In at least one place in the University,however, just such an arrangement has already beentried.

During the 1987-88 academic year, the ExtensionSchool offered two sections of "Math E-la:Introduction to the Calculus A." One was taught inScience Center E. The other was held 100 miles tothe west--at Mount Holyoke College in SouthHadley, Mass.

The course was taught using an "electronicblack-board," according to the 1987-88 ExtensionSchool course guide. Students at Mt. Holyokeneeded only an IBM-compatible personal computerand modem.

The Internet would have made such a classeasier and cheaper, but the interactive calculuscourse has since disappeared from the ExtensionSchool course catalogue. And there remain somedoubts as to the ultimate effectiveness of theInternet in teaching.

"I think that the Internet in its current levelof usability will not be highly effective in ateaching role as a teaching tool," says JamesClark, executive director of "ACCESS: Networkingin the Public Interest," a Cambridge-basednon-profit group.

"I think that clearly people can learn aboutinformation over the Internet, but the in-depthinteraction between teacher and student cannot yetoccur," Clark says.

Since taking office three ago, PresidentRudenstine has repeatedly emphasized his desirefor Harvard's various departments and schools tocooperate more. Increased use of the Internet islikely to force such cooperation.

Some point to the Gateway Project, which isstill in its early stages, as an example of awell-conceived effort to use resources and ideasfrom around the University.

"It's not a project yet," says Lawrence Dowler,the College's associate librarian for publicservice. "There has been a process involvingpeople trying to think a little about how tointroduce information technology into the libraryas a whole."

Another network-related project which combinesdisciplines is currently being pursued by aprofessor of government, Gary King, and McKayProfessor of Electrical Engineering and ComputerScience H.T. Kung. The aim is to allow socialscientists easier access to data like publishedpolls, U.S. census figures and election results.

"King and Kung want to make this materialavailable easily over high-speed networks in a waythat the users can themselves enrich the data asthey use it," says Associate Professor of ComputerScience Stuart M. Shieber, who is familiar withthe project.

And Jackson, the MIT director, says thecomputer network has made MIT a more centralizeduniversity.

"We do a great deal of stuff centrally at MITwhich is done by departments and schoolsseparately at Harvard, so that there is somedifference of coordination," Jackson says.

In fact, in linking the University to thenetwork, Harvard may be in some sense fightingitself.

"The decentralized nature of our Universitymakes networking difficult," saysKelley-Melbourne, the research librarian. "I seestudents all the time who want to learn aboutinformation, and networked information physicallyis not do right now [at Harvard]."