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scholar · JSTOR (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) PLATO running a
simulation of fractional distillation Developer(s) University of Illinois Initial release 1960; 64 years ago
Final release PLATO IV / 1972; 52 years ago Operating system NOS Platform ILLIAC I (PLATO I,
II), CDC 1604 (PLATO III), CDC 6000 series (PLATO IV) Available in English Type Computer-
assisted instruction system A working PLATO V terminal at the Living Computers: Museum + Labs in 2018
PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations),[1][2] also known as Project Plato[3] and
Project PLATO, was the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the
University of Illinois's ILLIAC I computer. By the late 1970s, it supported several thousand graphics terminals
distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers. Many modern
concepts in multi-user computing were first developed on PLATO, including forums, message boards, online
testing, email, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multiplayer video
games. PLATO was designed and built by the University of Illinois and functioned for four decades, offering
coursework (elementary through university) to UIUC students, local schools, prison inmates, and other
universities. Courses were taught in a range of subjects, including Latin, chemistry, education, music, Esperanto,
and primary mathematics. The system included a number of features useful for pedagogy, including text
overlaying graphics, contextual assessment of free-text answers, depending on the inclusion of keywords, and
feedback designed to respond to alternative answers. Rights to market PLATO as a commercial product were
licensed by Control Data Corporation (CDC), the manufacturer on whose mainframe computers the PLATO IV
system was built. CDC President William Norris planned to make PLATO a force in the computer world, but
found that marketing the system was not as easy as hoped. PLATO nevertheless built a strong following in
certain markets, and the last production PLATO system was in use until 2006. Innovations[edit] Minuet in G
major played on the Gooch Synthetic Woodwind, a four-voice square wave synth PLATO was either the first or
an earlier example of many now-common technologies: Hardware Plasma display (PLATO IV), c. 1964.
Donald Bitzer Touchscreen (PLATO IV), c. 1964. Donald Bitzer Gooch Synthetic Woodwind (music device for
the terminal), c. 1972 Display Graphics Charset Editor (bitmapped picture drawing program) storing in
downloadable fonts. Show Display Mode (graphics application generator (TUTOR)), 1975. Online communities
Pad (General-purpose computer message board), 1973 Notesfiles (precursor to newsgroups), 1973. Talkomatic
(real-time text-based chat, with six rooms each allowing five participants), 1973 Term-talk (1:1 chat) Screen
software sharing: Monitor Mode, 1974, used by instructors to help students, precursor of Timbuktu. Common
Computer Game Genres, including many of the early (first?) real time multi-player games Multiplayer Games
Spacewar! (Multiplayer space battle game), c. 1969. Rick Bloome[4] Dungeon Games dnd (dungeon crawl
game), 1974–75. Included the first video game boss. Pedit5, c. 1974, likely the first graphical dungeon computer
game. Avatar (60-player 2.5-D graphical Multi-User Dungeon (MUD)), c. 1978. Space combat Empire (30
person multi-player inter-terminal 2-D real-time space simulation), c. 1974 Spasim (32-player first-person 3D
space battle game), c. 1974 Flight Simulation: Fortner, Brand (1974), Airfight (3-D flight simulator); this
probably inspired UIUC student Bruce Artwick to start Sublogic which was acquired and later became
Microsoft Flight Simulator. Military simulations: Haefeli, John (c. 1975), Panther (3-D tank simulation). 3D
Maze games: Wallace, Bruce (1975), Build-Up, based on a story by J. G. Ballard, the first PLATO 3-D walkthru
maze game. Quest Simulation: Think15 (2-D outdoor wilderness quest simulation), c. 1977, like Trek with
monsters, trees, treasures. Solitaire: Alfille, Paul (1979), Freecell solitaire, Lockard, Brodie (1981), Mahjong
solitaire Educational Answer Judging Machinery (set of about 25 commands in TUTOR that made it easy to test
a student's understanding of a complex concept). Training systems; Kaven, Luke (1979), The Procedure Logic
Simulator (PLS) (intelligent CAI authoring system) an ambitious ICAI programming system featuring partial-
order plans, used to train Con Edison steam plant operators. History[edit] This section is written like a
personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or
presents an original argument about a topic. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style.
(October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Impetus[edit] Before the 1944 G.I. Bill
that provided free college education to World War II veterans, higher education was limited to a minority of the
US population, though only 9% of the population was in the military. The trend towards greater enrollment was
notable by the early 1950s, and the problem of providing instruction for the many new students was a serious
concern to university administrators. To wit, if computerized automation increased factory production, it could
do the same for academic instruction. The USSR's 1957 launching of the Sputnik I artificial satellite energized
the United States' government into spending more on science and engineering education. In 1958, the U.S. Air
Force's Office of Scientific Research had a conference about the topic of computer instruction at the University
of Pennsylvania; interested partie
**Multiple Choice Questions:**

1. What was PLATO's main purpose?

 A) To develop military simulations
B) To provide free college education
C) To offer coursework through computer-assisted instruction
D) To market computer mainframe systems
**Correct answer: C) To offer coursework through computer-assisted instruction**

2. Who licensed the rights to market PLATO as a commercial product?

A) University of Illinois
B) Control Data Corporation (CDC)
C) The U.S. Air Force
D) The USSR
**Correct answer: B) Control Data Corporation (CDC)**

**Fill-in-the-Blank Questions:**

3. PLATO was the first generalized ________________ system.

**Correct answer: computer-assisted instruction**

4. PLATO supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen
different networked ________________ computers.
**Correct answer: mainframe**

**Works Cited:**

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Data_Corporation
3. https://livingcomputers.org/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_instruction
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer