[Yr11 Information Technology] Life before the Internet

Tue Apr 29 10:59:24 EST 2008

Hi Kevin and Kent,

 All of this is bringing back memories ....  
Started teaching in 1988 ( after a few years on the oil rigs in Bass Strait )  but the Yr 11 reference ( 1990 to 2007 ) was for the VCE version of IT. Prior to that I remember teaching Yr 11 programming where we did Turbo Pascal all year with functions, procedures parameter passing, arrays of records, files of records etc. . Soon afterwards the Office suite arrived and we tried spreadsheets and databases etc. with the requisite 5 folios of each that were the flavour of the VCE IT courses of the time. 

Kev ( Feely and not Krozian ) ,  I take your point about the ease with which people connect to the internet. Where are the days of setting up the TCP/IP stack, Winsock2, the shim programs and all of the tweaks for the MTU ( Max Transmission Unit ) and the Rx, Tx and other settings.  I remember one late Friday night where a modem would not connect because it was set to dial without listening to a dial tone and so this had to be reverted to the listening for dial tone with a command line tweak ......

Yes, we are all spoilt now aren't we ?

As for the loud printers, I remember the labs at Monash Uni in the Comp Sci department 1980 - 1983 ) were in their own rooms due to the loud banging/printing process that could be heard a long way down the corridor.
Then there were the mark sense cards that took hours to fill and just when you had debugged the program would have had too little lead left on the cards and had to be re-marked to allow the reader to input.

Ahhh, it is much nicer in 2008. I can connect to my server from anywhere in the world; run web based internet businesses; check email on the fly and more.

A bit of nostalgia feels quite relaxing, and is probably cheaper than market rates of therapy

Take Care
Kevork

 "Kent Beveridge" <kbeveridge at stbc.vic.edu.au> 28/04/2008 6:00 pm >>>
Ok, who can beat the 'I've had a class since..."..I cant compete with those posted so will just watch from the sidelines for a chuckle...
hehe..

but..I have worked on mainframe and super mini computers...I suspect there are only a handful of us mainframers about (mine was a big IBM spread over 3 floors!! cop that!) cant remember the model..too long ago.   what about the racket the high speed impact printers used to make at lots of ppm speeds!  memories....

KB.

Kent Beveridge,
I.T. co-ordinator
St. Brigids Catholic Sec. College
Horsham
email.. kbeveridge at stbc.vic.edu.au 

|<3|\|7  b3\/3r1D93 ?  ;-)

Wishes and Eggs, one you make and one you break!  A bit like promises.....
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________________________________

From: yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Kevin Feely
Sent: Mon 4/28/2008 4:40 PM
To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: [Yr11 Information Technology] Life before the Internet

Hi Kevork,
i can beat that, i (yep - me only) have hosted a y11 IT class since
1984, actually 1983 when we had a micromation cpm machine and did some
maths activities on it. in 1984 we upgraded to microbee and i taught
wordbee ( yep typing ! the old stenos had a fit ) and basic.  Then with
kambrook 286 and 386 machines we taught DOS and BASIC. The Y11 class
made up modem cables ( but i think maggie might have beaten me here) and
we used the school telephone system to send messages from one pc to
another. Yes the kids carried the PC's to different offices and set them
up, and knew all about the RTS, CTS, RX, TX, protocols with line speeds
of up to 9600 baud. The principal had an absolute fit as he thought we
were phishing phone calls.
Melbourne PC User Group was in its heydey! Late 1980 we had an internet
computer and pre berners-lee it was all dos based.
I have a vivid memory reading a report from a pro cyclist in Europe
reporting back to Giant America on their new, secret carbon model!?
Now its all done for you, connecting to the internet, sending messages
etc are no longer the blacks art they once were - sob!
Now its all namby pamby windows - i think the study design should be
based around linux and they should build apache servers and and and and
fly to the moon?
kev
Oh what was the question? oh yep we still have a y11 and 2 yr 12 classes.
Why did i respond?
Ummm, i think kids look at what they want to do in yr 12 and make sure
they are in those y11 classes plus 1 other.
As such maybe if they are unlikely to want y12 IT they will not pick it
at y11
So Y12 IT needs to be a winner to them

I think i cheat a bit and run Advanced Yr9 IT, so that they are fast
tracked and do Y11 at year 10, and complete the vce it subject in Y11.
To students this becomes very attractive. If they dont like the Y11
course they can drop it and pick a full subject range at y11. Or if they
stick with it they get a Y12 subject done before starting Y12.

kev

Kevork Krozian wrote:
> Hi Frank,
>
> Many thanks for your generosity in sharing this with others.
> Unfortunately my Yr 11 IT class ( 1990 - 2007 unbroken run )  did not survive into 2008 and is now dormant. Who knows, if it is resurrected all of these resources will help a great deal.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Kevork
>
>  
>>>> "Gaylard, Francis D" <gaylard.francis.d at edumail.vic.gov.au> 28/04/2008 10:15 am >>>
>>>>        
> For what it's worth, here's my outcome.
> And - Access or FP? No contest! Filemaker - but access unfortunately has more...access.
>
> Also - something worth considering for database activities. The Census at school project from the ABS has a number of activities you can do at school if you join in. Good resource.
>
> Frank Gaylard
> Thomastown SC
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Hubbard, Jenna J
> Sent: Fri 25-Apr-08 12:07 PM
> To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Yr11 Information Technology] Life without Internet
>
>
>
> Hello all.
>
>
>
> Does anyone have any useful class handouts as well as their actual SAC for outcome 2 to send to the  list.
>
> I chose to do outcome 3 before 2 because I am not confident in teaching this content at all.
>
>
>
> What database program would you recommend? Access or Filemaker Pro?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Jenna
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Roland Gesthuizen
> Sent: Monday, 21 April 2008 2:43 PM
> To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: [Yr11 Information Technology] Life without Internet
>
>
>
> I know you are all busy but thought you'd appreciate this. Safe to play in class to secondary school students.
>
> Enjoy :-)
>
> In this South Park episode, most of the nation was without internet. What does such an internet-connected society do when faced with such a technological dilemma? Face the giant Linksys router that controls all traffic in the country.
>
> http://gizmodo.com/381088/how-to-fix-the-internet-according-to-south-park <http://gizmodo.com/381088/how-to-fix-the-internet-according-to-south-park?autoplay=true>
>
> --
>
> Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au <http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au/>  <http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au/>
>
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> Year 11 It Mailing List kindly supported by
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Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
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Year 11 It Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/infotechindex.html - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
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