asked the Minister for Education if discussions with the Open University (Northern Ireland) have commenced; if so, when the university computer courses to which he referred on 22 March 1981 will commence; and when details of the courses will be available.
Written Answers. - Computer Courses.
338.
I am in consultation with the authorities of Radio Telefís Éireann, the National Institute for Higher Education Dublin and other interested parties in the matter of distance education. The director of NIHED has already had contact with the Open University. The question of the provision of a pilot television course on computers, which would be suitable for beginners, is being actively pursued. I am not yet in a position to give details regarding the proposed course but I am hopeful that it will become available early in 1982.
339.
asked the Minister for Education when the advisory committee on computers in education will deliver its findings; and when computer studies will be introduced as a subject into our schools.
The advisory committee on the role of computers and computing in second level schools have decided to proceed with their work in two phases; the committee will deliver their report on the first phase of their work before the end of the school-year 1980-81 and it is anticipated that the second phase of their work will be completed by the autumn of 1982. In the interim, I have arranged for the introduction of an optional section on computer studies in the leaving certificate syllabuses in mathematics in respect of the school-year 1980-81.