Durham Microcomputer Project Report – Revisited

How did computers first find their way into British classrooms? Long before laptops, tablets and the internet, a pioneering experiment in County Durham set out to discover whether the new microcomputer could transform teaching. Conducted between 1977 and 1979, the Durham Microcomputer Project investigated the practical challenges of putting computers into secondary schools—from unreliable hardware and costly equipment to teacher training and the urgent need for useful educational software. In this revisited edition, Duncan Sledge introduces and republishes the original project report, documenting experiments with early machines including the Research Machines 380Z, Apple II and Commodore PET, and the development of software for subjects across the curriculum. Combining first-hand recollections with the contemporary report, diagrams and evidence, this is a valuable historical record of the people and ideas that helped establish computer education in Britain. Essential reading for historians of computing, educators, technology enthusiasts and anyone interested in the origins of digital learning.