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PLATO (computer system)
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<p>PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), also known as Project Plato and Project PLATO, was the first generalized <a href="/facts/Computer-assisted_instruction/5lf2A2Vj">computer-assisted instruction</a> system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the <a href="/facts/University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign/gusw7HoS">University of Illinois</a>'s <a href="/facts/ILLIAC_I/u1ljKmRV">ILLIAC I</a> computer. By the late 1970s, it supported several thousand <a href="/facts/Graphics_terminal/fSlx05qV">graphics terminals</a> distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked <a href="/facts/Mainframe_computer/nrBR6rWa">mainframe computers</a>. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were first developed on PLATO, including forums, message boards, online testing, <a href="/facts/Email/6pD9GLtI">email</a>, chat rooms, <a href="/facts/Picture_language/I1ynI5n6">picture languages</a>, <a href="/facts/Instant_messaging/8lwwDyjK">instant messaging</a>, remote <a href="/facts/Screen_sharing/gJgglwht">screen sharing</a>, and <a href="/facts/Multiplayer_video_game/8CC60Nwj">multiplayer video games</a>. </p><p>PLATO was designed and built by the <a href="/facts/University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign/gusw7HoS">University of Illinois</a> 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. </p><p>Rights to market PLATO as a commercial product were licensed by <a href="/facts/Control_Data_Corporation/ChfGgfPM">Control Data Corporation</a> (CDC), the manufacturer on whose mainframe computers the PLATO IV system was built. CDC President <a href="/facts/William_Norris_(CEO)/7BckPJ0w">William Norris</a> 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. </p>