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Microelectronics Education Programme
The UK government's Microelectronics Education Programme ran from 1980 to 1986. It was conceived and planned by a Labour government and set up under a Conservative government during Mrs Thatcher's era. It aimed to explore how computers could be used in schools in the UK. This was a controversial time for Conservative school policies. The programme was administered by the Council for Educational Technology in London, but the directorate operated, unusually, from a semi-detached house on the Coach Lane Campus of the then Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University). Origins The Microelectronics Education Programme was developed by the Department for Education and Science when the Prime Minister at the time, Jim Callaghan asked each government department to draw up an action plan to meet the challenge of new technologies. Whilst the prior programme, the National Development Programme in Computer Aided Learning, covered schools, colleges, universities and training establis ...
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ...
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Department Of Education And Science (UK)
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. The department was led by Secretary of State for Education and Skills. The DfES had offices at four main locations: London (both at the Sanctuary Buildings and Caxton House), Sheffield (Moorfoot), Darlington (Mowden Hall), and Runcorn (Castle View House). The DfES was also represented in regional Government Offices. The DfES had jurisdiction only in England as education was the responsibility of the Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly. On 28 June 2007, the DfES was split up into the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The DCSF was later reorganised as the Department for Education in 2010. History The Departm ...
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Governmental Educational Technology Organizations
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a means by which organizational policies are enforced, as well as a mechanism for determining policy. In many countries, the government has a kind of constitution, a statement of its governing principles and philosophy. While all types of organizations have governance, the term ''government'' is often used more specifically to refer to the approximately 200 independent national governments and subsidiary organizations. The main types of modern political systems recognized are democracies, totalitarian regimes, and, sitting between these two, authoritarian regimes with a variety of hybrid regimes. Modern classification systems also include monarchies as a standalone entity or as a hybrid system of the main three. Historically prev ...
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Educational Technology Projects
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also follows a structured approach but occurs outside the formal schooling system, while informal education involves unstructured learning through daily experiences. Formal and non-formal education are categorized into levels, including early childhood education, primary education, secondary education, and tertiary education. Other classifications focus on teaching methods, such as teacher-centered and student-centered education, and on subjects, such as science education, language education, and physical education. Additionally, the term "education" can denote the mental states and qualities of educated individuals and the academic field studying educational phenomena. The precise definition of education is disputed, and there are disagreements ...
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Computer Science Education In The United Kingdom
Computer science education in the United Kingdom is carried out in the UK mostly from the age of 11. It is a predominantly male subject. In their teenage years, around 3% of girls are interested in computing as a career, as opposed to 17% of boys. History 1980s Secondary schools taught logic, hardware and binary up to the age of 16 together with the programming language BASIC. 1990s Computer science was taught much less across schools up to 16. Computer science was largely only taught from 16 to 18. 2000s Computer science was infrequently taught in schools up to the age of 16. 2010s The 2010 general election would result in a swift change in education policy on computer science education across England. The subject had not been taught as widespread as it could have been, and much more emphasis would now be placed on developing hard-core computing skills, and for primary schools too. In January 2012 the Royal Society published a report entitled ''Shut down or restart? The way f ...
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Microelectronics Education Support Unit
The Microelectronics Education Support Unit (MESU) was an organization in the United Kingdom that provided professional support about educational technology. It was announced in 1985, but was merged in 1988 to form the National Council for Educational Technology. Origins and Purpose The Microelectronic Education Support Unit (MESU) was announced in July 1985 as a follow on to the Microelectronics Education Programme however it did not become operational until January 1987. Staff MESU was set up by its newly appointed Director John Foster at the Warwick University Science Park. He appointed Ralph Tabberer and Ann Irving as Deputy Directors and they recruited a strong team of curriculum and information specialists. It set about identifying local authority needs and linking into subject associations. Supporting Advisory Teachers In 1988 the Department for Education and Science (DES) set up the Information Technology in Schools (ITIS) initiative to oversee this area, headed by P ...
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ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and around the world in the following years, most notably in Europe and the United States. The machine was designed by English entrepreneur and inventor Sir Clive Sinclair and his small team in Cambridge, and was manufactured in Dundee, Scotland by Timex Corporation. It was made to be small, simple, and most importantly inexpensive, with as few components as possible. The addendum "Spectrum" was chosen to highlight the machine's colour display, which differed from the black-and-white display of its predecessor, the ZX81. Rick Dickinson designed its distinctive case, rainbow motif, and chiclet keyboard, rubber keyboard. Video output is transmitted to a television set rather than a ded ...
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Sinclair Research Ltd
Sinclair Research Ltd is a British consumer electronics company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge in the 1970s. In 1980, the company entered the home computer market with the ZX80 at £99.95, at that time the cheapest personal computer for sale in the United Kingdom. A year later, the ZX81 became available through retailers, introducing home computing to a generation, with more that 1.5 million sold. In 1982 the ZX Spectrum was released, becoming the UK's best selling computer, and competing aggressively against Commodore and Amstrad. A combination of the failures of the Sinclair QL computer and the TV80 pocket television led to financial difficulties in 1985, and a year later Sinclair sold the rights to its computer products and brand name to Amstrad. Sinclair Research Ltd continued to exist as a one-man company, marketing Clive Sinclair's inventions. History Founding and early years On 25 July 1961, Clive Sinclair founded his first company, Sinclair Radioni ...
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RM Plc
RM plc is a British company that specialises in providing information technology products and services to educational organisations and establishments. Its key market is UK education including schools, colleges, universities, government education departments and educational agencies. The company was founded in 1973 as Research Machines Limited. , RM plc employs around 1,700 people, the majority based in the company's headquarters located on Milton Park, near Didcot, Oxfordshire. RM also has offices across the United Kingdom (Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Lanarkshire and London) and a software development facility in India. History The company was founded in 1973 as Research Machines Limited in Oxford, England, by Mike Fischer and Mike O'Regan, respectively graduates of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Initially it traded under the name Sintel as a mail-order supplier of electronic components, mainly dealing with the hobbyist market. With the arrival of microprocessors in ...
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Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England in 1978 by Hermann Hauser, Christopher Curry (businessman), Chris Curry and Andy Hopper. The company produced a number of computers during the 1980s with associated software that were highly popular in the domestic market, and they have been historically influential in the development of computer technology like Central processing unit, processors. The company's Acorn Electron, released in 1983, and the later Acorn Archimedes, were highly popular in Britain, while Acorn's computer dominated the educational computer market during the 1980s. The company also designed the ARM architecture family, ARM architecture and the operating system for it. The architecture part of the business was spun-off as Advanced RISC Machines under a joint venture with Apple Inc., Apple and VLSI Technology, VLSI in 1990, now known as Arm Holdings, which is dominant in the mobile phone and personal digital assistant ...
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Department Of Trade And Industry (United Kingdom)
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was a United Kingdom government department formed on 19 October 1970. It was replaced with the creation of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on 28 June 2007. History The department was formed on 19 October 1970 through the merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology, creating a new cabinet post of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Additionally, the department also took over the Department of Employment's former responsibilities for monopolies and mergers. However, in January 1974, the department's responsibilities for energy production were transferred to a newly created Department of Energy. On 5 March that year, following a Labour Party victory in the February 1974 general election, the department was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection. ...
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Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller. These devices are typically made from semiconductor materials. Many components of a normal electronic design are available in a microelectronic equivalent. These include transistors, capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes and (naturally) insulators and conductors can all be found in microelectronic devices. Unique wiring techniques such as wire bonding are also often used in microelectronics because of the unusually small size of the components, leads and pads. This technique requires specialized equipment and is expensive. Digital integrated circuits (ICs) consist of billions of transistors, resistors, diodes, and capacitors. Analog circuits commonly contain resistors and capacitors as well. Inductors are u ...
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