The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) and Harvard Extension School (HES) have been early leaders of innovation, access and the use of technology in education. And while DCE celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the departments that comprise the division have evolved to embrace emerging technologies long before. Through radio, television, and eventually online learning, HES pioneered new models of education that anticipated today’s digital classrooms.
“Pioneering innovative teaching methods and using new technology in physical and virtual classrooms has been a hallmark of our identity for more than a century at DCE and HES,” said Nancy Coleman, Dean of Harvard Extension School and Continuing Studies. “We are constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and I am excited to keep that momentum going, preparing our students to lead and thrive in a future full of possibilities.”
Much of DCE’s history is chronicled in former DCE Dean Michael Shinagel’s book The Gates Unbarred: A History of University Extension at Harvard, 1910-2009. The book delves into continuing education at Harvard leading up the DCE’s formal creation by the University in 1975. Decades before online courses became mainstream, HES had begun to use the broadcast medium to deliver courses to learners. In 1949, the school offered its first radio courses allowing listeners to tune into lectures on a variety of topics from their homes. These lessons aired on WGBH-FM, a public radio station in Boston, and provided an unprecedented opportunity for people who were unable to attend classes in-person at the time.
The success of radio soon led to televised courses. In the 1950s, HES partnered with WGBH-TV to bring the classroom to a wider audience. One of the earliest televised courses allowed students to participate remotely while still earning credit through periodic on-campus exams. By the 1970s, Harvard professors had been teaching via television for more than two decades, showing that distance learning could maintain academic rigor while increasing accessibility.
Learning Underwater: The Polaris University Program
One of HES’ most innovative initiatives emerged in the 1960s when the U.S. Navy approached the school with an interesting idea: teach college-level courses to sailors stationed on nuclear submarines. This request led to the creation of the Polaris University Extension Program, a pioneering effort that provided pre-recorded lectures and course materials to military personnel underwater. The program covered a range of subjects, from engineering to foreign languages, and enabled sailors to study while deployed.
Over time, this initiative expanded into what became the Program for Afloat College Education (PACE), which extended HES courses to sailors on surface ships as well. By the late 1960s, more than 800 Navy personnel were taking these courses annually.
Early Digital Learning to Online Education
As technology advanced, DCE and HES continued to experiment with new methods of distance learning. Thanks to a generous grant from the Annenberg Foundation, the school launched its first Internet-based courses in the mid-1980s, using dial-up modems to connect students living in remote locations to calculus classes being taught on the Harvard campus. Known as “teleteaching,” this was an early glimpse of what would later evolve into interactive online learning.
In the late 1990s, HES had dozens of students enrolled online in a handful of computer science courses using early streaming media technology. According to Dr. Henry Leitner, DCE’s Chief Innovation Office and Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer on Computer Science at SEAS, “A major breakthrough occurred in the fall of 2000, when HT Kung, William H. Gates Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences agreed to HES extend the reach of his CS-143 course, which was being offered at Harvard College. After that successful experiment, a number or my colleagues in the Computer Science department agreed to offer their College courses online as well.”
By 2005, the school made lectures available as downloadable podcasts, echoing the accessibility of the earlier radio courses. By the late 2000s, live web conferences allowed remote students to interact with instructors and classmates in real-time, replicating the classroom experience online. One fully virtual course at the time attracted nearly 400 students, highlighting the scalability of online education.
We are constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and I am excited to keep that momentum going, preparing our students to lead and thrive in a future full of possibilities
Dean, Harvard Extension School and Continuing Studies
The Future of Distance Learning
Distance learning paved the way for more initiatives allowing for more access to Harvard courses. Today, DCE offers a blend of asynchronous and live online classes through its departments, making education more flexible and accessible to those who otherwise would not have had the opportunity.
Looking towards the next 50 years and beyond, DCE continues to pioneer the use of technology into a transformative tool to enhance the way education is delivered. DCE’s One Brattle Studio and the invention of the HELIX Classroom have magnified access to education beyond Harvard’s gates, reinforcing the University’s access mission.
