Computing in higher education: the Athena experience

Reviewer: James Edward Miller

Project Athena at MIT is an experiment to explore the potential uses of advanced computer technology in the university curriculum. Corporate sponsors, which include DEC and IBM, are providing hardware, software, equipment maintenance, and some of the technical staff. By the end of the project, there will be an installed network of some 2000 high-performance graphics workstations. In addition, MIT is raising $20 million to support software, operations, and staff, with approximately half of that sum going to faculty members for the creation of new applications software to be used in MIT's own curriculum. Here the emphasis has been placed on the selection of projects which hold the potential for alleviating observable deficiencies in current educational methods. At present, some sixty projects are in progress. The paper acknowledges the many uses of computers in the academic setting, but focuses on the computer as an integral part of the instruction process. A number of possible future academic uses of computing are presented, along with insightful comments as to potential advantages and pitfalls. These include the computer as: a simulator of complex systems, a laboratory instrument, a virtual laboratory, a tutor, a textbook, a blackboard, a special-purpose learning environment, a communications medium, a mediator, and a recreational outlet. Of particular interest is the discussion concerning the characteristics of the computing environment that will be required to make this project self-sustaining when the vendor and MIT subsidies are removed. A strong case is made for building applications on higher level abstractions which hide the underlying technology. The paper concludes with a discussion of the unresolved issues of information piracy, software licensing, and paying the costs of the system.