Taking distance education to the next level

A major advance in distance education was initiated this fall in a specially equipped classroom at the Harvard Extension School. Classes held there give online students the ability to view on-campus lectures in real-time and actually take part in classroom discussions. The facility also serves as an experimental locus to test distance education teaching methods and technology. One of the extraordinary benefits of the $1 million in state-of-the-art equipment is that several courses can be taught at the same time.

The Extension School is among a small number of institutions across the country offering streaming video of college courses. Taking this unique delivery to the next level, the new facility will permit online students from around the world to learn and participate in class as if they were on campus.

The Extension School currently offers more than 100 open enrollment courses online, 25 of which are recorded lectures of Harvard College daytime courses.

“Everyone at Harvard is excited about the potential for more sophisticated and innovative distance teaching at the University and the addition of this state-of-the-art facility,” says Michael Shinagel, dean of the Harvard Division of Continuing Education and the Harvard Extension School. This fall, 16 Extension School courses and numerous course sections are being held in the new facility, accommodating more than 200 on-campus students and hundreds more online.