This page contains content from the 2007–08 academic year. For current information, visit the Harvard Extension School website at www.extension.harvard.edu.
Watching Online Lectures
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Harvard’s online lectures use streaming video technology, along with standard Internet browser software. Streaming video refers to video that is sent to the user as it is viewed. As with TV or radio, you receive the images and audio just before you see and hear them. This is quicker than waiting for the entire video to download before viewing it. To ensure the steady stream of data, however, the video must be compressed, so the image is not full size. See below for an example of a lecture viewing window.
Lectures are typically available 48 hours after they are presented on campus.
Sample Lectures
The following videos are samples of distance education lectures. If you have any difficulty watching them, read the viewing instructions.
- ANTH E-178 Digging the Glyphs: Adventures in Decipherment (View Lecture)
- CSCI E-50a Introduction to Computer Science Using Java(View Lecture)
- ENVR E-101 Environmental Management I (View Lecture)
- HIST E-1825 China: Traditions and Transformations (online only) (View Lecture)
- MGMT E-147 Managing Organizational Change (View Lecture)
Sample courses and preview lectures are also available to download to your computer or mp3 player for free at Harvard Extension School on iTunes U.
The Interface
The screen shot below shows how a distance education course lecture is presented. The video window appears on the left side of the screen, the controls below it adjust the video, and the supplementary course materials are displayed on the right side of the screen.
