Henry H. Leitner, Ph.d
PROFESSIONAL OVERVIEW
As Associate Dean for IT and Chief Innovation Officer for the Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University, I provide vision and leadership in the development and implementation of technology-based initiatives, especially online teaching and learning.
I have oversight responsibility for dozens of staff, a cloud-based open-source system (Opencast) that captures, processes and distributes lectures to students around the world, a first-rate computing lab, as well as a growing collection of Harvard Extension School and Summer School technology courses that collectively enroll thousands of students annually.
I created the Master’s of Liberal Arts in Information Technology degree (the ALM in IT) at the Harvard Extension School, a graduate program of study in which adult learners are exposed to modern software engineering methodologies, theoretical and formal areas of computer science, advanced topics such as cryptography and nanoscale science, digital media arts and sciences, as well as the latest trends in IT management, data science, and enterprise computing. There are currently more than 600 degree candidates matriculated toward the degree.
Since 1986 I have been a Senior Lecturer on Computer Science at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where I have taught a number of large introductory courses. I have had more than 10,000 students over the years.
I served as Acting Dean of DCE for 3 months, June-September, 2019. I later serving as Interim Dean of DCE from in January, 2020 until mid-July of that year. The virtual Harvard Extension School commencement I hosted is here.
INNOVATION IN ONLINE EDUCATION
According to many studies, online education remains the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. higher education market, and has become an important feature of postsecondary education worldwide. Harvard DCE continues to take advantage of this trend, sponsoring more than 1200 online courses at Harvard Extension and Summer School in 2020-21 of which approximately 50 are daytime Harvard College or Harvard Graduate School of Education offerings.
A substantial fraction of the online courses are synchronous “web conferences” using software that facilitates real-time voice and video, as well as application sharing. In non-pandemic times, a number of our online courses are taught in classrooms that make live streaming possible (e.g., the two largest Maxwell-Dworkin lecture halls that DCE renovated), thereby enabling synchronous student participation. Shown here is a partial view of the control room adjoining room G115 at Maxwell-Dworkin.
Our approach to providing HyFlex (i.e., Hybrid and Flexible) teaching and learning experiences uses technical infrastructure and thoughtful AV design and support which we call HELIX (Harvard Extension Live Interactive eXperience). Several classrooms have been renovated and equipped to enable HELIX.
Teaching faculty members indicate that HELIX removes the sense of distance and the feeling of isolation associated with synchronous online teaching and learning. What seems special about teaching and learning with HELIX is the increased sense of immersion and feeling of agency that students and instructors experience. The disengagement of ordinary remote interaction disappears, and instructors and students interact fluidly and “look each other in the eye.” It feels “like being there” because the experience is natural, the participants are ready and able to play their parts, and there is support to make it all work.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recognizing the need to create blended learning environments at scale, the DCE Innovation team recently designed and engineered the Helix Portable Classroom solution, a prototype that allows us to turn any classroom on campus into a HELIX Classroom for a fraction of the cost of a traditional classroom AV renovation. Here’s a video explanation of the system
COMPUTING LABS
To ensure that DCE students and faculty have access to state-of-the-art hardware and software resources for teaching and learning in both on-campus and online environments, I created a professional academic computing environment at 53 Church Street
HARVARD GRANT FUNDING
- H. Leitner and C. Laserna: Derek Bok Presidential Distance Learning Pilot Grant Initiative, “Setting our Sights on Open Teaching,” January, 2007.
- H. Leitner, L. Evenchik, and C. Laserna: Immersive, Collaborative Classrooms for Online Learning. Harvard University Office of the Provost, January, 2006.