Academic Computing

Providing hardware and software is one thing. Teaching professors how to use it is another, and unsurprisingly, decentralization is also the model around which FAS shapes its approach to developing academic computing.

Consequently, in the same school that McKay Professor of Applied Physics Eric Mazur uses hand-held computers to survey his class midlecture to ensure their understanding, other professors choose not to have e-mail addresses.

The FAS Standing Committee on Information Technology reaffirmed this decentralized approach in its September report while calling for greater "coordination."

In order for academic IT to be used more widely, strong communication channels need to exist for the Faculty to remain informed of how new projects can be begun. Decentralization forces faculty members to take the initiative themselves to use more technology.

Many professors said this approach disadvantages those in the humanities who have the least exposure to IT.

Humanities professors generally have to pay for computers out of their salaries while professors in the sciences and social sciences purchase technology using grant money. And technical knowledge--like how to create one's own Web page--is more highly concentrated in the sciences.

One solution has been to create IT "contacts" in every department to disseminate information and help implement projects, but faculty members complain that many contacts are too busy troubleshooting basic computer problems to undertake special projects.

Recognizing these problems, Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS) is seeking to fill a newly created communication coordinator position who would help to keep the Faculty informed about new developments in IT, HASCS programs and where to get help.

HASCS also has a three-person staff known as the Instructional Computing Group, which assists professors in putting their classes on-line and in starting class newsgroups.