Incorporation of Informatics in Austrian Education: The Project 'Computer-Education-Society' in the School Year 1984/85

摘要

Effects of information technology on economy, society and education were discussed already at the beginning of the 1980's. The German computer scientist Klaus Haefner even predicted an educational crisis caused by the penetration of information technology into our lives. When the personal computer became the "machine of the year 1985", politicians and educators in the industrialized countries proclaimed "computer literacy" as an essential part of education and demanded the integration of new technologies into the curriculum. This paper describes the comprehensive instruction project "Computer-Education-Society" of the school year 1984/85, launched by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Sports on the background of the author's personal involvement as a permanent speaker at the central teacher seminars in Vienna and as a historical dedication to the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the subject Informatics at the compulsory secondary general school (AHS).