§ Mr. van Straubenzeeasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what work has so far been commissioned from funds available under the Government's microelectronics development programme for schools and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe Government have approved 29 projects to the value of £1.2 million in the first stage of this four-year programme which will encourage the development of microelectronics in education. The individual projects so far approved, all of which are to be completed by the end of the 1980–81 academic year, are as follows:
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Estimated cost (£thousands) 8. College of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth. 1 2-term pilot course for teachers in advance program design, 1 2-term teacher consultants' pilot course and 3 short courses for head teachers. 93 9. Brunel University Department of Design Technology. Preparation of materials for initial and in-service teacher training in microcomputer aided design. 19.5 10. North Cheshire College Two short pilot in-service courses for head teachers in microelectronics in education. 1.5 Support for useful or promising initiatives at national and local level 11. Schools Council Extension of Schools Council's "computers in the curriculum" project. 144.5 12. Schools Council Production of a module on "microelectronics" as part of the Schools Council's series of modular courses in technology. 5.5 13. Schools Council Extension of trials in connection with the Schools Council's tele software project. 3 14. Microcomputer Users in Secondary Education (MUSE) Support to enable MUSE to run an information and advisory service. 30 15. MUSE Work to make material in MUSE software library more widely available to schools. 4.8 16. Walsall LEA Part-time secondment of teachers for work in several areas of the curriculum including remedial reading, teaching English as a second language, low achievers in secondary schools. 23.3 17. Durham LEA Half-time secondment of 2 teachers to develop software. 6.5 18. Bexley LEA Series of 1 day courses to train teachers in the use of LEA provided equipment. 6 19. Birmingham Educational Computing Centre. Support for continuation of work on joint school/industry computer managed mathematics project. 7 20. Sheffield Region Centre for Science and Technology. Release of teachers for 1 day a week to prepare teaching materials in. 16.9 21. West Sussex Institute of Higher Education. Assistance with work on the application of high resolution graphics in mathematics teaching. 1.7 22. King Edward Five Ways School, Birmingham. Work to transfer software from mini-computer to microcomputer use. 12.3 23. University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Assistance with courses designed to introduce teachers to the electronics element of the A level physics syllabus. 4.6 Groundwork for future projects, including the production of background information 24. Council for Educational Technology Study of a selection of institutions using microcomputers and of LEA software support services. 30 25. Council for Educational Technology Preparation of a co-ordinated proposal for microelectronics work in special education. 15 26. Council for Educational Technology Preparation of a paper on the problems to be overcome in ensuring that teachers had access to good quality software. 7.5 27. Council for Educational Technology Production of leaflets detailing sources of information about microelectronics in schools and colleges; and on the selection of a microcomputer for educational use. 2 28. College of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth. Preparation of studies in programme design and in programme development both intended for use by microelectronics programme project leaders. 14 29. BBC Production of 10 radio and radio vision programmes on microelectronics. 14