Associate Professor of Classics Thomas R. Martin said he and several assistants have developed software to take advantage of a data bank which contains the texts of almost every major Ancient Greek author. And in Social Analysis 10 "Principles of Economics," computers are used for statistical analysis, saving time and finding solutions where none could be found previously. The department also uses the technology to prepare economic models for students, opening up new methods of economic analysis, according to McKay Professor of Computer Science Harry R. Lewis.
While some tout the changes as clear steps forward, others remain more sceptical, claiming that the use of machines might tend to quantify a student's understanding of theory, scrificing traditional reliance on tedious work to produce brilliant understanding.
"There's something about that unpleasant process of long searches and research that does something for the mind. Computers can lock one into a certain mindset, a certain bias toward quantified data," said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Stephen E. Ozment.
"For demographic and economic figures, computers are a godsend, but they can have a narrowing effect in the humanities where they are only useful for lesser tasks," he said.
Thomas Martin defended his computerization of the Classics from the charge. "There are always people who have a quantification theory, but we have always searched through the texts in the Classics; it only speeds it up to use the machines. We don't think it has any real quantifying effect."
Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence, who has supervised the computerization process this year, argues that the curriculum is far more important than the computers and that the effect computers may have could be offset by a change in academic goals.
"I think computers give us an opportunity to explore educational opportunities that by and large complement rather than substitute for the traditional modes of instruction," Spence said.
"I do not think we have gone far enough in the direction of the use of computers in education to raise any significant concerns on the part of the Faculty or students about displacement of existing modes of instruction," he added.
And in his annual report, Bok downplayed theories that computers influence the way a student treats a subject. He said the thought process remains essentially the same regardless of the medium through which material is processed. He also expressed doubt that the machines could ever intrude into certain areas, such as philosophy, where rational thought instead of factual analysis was predominant.
Instead, Bok emphasized the potential role computers would play in transforming education indirectly. He said that when faculty begin to teach students via software rather than lectures, they will have to analyze how students learn, how they most effectively comprehend difficult concepts and how they remain interested.
"It is embarassing that professors, who spend so much time evaluating and criticizing other institutions, devote so little effort to finding ways to improve their own methods of instruction," Bok said.
"At best, the new machines may be a catalyst to hasten the development fo new insights into human cognition and new ways of helping students learn," he added.
Many have noted that the Harvard Faculty is slow in comparison with other university faculties in embracing the new technology for their own research and teaching.
Universities like Brown and Dartmouth, far ahead of Harvard in the number of students and faculty members who use computers, have a "top-down" theory of computerization. Department head outline a program by which faculty and students are expected to apply the new technology to traditional areas of scholarship, said Lewis.
At Harvard, Spence said he has implemented programs to make the technology, both hardware and software, available to students and the Faculty on demand only. They can access advanced computer systems and software at reduced costs through the University, but the initiative must be their own