The Kennedy School of Government uses information technology for similar purposes. According to Peter T. Farago, director of information technology services at the school, some courses use technology to teach cases on CD-ROM in much the same way the HBS does. An Internet-based case was first tried last fall and then used within a larger class this spring, he said.

The Kennedy School is also experimenting with many of the same uses of information technology being implemented at the HBS to facilitate greater interaction between students and faculty in their academic work.

Grassroots Efforts

According to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, HBS's efforts have benefited from the structure of the school itself. HBS has a far more centralized curriculum than any of the other schools, Lewis says, and the range of course subjects is not nearly so broad as in many of the other faculties.

The result, he says, is that Clark has been able to take a more top-down approach to increasing the level of technology in the classroom that most other schools can. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, for example, has such a broad scope of courses that it is difficult for the College administration to play a large role in the planning of new applications.

"The needs of the Classics Department are going to be very different from the needs of the Astronomy Department," explains Paul C. Martin '52, dean of the Division of Applied Sciences.

The same general trend holds true in other faculties as well. Wayne K. Hokoda, director of the computer resources department at the Design School says that most of the GSD's extensive use of computerized drafting applications has come about more as a result of student interest than an administrative commitment to technological innovation.

"It has almost all been from student demands," Hokoda says. "The faculty are just catching up. Industry demands have really driven the move to computerized drafting--almost all firms are now using [Computer Aided Drafting]."

Unfortunately, the decentralized way in which new technologies are developed often makes it difficult for innovations to survive.

The relatively centralized Business School has a number of natural advantages in creating new information technology applications, Lewis says. Not only is their curriculum narrow enough that it allows the creation of a rubric of technology requirements but it also has the advantage that its new applications are easily marketable.

Corporations and other business schools have shown a great deal of interest in the information technology applications the Business School has developed, but applications that come from other faculties tend to have less-broad marketability, Martin says.

The result, coupled with the flexible nature of the curriculum, means that innovations tend not to outlast their creators, Lewis says.

"The tradition of local control and faculty autonomy works against innovation upkeep," Lewis says.

The Paperless Class

The most common new use of technology in Harvard's classes is a web site which handles many of the administrative details of the class. Typically sites include syllabi, problem sets, course announcements, lecture outlines and other information that used to clog copy machines and clutter trash cans.