Donors and Professors Confer at Symposia After FAS Capital Campaign Launch

At a symposium on digital education, Robert A. Lue, a biology professor and director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, said that Harvard needs donors’ support to lead research on innovation in teaching and learning.

Lue moderated a panel composed of Peter K. Bol, a professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and vice-provost for advances in learning, Elisa New, an English professor, David J. Malan ’99, a computer science lecturer, and Doris Sommer, a professor of romance languages and literatures. The symposium drew an estimated 120 alumni, donors, and affiliates.

According to Bol, Harvard X’s goals include entering the fast-growing market of online education, sharing education with the rest of the world, and using online technology to improve teaching strategies.

“We have to recognize that online education is becoming a very, very large market,” Bol said, adding that Harvard, as a leading institution, needs to make its presence felt in this market space.

Bol also reported during the symposium that China X, the online version of his General Education course on Chinese history, will open this week.

Speaking about the impact of digital education beyond Harvard, Malan noted that about 150,000 people around the world are taking CS50x, the online version of the Harvard introductory computer science class.

Malan characterized as very “humbling and inspiring” the vast interest that students of all ages and from all backgrounds expressed in his online course.

“[Online education] has really made the world feel like a smaller place,” Malan said, referring to the interaction between online computer science students worldwide.

EdX has also made students’ learning experience “more deeply engaging,” said Bol, speaking about how the availability of class discussions online has helped students to actively delve into the class material and to speak up. Bol added that the structure and content of online classes are the result of ongoing research in new modes of learning and teaching.

COMMUNITY AND VALUES: RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION IN AN ONLINE WORLD

Before an audience of about 25 people, Economics professor Edward L. Glaeser moderated a symposium that examined the roles of both interpersonal interaction in an increasingly online world and the ongoing process of house renewal.

The panel included representatives from three different Harvard houses. Cabot House Masters Rakesh and Stephanie Khurana, Leverett House tutor Katie M. Derzon, and Radhika Jain ’14—a Quincy house resident and Crimson news comp director—all shared their experiences with the House system.

Speaking briefly before the panel, Brian D. Young '76, a member of the FAS Campaign’s Steering Committee, said the discussion focused on “the soul of Harvard,” arguing that the Houses are “much more than bricks and mortar.”

Glaeser told the audience that the Houses, and by extension the interactions that take place in them, are the true source of intellectual growth for students.

“The real learning at Harvard is not in the lecture hall, but outside, in dorm rooms, in dining halls, in the casual conversations that students have about ideas,” he said.

While Glaeser acknowledged the increasing importance of online education in the current system, he maintained that “there is nothing that…can get rid of the tremendous power of meeting face-to-face.”

BIG DATA: SURPRISING SOLUTIONS TO BIG QUESTIONS

Introducing a symposium on big data, University professor and prominent political scientist Gary King argued that teaching engineering and applied sciences as part of a liberal arts education provides students with an important understanding of the social, legal, and moral issues that arise from innovation.

“Whenever engineers can do something, they will do it,” King said. “That’s why we need the liberal arts people, sociologists, and politicians beside us to help change the rules of society.”

King along with fellow panelists—physics professor Efthimios Kaxiras, astronomy professor Alyssa A. Goodman, and government professor Stephen D. Ansolabehere—presented big data projects that Harvard affiliates have spearheaded. The projects presented included one that used new analytical methods to estimate that 13 percent of social media posts, usually on the topic of collective action, are censored by the government in China. The project drew rousing applause from the audience of more than 100 attendees.

Kaxiras, founding director of the Institute for Applied Computational Science, said that a new Master’s degree program in Computational Science and Engineering could facilitate further applications of computation, such as in diagnosing and predicting heart disease. Goodman promoted the Harvard-developed Glue, a new Python package for interactive real-time visualization of multidimensional data, which will work with NASA’s James Webb telescope, the successor of the Hubble telescope.

Speaking to alumnae during the subsequent question-and-answer session, King said that big data analytics could even be applied to conserve and share the Harvard experiences of the audience.

“You have information within you that exists but evaporates when you graduate,” King said. “If we were to capture your experience with big data and feed it to the next Harvard student, that student has a more understood future.”

THE CREATIVE SPARK: THE ROLE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES IN SOCIETY

A symposium moderated by Diana Sorensen, divisional dean of the arts and humanities, stressed the importance of the arts and humanities in modern society and the role of liberal arts in higher education.

Before the panel, Andrew L. Farkas ’82, a member of the steering committee for the FAS campaign, told the audience that he was working closely with Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith to develop funding specifically for the arts and humanities.

Farkas also described the transformation in his own relationship with the arts and humanities, from entering Harvard as a “self-professed Philistine” to his current fundraising efforts for the liberal arts. He said that the arts and humanities are a core part of the University.

“The development of a true liberal arts education builds what they’ve always called a ‘Renaissance man’,” he said. “Harvard has always excelled in this area, and I believe is now committed more than ever to seeing its own renaissance in the humanities.”

The panel included presentations from Humanities Center Director Homi K. Bhabha, Emma Dench, a professor of classics and history, Stephen J. Greenblatt, a professor of English, and Karen L. Thornber, a professor of comparative literature.

In her introduction, Sorensen described both the practical and aesthetic value of learning the arts and humanities.

“We are convinced that, in the classroom, we give our students the tools for conversation in the civic sphere, and also for the extraordinary pleasures of working with artistic materials, be it the verbal arts, music, film, or theater,” she said.

—Staff writer Francesca Annicchiarico can be reached at fannicchiarico01@college.harvard.edu. Follow her at @FRAnnichiarico.

—Staff writer John P. Finnegan can be reached at johnfinnegan@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Amna H. Hashmi can be reached at amnahashmi@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @amna_hashmi.

—Staff writer Brianna D. MacGregor can be reached at bmacgregor@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @bdmacgregor.