Record Enrollments Swell Extension School
Computer Courses

"I could sense something was up when I arrived for my first class meeting of Computer Science E-50a and encountered a packed lecture hall," recalls Dr. Henry Leitner, Senior Lecturer on Computer Science and Director of Information Technology for the Division of Continuing Education. "I had prepared 250 copies of my syllabus, but before I even began my opening remarks I sent one of my teaching fellows to do some last-minute xeroxing!" Final enrollment in Introduction to Computer Science Using C++, I peaked at 258 students.

Dr. Leitner's opening day experience was shared by a number of other Harvard Extension School instructors who are teaching computer science courses this fall. Leonard Evenchik, Lecturer in Extension and Distance Education Specialist for the Division of Continuing Education, saw the enrollment in CSCI E-131b Communication Protocols and Internet Architectures more than double, to 116; Dr. Joseph Marks, Lecturer in Extension and Research Scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory, watched his enrollment in CSCI E-207 Theory of Computation increase threefold from last year.

With nearly 1,200 fall semester registrations in computer science classes, and hundreds more in various other Extension School courses that make heavy use of information technologies, the current upsurge seems to reflect a megatrend that has been evolving over the past few years in this country. The field of information technology (IT), which subsumes software, hardware, and telecommunication systems, is now the nation's largest industry, ahead of construction, food products, and automotive manufacturing.

The booming high-tech sector generates a substantial fraction of our nation's output of goods and services and is central to what is called "the emerging digital economy." The Boston Globe, citing a report by University of Massachusetts Political Economics Professor Craig Moore, ran a story on October 18 that stated "technology companies in Massachusetts employed 169,000 people as of last summer, up almost 25 percent from three years earlier."

"However," notes Dr. Leitner, "it's not just the economy, as some might suggest. In fact, our record enrollments have been influenced by two additional factors: the new Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Information Technology and our expanded distance education initiative."

The ALM in Information Technology is designed primarily for individuals who already have a solid foundation in both software development (at least at the level of the material covered in a standard "data structures" course) and in mathematics (discrete math plus at least one year of calculus). The curriculum is designed to help qualified students, many of whom already work in information technology industries, to master the most important subjects in the field while providing an opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of a broad range of modern topics through a rich collection of required and elective courses. The emphasis is on practical results based on sound foundations and engineering techniques.

Students in the ALM/IT program are exposed to modern object-oriented programming ideas, to the analysis and logical design of information systems, to classical computer science theory, and to the principles of networks and data communications. The final course is not a traditional thesis but a supervised "software project" that allows students to apply their knowledge and skills of software engineering to the development of a significant software system. With a Harvard-affiliated faculty member as advisor, students design and develop a complete working system.

Based upon the success of a pilot distance education course last fall, the Harvard Extension School offers five leading-edge computer science courses over the Internet this year. During the current fall term, both CSCI E-131b and CSCI E-207 are run in this format. Using new "streaming video" technology, weekly lectures from the courses are recorded and made available to students anywhere in the world generally within 24 hours of the regular class meeting. The lectures can be seen on demand using an internet browser.

Additional multimedia and internet technologies are used to interact with the instructor and teaching assistants, as well as to allow students to work on exams, class projects, and homework assignments. According to Evenchik, instructor of CSCI E-131b, "The ability of students to learn the material and participate in all aspects of the course via the Internet last year was remarkable. The design and implementation of the Internet has been a major part of my lectures for many years and it is great that this same technology now makes my course more widely available. In fact, we'll even be able to rerun my course in the spring semester."

Dr. Joseph Marks, instructor of CSCI E-207, reflects on some of the tribulations in teaching a course for distance learners: "I was naive to think that it would be easy to teach on the Internet. Everyone is still learning how to use this medium for education. For example, hand or facial gestures cannot be discerned at the current video resolution. This seems like a small thing, but not being able to point to indicate where I am in a proof or formula requires an adjustment in lecturing style. Nonetheless, I am having a real blast."

Dr. Joseph Marks, instructor if CSCI E-207 Theory of Computation, teaches one of the five leading-edge computer science courses over the Internet this year.

Anyone interested in Harvard Extension School's current approach to distance education can visit the websites for both fall courses and view the first lecture of each. The URLs are: http://lab.dce.harvard.edu/extension/cscie131b and http://lab.dce.harvard.edu/extension/cscie207.