Computer
by CAROL GOETSCHIUS
Nebraskan Staff Writer
The traditional classroom
may soon be as outdated as the
one-room schoolhouse. Ex
periments with computer
assisted instruction (CAI) may
lead to a revolution in educa
tion. In a CAI program, each stu
dent receives instruction
through a remote terminal
connected by telephone to a
computer.
Using normal languaga, the
student responds to the com
puter through a keyboard on
the terminal. The computer
communicates by an attached
video-screen.
CAI is potentially a highly
individualized means of in
struction. The computer
"knows" the academic history
of each student and is pro
grammed to vary its method of
instruction with the student.
The student can conduct a
dialogue with the computer by
asking questions which are
answered from the computer's
stored-up filed. The' computer
can ask the student practice
questions with hints to steer
him in the right direction if he
answers wrongly.
During tests, random ques
tions are called up on the com
puter so that each student has
a slightly different exam. The
machine will grade the exam
and feed back the results to the
student. It suggests where to
find the correct information.
The instructor who pro
grammed the computer can
analyze -his method of teaching
through the "response history"
of the students.
NU has experimented with
CAI through its five-million-dollar
computer at Nebraska
Hall and the smaller unit on
East Campus.
According to a report to the
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PAGE 8
instruction knocks
Teaching Council on instruc
tional developments last year,
Donald D. Jensen, a psychology
professor, used the computer to
give his exams. In Jensen's
class, students received im
mediate feedback on items
missed and page references for
the correct answers.
A few weeks agi the Physics
II lab under Robert G. Fuller
lield a tutorial session where
students called up sample
questions from the computer,
responded and received hints to
correct or reinforce -their
answers.
Last year at: animal science
lab used the computer to con
duct an experiment in genetics.
Presently the computer is used
for calculations by Physics
labs.
Calling CAI a "very exciting
field," Ronald J. Lockard,
assistant director of the com
puter center, said, "It takes a
dull thing and makes it more
interesting."
The biggest obstacle to an
expansion of CAI experiments
on campus is tite expense,
Lockard said. "It's too large a
chunk of our resources to do
too little."
The remote terminals,
numbering about 60 on campus,
rent for $150 a month apiece, he
explained. Phone lines and the
operation of the computer itsel:
are additional expense,
Lockard added.
Another problem with CAI is
training professors to use it,
said Wesley C. Meierhenry,
chairman of the department of
Adult and Continuing Educa
tion. He also compiled the
report on instructional
developments.
"There's been no orientation
and people have no idea how
the computer can be applied,"
Meierhenry said. He added lie
would like to have programmers
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CAI is condrcted in normal
language, Lopkard said, and
the computer is presently
oriented toward the "foreign
languages" used in science
research. Ha added that it's
harder to program the com
puter to use normal
language.
"It's a tragedy that the
computer is so dedicated to
research," Meierhenry said
adding that I'e would like to
have it used for more CAI ex
'Bias causes Indian
Macy, Neb. Indian
children are defeated before
they even start in today's
educational system, according
to a prominent South Dakota
educator.
"The minute an Indian child
walks into an elementary
school he is doomed to failure
by the bias of his teacher,"
said Thomas Golden, chairman
of the Educational Psychology
Department at the University
of South Dakota.
Golden, speaking at a
teachers' workshop here Fri
day, said white elementary
teachers in effect tell Indian
children "first you learn how to
behave my way, then I can
teach you."
As a result, he continued,
Indian children begin to feel
"less than human". This low
self-opinion leads to
an enormous drop-out rite
among Native American
students.
"This poor record is our
responsibility," said Golden.
"We are failures as
educators." .
The prejudice which causes a
teacher's failure is extremely
($275.GO (tax iadvdad) for married stvdents, faculty and staff)
leave Monday, December 28 and return Saturday January 2, 1971
Price includes:
Roundtrip transportation by Frontier 727 from Lincoln to Ft. Lauderdale
Five tilghts lodging at the Sheraton-Hilton In Ft. Lauderdale
Ticket to the Orange Bowl Game and Parade
But Transportation to the Game and Parade
Insurance
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THE NEBRASKAN
on classroom door
periments.
Meierhenry said the instruc
tion and research functions of
the computer should be
serparated, with the CAI
bandied through the Office of
Academic Affairs. Applications
for compter time would be
sent to this office for allocation
and the University would pick
up the cost, he explained.
The funds to operafe the
computer come from the state
legislature's research fund,
Lockard said. Free computer
hard to overcome, he said,
because people have a natural
tendency to recreate others in
their own image.
"If you do that," Golden ex
plains, "then you don't have to
deal with their extraneous
behavior which you'd otherwise
have to learn to accept."
But professional educators
trying to teach children of
another culture must accept
the "extraneous behavior" of
the child's culture, Golden
Nebraskan applications
Applications are now being taken for second semester
staff positions on The Nebraskan.
Application forms may be picked up in room 34,
Nebraska Union.
Those wishing to apply for the position of editor, manag
ing editor, news editor, business manager or East Campus
editor must turn in their applications to The Nebraskan
office before noon, Dec. 17. Interviews for these positions
by the University Publications Board will be the afternoon
of Dec. 17.
Applications for other staff positions, including staff
writers, copy editors and business assistants should be
turned in before mid-January.
NEBRASKA UNION
UN
TIS
PROGRAM OFFICE
NEBRASKA UNION
Room 128
472-2456
time is allocated to
departments on the basis of
their past usage and future re
quests, he added.
Conceivably there cocld be a
conflict between allocation of
computer time for CAI or
research once the cost of CAI is
reduced through mass produc
tion, Lockard said.
However, "allocation is an
administrative problem," he
said, and it's ultimately decid
ed by President Joseph
Soshnik.
drop - outs'
stated. Otherwise the educator
will fail to reach the child.
New programs and struc
tures of education will not keep
Indian children in school,
Golden said. But unbiased and
understanding teachers
will.
The three-day workshop, held
in this northeast Nebraska
town on the Omaha Indian
Reservation, was attended by
about fifty teachers.
(tax iiuludtd)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1970