Integrating technology in classrooms: from the microcomputer to ‘the cloud’ - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 8

BASIC; and BBC micro-computers, of which 12,000 machines were sold (Hawkridge
1983: 57). This specially commissioned BBC computer was manufactured by Acorn.
This was followed by another major technology initiative launched by the
Conservative government in the early 1980s, entitled the Technical and Vocational
Initiative (TVEI), which provided further financial aid for schools to purchase com-
puters. However, it transpired that TVEI schools had on average almost twice as many
computers as non-TVEI schools (Scaife and Wellington 1993: 16). This highlights an
emerging disparity of funding between schools for technology procurement: a theme
that has continued to re-emerge throughout the succeeding three decades. Also,
importantly, TVEI triggered a major political shift in the balance of power in UK edu-
cation. TVEI was an initiative that radically altered the locus of control in education,
being imposed by central government without consultation with the Local Education
Authorities or the teaching profession (Leask 1987). However, it did reflect a govern-
ment commitment to develop technical and vocational education in the 1980s.
As Dawes (2001) reports, this government investment can be seen in 1986, with
the Modem Scheme, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, putting
£1 million into enabling schools to buy a modem to link up their micro-computers. In
the same year the Microelectronics Support Unit (MESU) was set up with £3 million
funding to carry on the work of the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP),
which ended in 1986. Then the White Paper 'Working Together - Education and
Training' announced national expenditure of £90 million over ten years to extend
the TVEI programme. The Conservative government's commitment to TVEI clearly
indicated the importance of technology and in 1987 Kenneth Baker announced Edu-
cational Support Grants of £19 million for the expansion of IT in schools.
Phases of software development
In coming to use the same software that has dominated business and industry, schools
have adopted commercial applications for word processing, databases and spread-
sheets (such as Word, Excel and Access). This has taken away the specialized software
designed for education that computers in education first had and has led over the
past two decades to a uniformity in schools of software and operating platforms that
derive from the business sector.
Prior to this commercial software adoption from business, there were content-
free programs, which were especially designed for schools. Hammond et al.'s (2009)
research discovered that, among the early programs used in schools, practitioners
cited Branch , a sorting program, which provided a first step in the idea of artificial
intelligence and was often used in primary schools; Grass data base; Cricket Graph , a
data display programme for Apple machines; and the spreadsheet Grasshopper . Data
logging became popular, particularly in science lessons. There was Scoopnet , a news-
paper front-page simulation program and the text-revealing program Developing Tray ,
which was popular among adopters.
There was also Granny's Garden , which was an early computer game that could
be played on the BBC micro. Set in a magical kingdom in the mountains with pupils
locating the missing children of the King and Queen, it required the completion of