But you DO need to apply and be accepted to the ALB/ALM program within your first 5 courses. If you apply afterward, you risk losing the credit from the earlier courses.

It IS best to get familiar with the campus even if you can only visit a few times. Consider taking a trip to Boston during your next leave and meeting the advisers.

Also note that if you already have a Bachelor’s degree, you cannot apply for a second bachelor’s from Harvard. You must go for an ALM (Masters).

Quite a few current and ex-military members are taking courses at HES. You’ll be in good company.

I have read quite a few of your blogs about HES and I am very interested in trying it out. My only question is about the order in which one takes their courses. Can you do all your on-line courses first and then finish with the on campus courses? I am in the Army and would be able to do online courses, but I wouldn’t be able to spend a semester or a year in New England until after I’m out. Is this possible, or should I wait?

If I may ask one more question, if I were to apply to the ALB program in government, does it matter what my undergraduate degree is in?

Thank you so much for all the valuable information,

Justin

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my original essay, and allowing me to continue the debate here.

I think one of the biggest differences in our respective arguments is you are defending online distance education from the point of understanding course materials. I am approaching this issue from the point of what a “Harvard education” means.

It’s not just about having the campus experience, mastering course materials, or getting better grades than students who attend class in person. I firmly believe that a Harvard education — indeed, a university education — entails spending time in the same room with other human beings, listening to what instructors and classmates have to say, and asking questions. This is the process of dialogue that President Rudenstine referred to in 1996 — the discussions and sharing of knowledge that takes place when people are talking with each other in a direct manner, in person. It’s old school, but it works.

Electronic transmission of course materials and asynchronous online discussions — emails and threaded discussion boards — are not as effective as synchronous modes of communication that incorporate voice, gestures, and facial expressions. Distance education classes should not form upwards of 90% of class credit for a Harvard degree, which is currently allowed under the graduate ALM in IT and undergraduate ALB degree programs.

Why do I think the in-class process of dialogue is so important to a Harvard education? One of the most important reasons is it’s more efficient, in that it enables rapid communication of knowledge and ideas. Almost every human being is capable of speaking more than 140 words per minute, whereas very few people are able to type that fast. This creates a significant barrier in an online environment, where conversations take longer to unfold, and many people may not want to bother asking class-related questions. Not only will it require more time inputting keystrokes, there’s also a strong possibility that the questions may never be answered.

In-class conversations also enable shared, multiperson dialogues. These are difficult to realize with email (who wants to cc the entire class?) and even online discussion boards have problems. A disinterested person in a live classroom setting may not want to participate in a discussion, but at least he or she will have to listen and absorb some of these debates, and is a part of that community, even if only as a silent observer in the discussions. Not so in an online message board, where a disinterested person will simply never log in to see what people are talking about.

Face-to-face dialogues allow for spur-of-the-moment questions and interruptions. People can raise their hands, or interrupt someone. Sometimes these serendipitous discussions lead to marvelous insights or moments of clarity, and all it takes to start one is the simple act of raising your hand.

Another important aspect of the in-class experience is the ability to demonstrate and discuss objects or images. This is perhaps more significant to me as a history concentrator, but other scientific and artistic fields are similar — instructors have materials that they want to show students on the overhead projector or on a table, and people can easily point to, examine, and discuss particular details. One of my electives — Archaeology of the Silk Road — was held in Harvard’s Peabody Museum, and more than once artifacts were brought into the room for us to see up close and handle (with gloves). This is an experience that could simply not be duplicated online.

I’d like to point out that I recognize many of the conveniences and advantages of the Internet. It has enabled our respective blogs, our friendship, and this discussion. But when it comes to education, I do not believe that current Internet technologies can match the real-world, in-class experience. The rest of the University seems to agree: Other than the Extension School, no other educational unit on campus has truly embraced streaming video, message boards, and email as a substitute for the classroom. Note that dozens of professors teaching distance education sections at the Extension School also teach at the College, the GSAS, and other faculties. In a few cases, they’ve been doing so for several years. Surely they’ve had many opportunities to assess the pros and cons of distance education, yet I haven’t seen a single report of a Harvard professor clamoring for these technologies to be expanded to other areas of the University for credit. When we do start hearing such calls for change outside of the Extension School, that will be one indicator that distance education technologies can finally deliver a full process of dialogue, and are ready to become an integrated part of a Harvard education.

Ian Lamont
ALM ‘08