Web Improves Course Impact

When Henry H. He '00 checked the World Wide Web page for his core course, Literature and Arts C-14, "The Concept of the Hero in Greek Civilization," he randomly came across a contest on course material.

By correctly answering the questions about various movies that are recommended viewing for the course, he wound up winning season tickets for the remainder of the films, a value of $25.

"I was surprised about winning it," he says. "I wasn't surprised there was a contest because I think the entire course has been innovative."

As the Web and the Internet grow increasingly popular among students, professors have turned to the technology as a means of expanding the dimensions of their courses.

The Instructional Computing Group (ICG), which maintains 32 course pages, has seen use of its server quadruple since last fall, as more and more courses are going beyond the standard syllabus-and-reading-list to include multimedia, hot links and discussion groups.

But while many hail the academic benefits these Web pages have added to their courses, the content of some course discussion groups and newsgroups have veered off-course into personal attacks and often offensive flames.

Weaving the Web

Eric M. Mazur, McKay professor of applied physics and the instructor of Physics 11a, "Mechanics," says his page caused so much traffic on the Digitas server last year that he decided to move it to its own.

In the last two weeks, the site at http://physics11.harvard.edu had more than 1,400 hits--requests for files--per day.

"[That's] a lot more than I thought!" Mazur says in an e-mail message.

The Physics 11 page has video demonstrations of concepts ranging from how a vacuum affects free fall to what happens when a TF is placed between two beds of nails with a cinder block on top.

"The goals of the page are to help students review what goes on in lecture [and] to have a single electronic home for all course material," Mazur says. The page also offers "ConcepTests" which test students' understanding of underlying concepts.

Sometimes a Web page can do far more than a textbook alone.

"The course emphasizes the sound culture [of Ancient Greece], says Thomas E. Jenkins, head teaching fellow of Literature and Arts C-14.

The works students read in the course were passed down through an oral tradition, and Jenkins says the written word fails to capture the essence of the pieces.

"To some extent, to have Homer in the book is artificial," Jenkins says. WEB

The Web page tries to "reintegrate the idea of performance" by including recitations by students and TFs of various works the course studies, he says.

Other professors have spiced up their pages with multimedia ranging from cartoons to pronunciation guides.

The Women's Studies 10a: "Women, Feminism and History," page showcases anti-suffrage cartoons and old Virginia Slims ads.

Literature and Arts A-14, "Chaucer," contains spoken words from Middle English.

Other Web pages feature photos and x-rays designed to demonstrate course material.

Science A-30, "The Atmosphere," has satellite pictures of recent storm activity, and Science B-44, "Vision and the Brain," has links to Web pages with information on vision and x-rays of the brain.

Hot links to other pages and photos of professors and TFs also highlight some pages. The site for Government 1361: "Analyzing American Elections," contains about 50 links to parties, media outlets and activist groups.

And skipping section doesn't have to prevent students from knowing what their TFs look like. Chemistry 5 and 10 Web sites allow students to practice reciting excuses to thumbnail sketches of teaching fellows.

"We're trying to get people in the habit of using the Web as a source of information," says James E. Davis, lecturer of Chemistry 5 and head tutor of the department. "I'm trying to lower Webophobiacs into the game."

As an incentive, Davis offers a series of extra-credit trivia questions, the answers to which can be found on the Web.

One of the more recent questions asked students to find the source of the quote "Be happy in your work"--from the movie "Bridge Over the River Kwai."

Discussion Groups

A new technological addition to the ICG toolbox has made the pages even more interactive. HyperNews takes the place of old newsgroups by allowing a threaded record of discussion through the Web page.

"We feel HyperNews is more effective than 'traditional' newsgroups because they operate on the [Web] and are thus integrated with other material we develop," writes Paul F. Bergen, coordinator of instructional computing and social science computing support specialist, in an e-mail.

"We believe this tool fosters communication and exchange of ideas: concepts pretty central to effective learning," Bergen says.

Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel, who teaches the 900-student course Moral Reasoning 22, "Justice," has addressed various discussion group questions during his lectures.

"[The discussion group] is a valuable opportunity for students to continue the debates that arise in class and in section, and for me to see what students find puzzling," writes Sandel in an e-mail.

Bergen says although HyperNews is catching on in the humanities and social sciences, it has been "particularly useful in science courses."

"It has not taken hold in every case, but where the teaching staff has become invested in its use and emphasized its use, students have been participating vigorously in the discussions," he says.

Too vigorously?

Edwin H. Yoo '98 says he was just trying to start conversation among fellow classmates in Computer Science 50, "Introduction to Computer Science." He and other students bandied about stories earlier this semester from the City Step Ball and their senior proms.

Several other newsgroupies protested the "irrelevencia," saying that there are "better forums" for such discussions, and that the newsgroup should be restricted to more course-related discussion.

"I was kind of bothered by that," Yoo says. "It's not like people are struggling to get needed info," he posted soon after the admonition.

But that wasn't the end of it.

After one student posted a message complaining he lost his girlfriend to a football player, one Crimson athlete replied that he loved being put on a pedestal.

"We're spending the afternoon shellacking football players and nailing them to pedestals. They make great wall fixtures," responded Stewart L. King '98-'99 in a later post.

"It just went crazy from there," Yoo says.

Andrew B. Dills '00 responded on behalf of Crimson players.

"We have a lot of what you don't have (in more ways than one) and you hate us for it...Quite simply, we are cooler than you and you hate us for it," he wrote.

A plethora of postings like those flew back and forth the first week of November.

Yoo says he thinks that newsgroups are "very impersonal and people tend to be a lot ruder than they'd be in person." He was not involved in most of the flame war, but says he thinks it's pretty funny, calling it "playful tit-for-tat."

Some discussion groups have also provided a forum for course criticism--albeit anonymous in nature.

A student calling himself Bromobenzene Boy posted on the Chemistry 5 discussion group on Nov. 1 what he called "a manifesto" criticizing problem sets and the "superficial" nature of the class.

A few students agreed with him, but most did not.

"Little Boy--please grow up," wrote one student.

"Enroll in Chem 10. Maybe then you'll be happy," wrote another.

One student wrote he or she was particularly bothered by the non-academic dialogue on the page.

"I use this page as a way to get help, and all I get is this page that is polluted with your garbage," the student wrote.

Davis says he was not really bothered by the student's attacks, although he says he would like to discuss Bromobenzene's concerns with him.

"Half a dozen people devoted a lot of time to those things, time which would have been better spent on the problem sets," Davis says of the exchange.

If students continue to hold general discussion in the group that others find especially distracting, Davis says he may create a second discussion group just for non-course-related topics.

Bergen says the ICG will not douse the flames of a group discussion unless requested to do so by an instructor.

"It is our policy that, just as we would never advise an instructor what to allow to be said in the classroom, we will not moderate the HyperNews lists," he says.

He says the ICG can trace anonymous posts to some extent using access logs, but that it would never do so without a faculty member's request.

Most professors say they are not concerned about discussion digression.

Sandel says he relies on his students' "sense of justice" to keep them from improper behavior.

Since mid-September, more than 2,100 different student machines have used the ICG server, according to Bergen.

More changes can be expected as the ICG expands its technology.

"Next term we hope to provide real-time communication in courses via the use of tools to create virtual environments," Bergen says.

In the meantime, courses continue to expand their presence on the Web. Students in Social Analysis 10, "Introduction to Economics," received an e-mail last week announcing the addition of a lecture discussion page to the course's Web site.

John F. McHale, the head TF, says he expects that "a lot of marketing" will be needed to make the group successful.

"But with 1,000 students and a lot of strong opinions, I am reasonably confident that it will take off," he says.The home page for Government 1361, "Analyzing American Elections."

The Web page tries to "reintegrate the idea of performance" by including recitations by students and TFs of various works the course studies, he says.

Other professors have spiced up their pages with multimedia ranging from cartoons to pronunciation guides.

The Women's Studies 10a: "Women, Feminism and History," page showcases anti-suffrage cartoons and old Virginia Slims ads.

Literature and Arts A-14, "Chaucer," contains spoken words from Middle English.

Other Web pages feature photos and x-rays designed to demonstrate course material.

Science A-30, "The Atmosphere," has satellite pictures of recent storm activity, and Science B-44, "Vision and the Brain," has links to Web pages with information on vision and x-rays of the brain.

Hot links to other pages and photos of professors and TFs also highlight some pages. The site for Government 1361: "Analyzing American Elections," contains about 50 links to parties, media outlets and activist groups.

And skipping section doesn't have to prevent students from knowing what their TFs look like. Chemistry 5 and 10 Web sites allow students to practice reciting excuses to thumbnail sketches of teaching fellows.

"We're trying to get people in the habit of using the Web as a source of information," says James E. Davis, lecturer of Chemistry 5 and head tutor of the department. "I'm trying to lower Webophobiacs into the game."

As an incentive, Davis offers a series of extra-credit trivia questions, the answers to which can be found on the Web.

One of the more recent questions asked students to find the source of the quote "Be happy in your work"--from the movie "Bridge Over the River Kwai."

Discussion Groups

A new technological addition to the ICG toolbox has made the pages even more interactive. HyperNews takes the place of old newsgroups by allowing a threaded record of discussion through the Web page.

"We feel HyperNews is more effective than 'traditional' newsgroups because they operate on the [Web] and are thus integrated with other material we develop," writes Paul F. Bergen, coordinator of instructional computing and social science computing support specialist, in an e-mail.

"We believe this tool fosters communication and exchange of ideas: concepts pretty central to effective learning," Bergen says.

Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel, who teaches the 900-student course Moral Reasoning 22, "Justice," has addressed various discussion group questions during his lectures.

"[The discussion group] is a valuable opportunity for students to continue the debates that arise in class and in section, and for me to see what students find puzzling," writes Sandel in an e-mail.

Bergen says although HyperNews is catching on in the humanities and social sciences, it has been "particularly useful in science courses."

"It has not taken hold in every case, but where the teaching staff has become invested in its use and emphasized its use, students have been participating vigorously in the discussions," he says.

Too vigorously?

Edwin H. Yoo '98 says he was just trying to start conversation among fellow classmates in Computer Science 50, "Introduction to Computer Science." He and other students bandied about stories earlier this semester from the City Step Ball and their senior proms.

Several other newsgroupies protested the "irrelevencia," saying that there are "better forums" for such discussions, and that the newsgroup should be restricted to more course-related discussion.

"I was kind of bothered by that," Yoo says. "It's not like people are struggling to get needed info," he posted soon after the admonition.

But that wasn't the end of it.

After one student posted a message complaining he lost his girlfriend to a football player, one Crimson athlete replied that he loved being put on a pedestal.

"We're spending the afternoon shellacking football players and nailing them to pedestals. They make great wall fixtures," responded Stewart L. King '98-'99 in a later post.

"It just went crazy from there," Yoo says.

Andrew B. Dills '00 responded on behalf of Crimson players.

"We have a lot of what you don't have (in more ways than one) and you hate us for it...Quite simply, we are cooler than you and you hate us for it," he wrote.

A plethora of postings like those flew back and forth the first week of November.

Yoo says he thinks that newsgroups are "very impersonal and people tend to be a lot ruder than they'd be in person." He was not involved in most of the flame war, but says he thinks it's pretty funny, calling it "playful tit-for-tat."

Some discussion groups have also provided a forum for course criticism--albeit anonymous in nature.

A student calling himself Bromobenzene Boy posted on the Chemistry 5 discussion group on Nov. 1 what he called "a manifesto" criticizing problem sets and the "superficial" nature of the class.

A few students agreed with him, but most did not.

"Little Boy--please grow up," wrote one student.

"Enroll in Chem 10. Maybe then you'll be happy," wrote another.

One student wrote he or she was particularly bothered by the non-academic dialogue on the page.

"I use this page as a way to get help, and all I get is this page that is polluted with your garbage," the student wrote.

Davis says he was not really bothered by the student's attacks, although he says he would like to discuss Bromobenzene's concerns with him.

"Half a dozen people devoted a lot of time to those things, time which would have been better spent on the problem sets," Davis says of the exchange.

If students continue to hold general discussion in the group that others find especially distracting, Davis says he may create a second discussion group just for non-course-related topics.

Bergen says the ICG will not douse the flames of a group discussion unless requested to do so by an instructor.

"It is our policy that, just as we would never advise an instructor what to allow to be said in the classroom, we will not moderate the HyperNews lists," he says.

He says the ICG can trace anonymous posts to some extent using access logs, but that it would never do so without a faculty member's request.

Most professors say they are not concerned about discussion digression.

Sandel says he relies on his students' "sense of justice" to keep them from improper behavior.

Since mid-September, more than 2,100 different student machines have used the ICG server, according to Bergen.

More changes can be expected as the ICG expands its technology.

"Next term we hope to provide real-time communication in courses via the use of tools to create virtual environments," Bergen says.

In the meantime, courses continue to expand their presence on the Web. Students in Social Analysis 10, "Introduction to Economics," received an e-mail last week announcing the addition of a lecture discussion page to the course's Web site.

John F. McHale, the head TF, says he expects that "a lot of marketing" will be needed to make the group successful.

"But with 1,000 students and a lot of strong opinions, I am reasonably confident that it will take off," he says.The home page for Government 1361, "Analyzing American Elections."