Thank you, Oregon Trail

Thanks to Tim Stahmer’s Assorted Stuff post, I learned that the Oregon Trail computer game is celebrating its 50th birthday. To that game and AppleWriter, I owe my career.

In 1981, I was in my third year teaching in the small town of West Branch, Iowa, just outside Iowa City where I had graduated with my master’s degree in library science. I was teaching 7th grade English for half the day and was the junior high librarian for the other half. This year the junior high moved into the old high school building and the high school moved into their brand new building.

One fateful decision the school board made the previous spring was that the junior high should have “a computer.” Since they used the library budget to buy the Apple II computer and printer, I argued the computer should be in the library. I never used an office as a school librarian, so I made a mini-computer lab in that small room. 

I had had only a single one-credit course in BASIC programming in graduate school, but I fell in love with AppleWriter. I always loved to write; my old keyboarding skills I learned in high school came back to me (a bit); and composing knowing I could easily edit was great. My poor English students didn’t have to put up with my poor handwriting on their study guides and tests anymore. And I could save them to update and use them in following years.

The little computer lab proved to be popular, of course, with my 7th and 8th graders. During library time and after school, the tiny room was often packed with kids playing not just Oregon Trail, but Number Munchers, Odell Lake, and Lemonade Stand. (And Eamon, if anyone remembers that line-based adventure game.) And I became the computer go-to person.

And not just for the kids, but the teachers and principal too. I remember teaching the principal how to use the Visicalc spreadsheet so he could easily run budget numbers, especially during teacher negotiations. And I could teach others how to format floppy disks!

The experience taught me that being a librarian did not mean I only took care of books and other print materials - something that many librarians never realized, I’m afraid. I learned that one did not need to be a programmer to use a computer productively - that it could be used by lovers of words just as much as by lovers of numbers.

As most readers probably know, my career evolved into being a district technology/library director - one I found immensely satisfying, despite often being at philosophical odds at times with fellow tech directors who came from math or tech backgrounds. My approach tended to be more user-oriented than machine-oriented.

Anyway, thank you, Oregon Trail, for helping me find my own path, ford my own streams, and avoiding dysentery. Well, maybe not writing dysentery. 

Comments

[GregU]

Many of the games/simulations (Oregon Trail, Odell Lake for two) were ported over from timeshare teletype interfaces and made way better because of graphics, low to no latency with responses, and so on. You were in the vanguard in those days and stayed there your whole career. Kudos to TIES and MECC for their leadership in classroom computing as well. Keep it up!

[Donna Adams]

Thanks for the excellent post, Doug...you describe well how the role of school library media specialist evolved into one of the most wonderfully satisfying careers we've been privileged to have. It's fun to think back to the part those early tech tools played in expanding young people's horizons and enhancing learning, and the journey continues!

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the comment. We were indeed pioneers in edtech - you more so than I. It was a happy career choice for me. I feel blessed.

Let's do breakfast when I get back from Ecuador later in February. So nice to escape the cold!

Doug

Hi Donna,

Thanks so much for the note. I still think about the early internet class you were in. The days when it took 3 class periods to teach how to send an email. You were an early adopter too! And, like you, I feel extremely lucky to have had such a rewarding career. Hope all is well with you and yours.

From a small resort in Ecuador, not missing the cold for a few weeks,

Doug