Universities Should Lead Internet's Intellectual Development

By Esther Vegh

Special to the Gazette

Calling the emergence of the Internet a "moment of real transformation" for higher education, President Neil L. Rudenstine reached back to the 19th-century creation of the modern research university to emphasize the magnitude of the changes -- and to exhort higher education to take a leading role in shaping the medium. Rudenstine's talk was given at last week's Harvard Conference on the Internet and Society.

"I believe that universities have a special responsibility to exert real leadership in this sphere," said Rudenstine, "not in the development of the technology itself, but in the imaginative and thoughtful uses of the technology for learning."

Among the Internet faithful -- a full house in Sanders Theatre of conference participants still enthusiastic after a long day of panels and presentations -- Rudenstine noted that such leadership would include defining values for the vast potential of the Internet for the good of general society.

"The Internet will not tell us what to do about individuals and societies that cannot afford to be on the Net. It will not tell us how to pay attention to those who are left out of the race. It will not show us -- any more than our libraries full of books -- how to create a just society."

While not announcing new initiatives, the speech -- like the multidiciplinary Internet Conference itself -- is a step in defining the role that liberal arts universities can play in guiding rapidly changing technology and a firm acknowledgement that the Internet is here to stay as an integral part of higher education.

Still Harvard's -- and other liberal arts colleges' -- role may be less one of providing leading-edge software or hardware development than exerting moral influence in how the technology is used. Rudenstine asked participants to question the effect they want to have on society and to proceed thoughtfully, particularly in considering how the Internet will change the lives of individuals.

The message hit a chord with some participants.

"I taught at Dorchester High School in Boston," said attendee John Scollins Jr. of Financial Times in Boston. "What they need is the fundamentals of using computers, never mind the advanced functions. He tied it to something very relevant."

Rudenstine described how he believes the Internet will qualitatively change education in a way that earlier technology did not, while cautioning that the expenditures required -- at least $125 million at Harvard over the next five years alone -- mean that investments must reap a real return.

"The stakes are high and so are the costs," said Rudenstine.

"The last time universities experienced such far reaching change in information processing, along with exponential expenditure growth, was [when] the huge information systems that we call university research libraries reached their point of takeoff," said Rudenstine. "When that moment arrived, universities were forced to confront problems -- including information overload -- similar to problems we now face."

Despite the costs, Rudenstine emphasized that the investment must be made. "There is a close fit -- a critical interlock -- between the Internet and university teaching and learning. Students can carry forward their work in ways that are tightly intertwined with the traditional ways they study and learn in libraries, classrooms, lecture halls, informal discussion groups, and laboratories."

Rudenstine focused on several critical uses of the Internet as an educational tool: source of unlimited information -- an electronic library with a worldwide collection. The Internet as a provider of infinitely detailed, interactive course materials. The Internet as a facilitator of dialogue between teachers and students and among groups of students, even across international borders.

And the Internet as the supporter of Socratic learning -- educational inquiry propelled by the student.

"The emerging theories of education have stressed not so much the authority of the faculty member as teacher, but the role of the student as an active agent, someone who searches for information," said Rudenstine. "The Internet virtually requires, or even demands, that the user be an engaged agent, solving problems, buttressing arguments, and exploring unknown terrain.

"The Internet has distinctive powers to complement many of our most powerful traditional approaches to learning."

Esther Vegh is writer and editor in Harvard University's Office of Human Resources.