There is some evidence that the Extension School shares at least some of his concerns.  Last year, the ALB program was modified to include a requirement for 4 (out of a minimum of 16) courses to be completed that are offered on campus only.

I’d like to rebut that argument and make the case that distance education at Harvard can provide a comparable experience if we carefully consider our definition of what a satisfactory Harvard Experience actually represents.

Ian writes:

…permitting students in some programs to get most of their degree credit sitting in front of a computer terminal, often with few opportunities for direct interaction with faculty and classmates, is a mistake. Two of the Extension School’s most popular degree programs — the undergraduate ALB and the graduate ALM in IT — allow students to complete 88% and 90% of their coursework online, respectively.

His concern seems to center on the premise that there are fewer opportunities for direct interaction with faculty and other classmates, and that this necessarily constitutes a somewhat lesser experience than would otherwise be provided by a program that was composed of entirely on-campus coursework.  I think that this reasoning is flawed.

First, there is no evidence that in-class presence helps students to develop a deeper understanding of course material.  While presence on campus might help a student feel as if their connection to a university is stronger, my own experience has been that being in class is only marginally better than viewing the same lecture over the Internet.  Indeed, I am completing the vast majority of the 64 hours that I need for the ALB from my home in Washington, DC.  As part of my experience at Harvard, I regularly travelled between DC and Boston to take classes and exams on campus and I had the opportunity to sample both modes of learning from the very beginning.  I prefer the online courses.

If my grades are any indication, I’m doing far better in my online coursework than I ever did in my on-campus coursework.

I took a number of courses in which I depended heavily on the TFs (teaching fellows) to answer questions when I had them.  I didn’t get a chance to meet any of the other students from most of those courses.   Surprisingly, that didn’t seem to have any effect on my ability to absorb the material.  With occasional help from the TF’s, I managed to pick up enough material to earn A’s (or A-’s) in nearly all of my classes.

I’ll note that there were a few instances where the TF’s seemed to be either too preoccupied or too difficult to communicate with.  In those situations, I learned that the best option was to simply drop the course and replace it with another.

But I’ll note that in no case was I ever at a disadvantage because I wasn’t able to question a fellow student for help with the material.  I certainly had to be more diligent about making use of the resources I had to grasp the material, but I didn’t seem to suffer grade-wise because I was working alone.

Furthermore, I didn’t see a great deal of class participation in the classes I took on campus.  If there was an upside to taking an on-campus class, it was the ability to buttonhole your TF or professor about some assignment you were waiting to receive back.

And leads me to the the point that I think that Ian’s really trying to make: how much of Harvard do you really get if you’ve only ever seen a few of your professors online and you only know a couple of fellow students in your program, or none?

Of course, the same argument could be made about the Extension School as a whole.  As an ALB candidate, I’m never going to live in the residence halls, arguably one of the best maturation and networking opportunities available to anyone under the age of 22.  Does that make my degree worth less as an educational credential?

I’d argue that for a significant proportion of classes, the interactive component of on campus presence isn’t much help.  I allow that there are many fields in which essentially the entire class is about teamwork and interaction with fellow students.  Management classes and language instruction are two notable examples, but I suppose that there are others.

Far more important (for me at least) is how effective Harvard Extension is at transmitting knowledge through an asynchronous medium like the Internet.  On that score, I think they’ve done a fine job.  With very few exceptions, I’ve felt that my professors and TFs have been very responsive.  In one particular case, I had a TF take my call at 11PM one evening.  I’ve had the opportunity to meet my professors in person after taking their class and felt as if I knew them well after having only ever seen them through a window on my PC.  I recognized one of my TFs from another class walking down the street and introduced myself one random afternoon while visiting Cambridge.

So, at least in my case, I’ve managed to nurture and maintain a connection to Harvard (even going so far as to decide I have a favorite professor) even though my coursework was largely completed online.

What could be wrong with that?

I understand Ian’s concerns: that the Extension School is moving too fast in expanding the reach of distance education and that this will detract from the high quality of instruction (and candidates) that the degree programs are known for.

Criticism, offered in good faith, is a good thing.  It’s important that the quality of the degree programs is maintained, even if that means forgoing some revenue or tempering the growth of the school.

My experience and my intuition tell me that these concerns are premature.  For me, the greater concern is how to increase the feeling of community and connection at the Extension School without compromising the non-traditional orientation.  If the goal is to reach further than the walls of Harvard Yard, then some form of distance education is clearly going to be in the mix.  Pointing to distance learning as the problem is simply not productive.

Thus, the better question to ask is if a program that was composed entirely of online coursework could ever be considered a true Harvard degree.  I submit that it can.

If we examine the subset of classes that are taught to Harvard College students on campus and to Harvard Extension students via distance ed, we see that they perform roughly on par with each other.  Ian acknowledges this himself.  As a somewhat crude example, this seems to indicate that it isn’t really the distance aspect of instruction that is important for learning.  What matters far more is the quality of the professors and the TFs and their own comfort with the technology.

By far, the professors I have had in my distance classes seem keenly aware of this fact.  They understand the limitations of time and place and seek to transcend them with technology.  It is possible to compensate for the sensory deprivation that seems to follow distance education.  I, for one, don’t agree that some sort of virtual reality environment that replicates a lecture hall is needed.  What could be more silly than sitting in a chair at home manipulating an avatar sitting in a chair in a virtual classroom?

In the real world, commercial enterprise has embraced each evolution of technology that eliminates the need to travel in order to communicate or conduct business.  From the telegraph to the telephone and TV, conference calling, video conferencing and the Internet, the value of eliminating the need to schedule a meeting among a widely dispersed group of individuals is clearly recognized by many.

Why should education be any different?

If your goal is to have some sort of experience, then maybe distance learning isn’t right for you.  It will be impossible with current technology to replicate the experience of sitting in a cramped chair huddled with a few others trying to master some arcane subject.  If instead your goal is to develop a deeper understanding of some particular subject or skill without the extraneous aspects of college life, then you might give distance ed a try.

Taking a distance education class at Harvard is no less valuable an experience than sitting through one on-campus.  It’s simply a different experience.  It’s up to the administration to make that a good one.

From the website:

Our Mission is to build and maintain a sense of community among our students. In partnership with many other organizations on campus, we provide a variety of social and educational events and forums that will enrich your life and your experience here at Harvard.

This past year has really been a great year for HESA.  Our outgoing president, Carlos De La Rosa, did his best to bring a sense of purpose and professionalism to the job.  He and his team managed to get some policies changed, sponsor some interesting and successful events, and generally elevate the operation and standing of what was (in my opinion) a pretty poorly run organization.

To give you an idea of just how poorly it functioned, until Carlos took over, there were few if any regular communications with the community, a website that was infrequently updated, and few other signs of life.  My take was that being the HESA president looked good on a resume and tended to draw those who were looking to punch a ticket rather than drive any meaningful positive change.

This year we actually had some fundraising activity, some well run events that were of particular interest to the broader Extension community, and a website that was actually designed to communicate.

Now that Carlos’ term is over, we have a new president, Ashley Pollack, who won in a landslide victory over her opponents.  Her candidacy was certainly buoyed by the endorsement of Carlos on the popular extensionstudent.com web forum.  My hope is that she continues the example set by Carlos and drives the organization to better serve the interests of the population at large.

But I have two concerns and I’d like to air them here:

• When Carlos took office, he had a roster of candidates that supported his efforts and ran as a part of his campaign.  In essence, we got a team of people instead of just Carlos.  As far as I can tell, Ashley is running alone.  There has been little mention of who she plans to add to her team to achieve her objectives.  If there is anything truer in politics, it’s that the job is often a lot bigger of a headache than it’s worth.  Getting things done is a lot easier if you have help.
• While Carlos did a better job of communicating with students, there was little attention paid to those of us who can’t attend on-campus functions because of distance or scheduling.  Promised video of events never made it to the HESA website and there is little explanation for the delay or absence.  Since distance education is a big part of the program’s attractiveness, there has to be some way to include those of us in far off locales.  I made several suggestions to other HESA groups to embrace simple tools like audio teleconferencing as a means to share a meeting beyond the campus but nothing ever came of that suggestion.

I’m hopeful that this upcoming year will be a successful one for HESA.  It’s my last year as an Extension student and I’d like to see us moving forward as a collective whole with some sense of community than as the disconnected islands of interest that we are largely today.  For what it’s worth, extensionstudent.com really is home to a large and vocal part of the student population.  It’s a large community that has grown organically over the past year and it shows no signs of slowing down.  In many ways, it’s succeeded where HESA has not.

I wish Ashley well.  If I ever get the chance to, I’ll tell her these things myself.  I just hope she’s willing to work with me to make HESA a better and more complete representation of the entire student body.

It comes in a nice wood (lacquered?) box that is common for rings of this type.

The extension crest is on one side.

And Johnston Gate is on the other.

The Harvard Veritas crest is on the top.

Overall, a very nice ring. I purchased the 14K “large” ring with the antique finish.  There is also an engraving on the inside (which I won’t publish).

I was unsure about purchasing the ring.  I’m not into jewelry much and I don’t wear other rings but I decided that it was worth the cost to have a ring I could wear when I wanted to instead of wishing I had one later down the road.

I’m pretty happy about it.

UPDATE:  Here’s a new pic with the ring on my finger:

One Ring on Finger

It’s no secret that families who donate significant sums of money to the college can, in a sense, buy their child’s way into Harvard.  Although the term legacy implies a long familial line of Harvard alumni, my sense is that the program is mainly a way to reward alums who donate much and do so frequently.

Programs like these tend to weaken the assertion that only the best and brightest find a place at Harvard College.  As much as they like to believe that this is the case (and it is, in large part) the fact that there are students at the school that didn’t merit admission save the “Z-list” makes the whole idea of an elite cadre of undergrads just so much sophistry.

What is even more interesting is that someone who claims to be a graduate of the AA/ALB program is posting comments that denigrate the program that he graduated from:

HES is nothing in comparison to the college, obviously. HES is a diploma mill with very little/weak academic standards. What does work the FAS is the fact not many people actually finish their academic work and get a degree and of course HES is a cash-cow; I’d venture to say things would change if they were awarding 1000 plus “diplomas” err, oops, I meant “degrees” at HES.

First, I’m doubtful that this student is really a graduate of the ALB or AA programs.  If he or she is, then it’s likely that they didn’t see the life-change that they expected from completing the program.  I’ve often said that a degree from HES isn’t going to change your life; it’s mainly a way to acquire the tools to change it yourself.

Second, I’ve made a special effort to take classes that are Harvard-only classes.  These classes are offered to HES students via distance-ed and consist of the exact same material and exact same grading standards that the College and GSAS students experience.  I took GOVT E-1780 (International Political Economy) from Jeffry Frieden and asked him directly if the grading standards were different between the College and HES.  His one-word reply: “No.”

I completed several other courses at HES that followed this model.  The classes aren’t impossible but do require study.  You can’t just coast through and get a decent grade.  You have to complete your assignments and you have to keep up with the reading.

But it isn’t impossible by any stretch.

Which brings me to my final point: people seem to have the idea that Harvard College is a difficult school to attend.  I don’t think this is the case.  Harvard College graduates 97% of its students.  If the program were really as challenging as people think it is, I would expect that number to be a little lower.  MIT has a graduation rate of 89% and Caltech is 83%.  I doubt that anyone would argue that MIT or Caltech admit poor students.

If Harvard admits 3000 students every year in its freshman class, is the 3001st student unqualified?  What do you say to that student when they learn that they were excluded from the incoming class because of a “legacy” admit?

So what we are left with is an undergraduate program that (if you are lucky enough to find yourself admitted to) presents a 97% change of successfully completing.  This either speaks to the effectiveness of the admissions process or the lack of difficulty of the program.  I wont speculate on which is the case.

Like most schools, you can seek out the easier classes or the harder ones during the course of your program.  In the end, both types of students get the same degree.

I do note that my grades in the Harvard College only classes aren’t appreciably different from the grades that I received in the HES-only classes.  I’m only one example, but it is something to think about.  I don’t fear the College courses because I think they’ll be too difficult.  My fears are more likely to be centered around a professor or TF who doesn’t know how to respond to email in a timely fashion.

Are there more students in HES that can’t do the work?  Certainly.  You can’t have an open-enrollment program and not encounter the occasional toe-dipper who is trying to see if they can pass muster and get a Harvard degree.  The perceived value of the Harvard credential is going to draw these kinds of people.  Both the length and the rigor of the program tends to weed these people out of the degree programs by the time that they reach their second or third semester.  The easy courses quickly become less numerous as you progress.

I do believe that there are more examples of people like myself who lost their way on the path to a degree when they were young and are only now getting around to finishing it up.  Most of the students in my on-campus classes were bright and enthusiastic.  Many of them had similar stories to my own.

But I’m less inclined to believe that a Harvard College graduate is some mythical wünderkind and more inclined to think of them as a kind of fortunate opportunist.  I don’t mean that in the negative sense; I see them seeking a credential that will return far more in dividends than the effort required to obtain it.  That’s my point.  I don’t think the classes are so difficult that any decent student can’t succeed in them.

My experience at HES has been very positive.  It hasn’t been easy, and it’s not a diploma mill by any stretch of the imagination.  If you started from scratch and did nothing else but attend classes at HES, the program would take 8 semesters (4 years) to complete.  You would have written close to 14 papers of serious length and depth and attended over 1000 classroom hours.  You will have likely completed over 100 problem sets of varying difficulty and your GPA is likely to be somewhere shy of a 3.0.

The HES ALB program is a serious one and deserves the respect afforded to all serious academic programs.

Like many people employed full time, I get some tuition assistance from my employer. In my case, I get about $8000 per year to attend school. As long as I get a B or better in the classes, they pick up the tab for tuition, fees, and books.

Of course, I need to pay the tuition in the meantime. As it turns out, my current method (using a credit card) is costing me too much in interest during the term. I’ve decided to investigate using student loans to help with that financing. If all goes well, I’ll be able to pay them off at the end of the term and leave with a zero balance. Of course, I can always just consolidate the new loans with some old ones I have. It turns out that the interest rates are really pretty low right now, especially compared to credit cards. As long as you are enrolled in a degree program at an approved school, you can borrow money to go.

This kind of financing will be even more important once I apply to graduate school. Classes at the school I’m looking at cost about $4K each which is a lot to carry on a credit card for 4 months.  What will probably happen is that I’ll run up some student loan debt and then get a direct federal consolidation loan to roll it all into one payment.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

FAFSA Application

Yet despite my positive experience at HES, I’d like to earn a Master of Science in which the Computer Science aspect is front and center. That isn’t the case with the ALM in IT. Even though the requirements for the degree are all derived from a CS-focused curriculum, the title of the degree is Master of Liberal Arts. Furthermore, the IT part isn’t really my focus. I’m already employed in the IT sector. I’m more interested in the theory underlying the methods we use.

For these reasons I’m taking a hard look at the Columbia CVN program. At Columbia, I can earn a complete master’s degree from an Ivy-League university via distance. Their program has the same admissions requirements and results in the same degree as the traditional on-campus program.

For me the ability to pursue the degree while simultaneously remaining employed is a BIG plus. The opportunity cost of leaving a career to pursue a graduate degree is why I waited this long to begin with. With the rise of non-traditional education, this need be a concern no longer.

Of course, an education that doesn’t challenge the student isn’t really worth the time or money. Non-traditional education had a bad rap for a while because too many outfits operated as degree mills and issued degrees to people for “life-experience” or other difficult to define metrics. So far, that isn’t problem for me. I feel that the connection with a well-established traditional university is a good indicator of the value associated with a non-traditional program.

I’ll be posting more about my experiences as things progress. I still have one year left to earn my ALB degree and I haven’t applied to any graduate school programs yet. It may be the case that another program will present a better option. If it does, I’ll discuss it here.

Stay tuned.