Harvard Enrolls in iTunes U

Blockbusters like Good Will Hunting and Legally Blonde and books like “Privilege,” by Ross G. Douthat ’02, cater to broad public curiosity about what it is actually like to be a Harvard student. Whether factual or just fictitiously fun, it seems that any explanation as to what really happens behind the University’s nearly 400 year-old walls can grab at least some attention. But when the spotlight shines on Harvard’s tepid historical exclusivity and even its more meritocratic modern-day place in America, it often fans the flames of scorn that burn under our ivory tower.

There is, however, hope for change. The administration’s recent decision to begin offering free podcasts and lecture videos through Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store is an admirable step toward opening up Harvard’s unusually tight gates and giving the public a window through which to peer. Though iTunes is not entirely inclusive—meaning Harvard should also make an increased effort to reach out to the local community—Harvard’s use of iTunes will immediately help the University fulfill its duty to disperse knowledge and information not only among its students but also among the public as a whole.

Over the past decade, the spread of broadband Internet has revolutionized academic information delivery and made it far more accessible for those outside the ivory tower. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology pioneered the movement with its OpenCourseWare initiative, which has since spread to many other universities. Popular lecture videos and course documents from some of the best academic institutions can now be consumed free of charge by the world’s most eager learners at only the click of a mouse.

Various Harvard professors and schools have until now individually made lectures available across the Internet. Of particular note is the Harvard Extension School, which has already been a part of iTunes U, the iTunes Store’s one-stop academic shop for university multimedia, for over a year; it offers a handful of computer science courses free of charge. Several Harvard graduate schools also publish public course material online. The official Harvard YouTube channel offers a few courses from the College, including David Malan’s popular Computer Science 50.

And yet Harvard University as a whole has been somewhat slower than its peer institutions at offering open courses in any organized way. MIT started offering open courses in 2002 and now has over 1900 courses on offer. Yale jumped onboard with its own website in 2007 and now offers 25 full courses. Both schools also participate in iTunes U.

The Harvard University section of iTunes U, on the other hand, went live last week with only one course—Justice, Michael Sandel’s extremely popular class on everyday morality—that had already been offered free of charge on the course’s public website. While the Harvard section also prominently features podcasts from different Harvard Schools and videos dedicated to exploring life on campus, it clearly lags behind other universities’ sections.

Although Harvard’s initial entry to iTunes may be somewhat less than groundbreaking, the administration’s commitment to an organized, centralized framework wherein more courses can be quickly added gives us hope that there is monumental potential for Harvard to easily and greatly augment its public offerings.

Yet the burden to realize that potential and share Harvard with the world lies with professors as much as it does with the administration. For some professors used to selling their intellectual property as expensive textbooks or through established distance learning programs like The Teaching Company, where full sets of course videos can sell for up to $800, the thought of giving away lectures for free may not be a pleasant one. The University ought to encourage such professors to abandon this limited and profit-seeking form of thinking.

The proliferation of free content from schools like Harvard may also alarm the many students who pay to attend, often at great financial inconvenience. After all, just this month, Harvard announced that the cost of tuition, room, and board will break the $50,000 barrier next year. Yet, though ironic in the face of increasing tuition, free academic content is not offered at the expense of students and in no way cheapens the value of a certified Harvard education. Students here and at other universities have direct and interactive access to libraries, educators, and each other, all of which are an irreplaceable part of a complete education. As such, students’ concerns should not hold the University back from providing lectures to those who do not pay tuition.

Moreover, personal access to lecture on iTunes can benefit students, too. As the popular event Harvard Thinks Big showed, students are often interested in courses that do not fit into their schedules. While many classes already make lecture videos available to students via Harvard iSites, being able to easily download and sync the videos using the familiar iTunes interface will add a layer of convenience that works to meet the on-campus demand for lecture videos.

So, Harvard students, whether you’re down the street or across the world, the next time someone asks you about life in Cambridge, you might do well to simply direct your iPods to itunes.harvard.edu.