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Bork (Alfred M.) papers
MS.F.035  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biography
  • Collection Scope and Content Summary

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
    Title: Alfred M. Bork papers
    Creator: Bork, Alfred M.
    Identifier/Call Number: MS.F.035
    Physical Description: 26.6 Linear Feet (28 boxes)
    Date (inclusive): circa 1956-2003, undated
    Abstract: This collection comprises materials documenting the career of Alfred M. Bork, University of California, Irvine professor of physics, information and computer science, as well as founder and director of the Educational Technology Center. Included are files that document Bork's professional activities and projects, writings which include drafts of Bork's published works, professional correspondence, and publications to which Bork created or contributed. There are also course files, notes, presentation materials and numerous unidentified slides, 8 inch floppy disks, 3 inch floppy disks, and one film reel. Many facsimiles of late 19th and early 20th century scientific publications are also included.
    Language of Material: English .

    Access

    The collection has not been processed. It may contain restricted materials. Please contact the Department of Special Collections and Archives in advance to request access.

    Publication Rights

    Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the University Archivist.

    Preferred Citation

    Alfred M. Bork papers. MS-F035. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
    For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

    Acquisition Information

    Gift of Annette Bork, 2013.

    Biography

    The following is adapted and excerpted from an obituary written by Bork's UCI colleagues Sandy Irani, Chair of the Computer Science Department, and Debra Richardson, Dean of The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science, circa 2007:
    "Alfred Bork was born September 18, 1926 in Jacksonville, Florida and died on December 18, 2007.
    Bork earned his graduate degrees in physics at Brown University. Prior to his tenure at UC Irvine, he was a scholar at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and faculty at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Reed College and Harvard University.
    Bork's career with UCI began on October 1, 1968 with joint appointments in ICS and physics. Passionate about the use of computers in education, Bork contributed to the early development of educational programs in both academic disciplines before transferring his appointment to ICS in 1983. Bork was a pioneer in the field of educational computing in which computational technology is harnessed to improve education. He specialized in highly interactive techniques for learning and the application of graphics and multi-media to learning. He created systems for interactive instruction of concepts that incorporate appropriate pedagogical, social and motivational components. He was also influential in educational policy in which he maintained that technological approaches to teaching and learning would be come inevitably more cost-effective than traditional practices. At the same time, he also stood courageously against naïve technologists who provide short-term computer-based solutions that fall short of long-term educational goals.
    Bork had numerous international collaborations and served as an ambassador for computer education around the globe. He was a consultant to the United Kingdom National Development Programme in Computer Aided Learning, a member of the National Institute of Education's delegation to the People's Republic of China, co-director and keynote speaker at the NATO Advanced Study Institutes on Computers in Science Education, at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and at the San Miniato Conference Center in Italy. Bork also served as visiting professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and ran workshops in many places including China, Japan, Taiwan and for the Colombo Staff College in India and the Philippines. He served four years as chair of the Special Interest Group on Computer Uses in Education of the Association for Computing Machinery.
    Bork was founder and director of the Educational Technology Center on the UC Irvine campus and continued to be active in the center even after his retirement in July 1994 through his development of technology-based learning materials. The Educational Technology Center has many visitors each year and hundreds of requests for information about interactive adaptive tutorial technology. Bork was actively involved in over 60 of the student-computer dialogs developed by the Center."

    Collection Scope and Content Summary

    This collection comprises materials documenting the career of Alfred M. Bork, University of California, Irvine professor of physics, information and computer science, as well as founder and director of the Educational Technology Center. Included are files that document Bork's professional activities and projects, writings which include drafts of Bork's published works, professional correspondence, and publications to which Bork created or contributed. There are also course files, notes, presentation materials and numerous unidentified slides, 8 inch floppy disks, 3 inch floppy disks, and one film reel. Many facsimiles of late 19th and early 20th century scientific publications are also included.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    University of California, Irvine -- Faculty -- Archives
    University of California, Irvine -- Archives