Computers Revolutionize Harvard's Academic Life

Thesis writers today must fight with balky printers, live in fear of hard disk crashes and tremble at the thought of computer viruses.

While all these problems detract somewhat from the academic experience of thesis writing, they pale in comparison to the hassles of the Class of '47 or '72, professors say.

"Well, it's much easier for the students now; they don't have to be such accomplished typists," says Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53. "I remember that getting your senior thesis typed was a real trial. Most students didn't type well enough to type 100 pages for a senior thesis, so you had to hire a typist and you had to reserve one in advance--several months ahead."

"You also had to finish your manuscript about a week before it was due in order to give it to the typist to handle it. That was a terrific nuisance," Mansfield says.

Professors also have fewer hassles now that computers are common among students.

"[Papers] are easier to read than when they were handwritten," says James N. Butler, McKay professor of applied chemistry.

Within the past 20 years, computers have gone from being relative rarities outside of science departments to fixtures on virtually every desk on campus. By 1986, "everyone was using computers," says Richard C. Marius, the former director of the Expository Writing program.

Of course, computers find even more powerful academic applications in the sciences.

"What students have is a great many more tools for learning, understanding," says James E. Davis, head tutor in the chemistry department. "I have had for years the impression that students think molecules are a bunch of letters held together by sticks."

Special programs allow students to calculate molecular dynamics and to see "how they bend and vibrate and breathe." Computer molecular modeling programs allow students to look at three-dimensional models which show component atoms in their proper relative sizes and locations.

In addition, greater communication through Web pages, newsgroups and e-mail have enhanced the learning environment outside the classroom.

Editing Ease

Professors also agree that computers have made it much easier to revise and edit papers.

"Technical production is a lot easier than it was when you used a typewriter, and this probably frees up students to feel they can experiment more," says Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn.

"You can change your mind and go back and edit while you're still writing," Mendelsohn notes, adding that problematic passages can be cut or corrected quickly. "In that way papers do come in better edited."

Marius says that "real revisions" were impossible just 10 years ago.

"Now in my Shakespeare seminar I give students a chance to revise, and they do that surpassingly well," Marius says. "If you don't give students a chance to revise, your remarks are like an autopsy report."

However, some professors say that computers have not improved the substantive aspect of papers.

"Obviously papers are neater, cleaner and probably easier to edit," says Charles S. Maier, Krupp Foundation professor of European studies. "[But] I don't think it's [necessarily] made for higher quality prose. I don't think it's had an impact on content."

According to William M. Todd, incoming dean of undergraduate education, computer use has also created an unexpected problem in the form of "word-processor syntax," where, he says, students put a thought in the middle of a sentence without thinking about how well it really fits there.

Mansfield says that while papers look "much better" now, some problems still persist.

"The spelling is not as good, despite spell check, but that's perhaps because of a general decline of spelling in our society," he says.

Though computers facilitate the paper-writing process, professors say they feel that the level of work expected from students has remained more or less constant over time.

"I think undergraduates put in as much time and effort [in the past] as they do now," Maier says. "We don't expect longer papers. In fact, papers may have become marginally shorter."

Professor of English and American Languages and Literature James Engell says that paper assignments have increased but only in response to student demand.

"Yes, probably there are [more papers now]," he says. "That's something that students have asked for. On the whole, there are many more courses that do not have final exams and have final papers [instead], especially the smaller courses."

Beyond Papers

Jeffrey Wolcowitz, assistant dean of undergraduate education, says that computers can sometimes serve as more effective learning tools than more traditional media.

Describing a Web page on which one could run simulations of chemical reactions, he says, "I can't imagine that a handout could have done that, or that watching a demo could teach you that."

Moreover, art-based classes like Literature and Arts B-39: "Michelangelo" and Literature and Arts C-66: "Rome of Augustus" utilize the Web as a 24-hour image gallery, allowing more students to review the image than was possible when library slide carousels were the only option.

Davis, head tutor in the chemistry department and chemical biology, says that computers have made "much more sophisticated ways of analyzing data" possible--for example, instruments hooked up directly to computers, rather than requiring someone to read off the information and enter it by hand.

The computer can also serve as a stepstool--Marius, for instance, says he feels more comfortable giving complex assignments. Some of his peers say the same.

"In my marine chemistry course I can give problems which would have been considered too difficult or too complicated 10 years ago," Butler says.

Computers have also had a significant effect on less obvious aspects of student academic life.

Maier says that the computer makes it simple for him to "boil down" his notes the night before lecture to a one page handout.

His professors, he says, merely wrote up a list of names on the blackboard. But Maier says that he believes that "the more handouts [and other such aids] the student can follow, the more he or she can focus on what is being said."

Communication as Education

Communicating with others grew easier when a staff assistant no longer had to type each missive, Mendelsohn says, but the addition of e-mail has "eased communication across lines that used to be much more formal and difficult to cross."

Marius says students feel more comfortable approaching their professors electronically, because "they know...that I'm a human being," he says.

"I'm more interactive with my students. There's an intimidation factor when the student comes in to talk face to face," Marius says. "With e-mail there's a kind of distance and communication."

According to Lewis, e-mail also helps to eliminate the logistical difficulties of teacher-student communication.

"I get questions e-mailed at three o'clock in the morning which I can then respond to in the morning," he says. "The typical student's sleep schedule and that of the average professor can be reconciled through e-mail."

There are a variety of electronic discussion forums available as well, and hundreds of students participate with their professors.

Professor Margo I. Seltzer '83, who teaches Computer Science 50: "Introduction to Computer Sciences I", says that one of the most important changes effected by computers is increased accessibility of information.

"It's a lot easier to track down information, to correspond with Faculty, to correspond with classmates, and to have open discussions about course material," she says.

"[The Web] has democratized intellectual information in a way that was clearly not the case before," says Harry R. Lewis '68, dean of the College and McKay professor of computer science.

However, professors agree that on-line resources are only supplements to, not substitutes for, traditional interaction.

"I don't see it as a substitute for face to face discussion with students, but as another way of continuing the discussions that begin in class," says Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel.

"I really do enjoy meeting people. In some ways the e-mail simplifies some things, but I hope it doesn't keep people from visiting," Mendelsohn says. "The core of the academic experience, which is direct personal exchange, [remains] the most important and most satisfactory means of education."