Virtual learning has become the new normal for current Cal Poly students. While they wait to get back to campus and continue Learn by Doing, computerized learning has allowed classes to continue while the pandemic keeps them from attending in person.

But online and computerized learning has not always been as easy as it is today. In fact, the Mustang Daily reported on the introduction to computerized learning at Cal Poly for the first time in 1977. On Friday, May 20, 1977 the front page of the Mustang Daily, the name of the Cal Poly paper at the time, covered one instructor’s newest achievement: the computerized classroom. Photography instructor Bob Howell had spent the last fifteen months attempting to create a computerized class but wanted to ensure students were not turned into a number in the process. The paper reports that he wanted to help students in large classes get access to supplemental learning materials that would help them succeed. To do so he created a program that allowed professors to input readings and to create quiz questions for students. The program would ask students questions based on the readings and then provide them with feedback explaining why they got the answer right or wrong. 

Howell pointed out that while students may feel like they are gathering all that they can from course readings, they might often miss key concepts. The program’s quiz feature prevented students from moving on until they fully understood the concepts from the reading as they had to get a certain amount right before they could continue with the reading. 

The program would also provide reports to the instructor so that professors could modify their in-class lectures to respond to areas where it was clear students were struggling. Howell even suggested that he thought this was only the beginning for online learning and how right he turned out to be. His program was utilized across Cal Poly colleges and majors and he went on to present this work in 1990 at the International Conference on Technology in Paris. Howell retired from Cal Poly as a beloved professor after 43 years

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