Liza Loop (née Straus) is an educational technology pioneer, futurist, technical author, and consultant. She is notable for her early use of computers in education, her creation of a public-access computer center, consulting work with Atari, Inc.,

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Radio Shack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...

and others as well as philosophical musings on the future of learning environments from the 1970s on.

Early life

Loop was raised in Massachusetts and attended Dana Hall; her mother was a science teacher at Dana Hall and her father was an engineer at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. Loop attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

starting in 1963, and later

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

's graduate school where she was influenced by

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

psychologist Dean Brown.

Career

In 1975, Loop joined the

Homebrew Computer Club The Homebrew Computer Club was an early computer hobbyist group in Menlo Park, California, which met from March 1975 to December 1986. The club had an influential role in the development of the microcomputer revolution and the rise of that aspec ...

and was the first woman to join the club, and founded the LO*OP Center (Learning Options * Open Portal) non-profit organization. In 1975 LO*OP opened the second public access computer center located outside a museum. After visiting the center, Apple co-founder

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, and inventor. In 1976, he co-founded Apple Inc., Apple Computer with ...

was impressed enough with her work that he gave her an original

Apple I The Apple Computer 1 (Apple-1), later known predominantly as the Apple I, is an 8-bit personal computer designed by Steve Wozniak and released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976. The company was initially formed to ...

computer to use in her center. For most of 1976 the center's

was the only Apple I in the North Bay. In 1978, when Atari was developing the

Atari 800 The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 ...

home computer, Loop was brought in as a consultant to help meet the market for home computers that children and adults could use for learning. The Liza Loop Papers from 1972 to 1984 (donated in 1986) are housed in

Stanford University Libraries The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. S ...

' manuscript division and detail the early years of educational computing. In the early 21st century, she became an advocate of preserving the early history of computing in education.

Bibliography

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Notes

References

External links

*
LO*OP Center, Inc.
Learning Options*Open Portal, non-profit educational project founded by Liza Loop, Dean Brown and Stuart Cooney * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loop, Liza Living people American technology writers Women technology writers Educators from California American women educators Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women