programming course. It was a
"concepts" course about what computers were,
how they were being applied and would be applied, and what their effect
would be on the future of everyone taking the course and
everyone else.

Over the years, I have taken to summarize briefly what I taught  in this
early 1970s course. 
Here it is:  "Everything is Bits".  (Much later, Nicholas Negroponte of MIT
wrote a book in a popular vein
with just this summary concept)

Best wishes,

Ed






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