We were evaluating AUTOCAD against other CAD programs for possible inclusion in our software library when Mark approached us mid-summer in 1992. Since his needs were focused and pressing, and since we thought AUTOCAD would work well on Athena, we decided to buy a limited number of licenses and let his students use them for that fall. We negotiated a reasonable price with the vendor and moved forward.
But AUTOCAD really needs color workstations to work well. Our electronic classroom in 1- 115 only had monochrome workstations, and so we also did a quick (but costly) switch and put color workstations into 1-115 primarily for Mark's use. Then we moved customers around - especially the Lowell Institute - to give Mark the large number of recitation slots he needed.
As the fall got underway it became clear that AUTOCAD didn't work perfectly on Athena, and that the problems were difficult to identify. One of my professional staff ended up spending almost a quarter of her time debugging AUTOCAD and providing other assistance to 4.203 - a much larger level of support than we usually provide any single subject. Moreover, it turned out that students needed filespace allocations much larger than usual to use AUTOCAD effectively, and this consumed additional resources that we might have been distributed more broadly.
But Mark had transformed the way his subject was taught, helping students to use technology routinely and to understand their profession better. This is precisely the kind of educational outcome Athena seeks. Mark had gone beyond AUTOCAD to use numerous other services on Athena, such as ON LINE TEACHING ASSISTANT (OLTA) and online handouts and assignments (most of which included graphics). He had helped us to understand what it would mean to provide Athena-wide AUTOCAD, from both a service and a resource perspective. And in the end he had been extremely appreciative, letting both us and his Dean know that he valued the services we had provided.
Since CRL develops and tailors much of the hardware, software, and data it uses, it employs a highly specialized staff. A faculty member, Professor Joseph Ferreira, devotes much of his time to managing CRL, working closely with Robert Smyser and Philip Thompson.
Dean Mitchell has argued strongly that computers, and especially computer-based drafting and design tools, are fundamental to the modern practice of architecture. Therefore, they must become a fundamental part of the Department's curriculum. To advance this end, Mitchell has proposed a STUDIO OF THE FUTURE based on a highly integrated, networked yet portable architectural work station. The Dean has begun efforts to secure resources and renovate space in accordance with his ideas, with some early success. We have begun to work with him on how the Department's undertakings should interact with ours.
In addition to subjects involving GIS or statistical software, Professor Donald Schön teaches 11.101J Learning to Design and Designs for Learning with Professor Bamberger from the Humanities Music Section. This subject explores the interplay between, among other things, diverse technologies and the origins of design knowledge.
Professor Joseph Ferreira serves on the faculty Academic Computing Council.
Professor Edith Ackermann served on the faculty committee that evaluated MIT academic computing in 1989-90.
A trading floor requires
Sloan is seeking hardware and software grants from vendors who equip "real" trading floors. Dr. Patricia McGinnis, who directs the International Financial Services Center in Sloan, approached us about possible connections between the proposed trading floor and Athena. After several discussions, it became clear that there were ways that MITnet, rather than Athena, might serve the trading floor, both for interconnecting machines and for bringing data in and out. In some cases more direct connections to data suppliers might require Telecommunications involvement. Some of the data collected for the trading floor might also be useful to others at MIT, and therefore the trading floor's file servers might be made more widely accessible than the trading floor itself.
We were able to provide McGinnis and Professor Robert McKersie some advice on these technological questions, and on the type and number of staff that an educational trading floor might require. Ultimately, however, it became clear to Sloan and to Academic Computing Services that the trading floor need have no integral connection to Athena. Rather, it should operate autonomously on MITnet, with special links to important data or communications where necessary.
MIT's flexible, entrepreneurial computing environment encourages educational interchanges like this: explorations of possible overlap between central and departmental efforts, with friendly autonomy a perfectly acceptable outcome.
Over the succeeding decade DOS/WINDOWS and Macintosh personal computers and some UNIX workstations have joined the IBM mainframe, creating a more functional and complex computing environment in the School.
One exception is Professor Thomas Allen's 15.310 Managerial Psychology Laboratory, which has a cluster of 6 Athena workstations and is developing courseware that allows students to analyze data collected by faculty and researchers in the field.
With the arrival of SAS on Athena and of SAS-capable workstations at the east end of campus, this has begun to change. For example, 15.075 Applied Statistics and 15.138J Seminar on Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry Management (cited above) use SAS for instruction. We expect further use of Athena in other Sloan subjects as the School redirects and modernizes its computing facilities.
In addition to these Athena-using subjects, many Sloan subjects in managerial economics, operations research, statistics, finance, and accounting use computers instructionally. The School's Information Technology subjects do too, of course.
Professor Thomas Malone served on the faculty committee that evaluated MIT academic computing during 1989-90, and serves on the faculty Academic Computing Council.
There is one cluster of 6 Athena workstations in Sloan, in addition to the public Athena cluster in E51-007.
Since the IBM mainframe has reached the end of its useful life, the School is in the midst of reviewing its options and charting a new direction. This new direction promises to be more parallel to what is happening elsewhere on campus. The School will retain its independence, but gain some efficiency and service from a closer collaboration with central organizations.
As described above, the School recently proposed to build a simulated trading floor where its students in finance could experience the data-intensive, high-pressure atmosphere of high-stakes finance directly. This will present challenges and opportunities for integration into the larger MIT computing environment.
Because it runs a relatively autonomous computing environment, Sloan employs a substantial computing staff led by Anne Drazen, Director of Information Systems, and Ray Faith, Manager of the Sloan Computing Center, who in turn manage about 5 EFT of other staff.
This changed last year. Under a new educational program offered by the SAS Institute, we acquired 200 licenses for UNIX SAS. We spoke to faculty around the Institute, and found interest in numerous departments, especially those involved in quantitative social science: Economics, Political Science, Management, and History, for example. We acquired and installed the software. We began to explore its idiosyncrasies (which were substantial, given the SAS Institute's inexperience with large, networked UNIX environments) and to prepare documentation.
Historically MIT social scientists haven't used Athena much, partly because they felt excluded from much of the early equipment and development-grant largesse, partly because social-science computing was largely based on mainframes and IBM-type personal computers then, and partly because Athena offered inadequate statistical software. As a result there was little demand for Athena at the east end of campus, where most MIT social scientists work. New facilities went elsewhere, and Athena facilities at the east end of campus did not evolve.
As SAS attracted faculty interest from social scientists, we worked on facilities. We converted an Athena cluster in E51 to new DECSTATIONS ahead of schedule, to help students. A few departments split the cost of additional DECSTATIONS with us, and placed the new machines in departmental clusters and faculty offices. We worked with several departments to upgrade or expand their departmental Athena facilities. We created large course lockers to hold datasets that the Libraries acquire and students use for subject assignments and theses. As a result, making SAS available on Athena prompted a dramatic increase in Athena use among MIT social scientists, broadening the Athena service to the School of Humanities and Social Science, the School of Management, and the Institute generally.
Another School-wide activity of note is the Computing in the Humanities group of interested faculty, who congregate regularly to share experiences and advocate effective educational computing. This group lobbies their Dean on behalf of computing, and lobbies Academic Computing Services on behalf of Humanities. Dr. Edward Barrett, a Senior Lecturer in the Program on Writing and Humanistic Studies, convenes this group.
Data analysis requires data. Much data for instruction comes from widely used standard surveys of social and economic behavior and compilations of political statistics. Many of these are collected by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). The MIT Libraries acquire ICPSR data for use at MIT. We make data from these collections available on Athena for use in instruction. This was done ad hoc until 1992-93, and required tape transfers and other machinations. Beginning this fall, at the behest of Political Science faculty virtually all the widely-used ICPSR data will be available online without students or faculty having to request them. Economics makes substantial use of ICPSR data both for instruction and for undergraduate theses, as does Political Science.
Professor Jeffrey Wooldridge, who has since left the Institute, served on the faculty committee that reviewed MIT academic computing in 1989-90.
When the School of Humanities and Social Science arranged for its faculty to have new laptop computers, Economics faculty objected that the selected machines were not powerful enough for productive use by economists. After quick analysis and negotiation, we arranged for Economics to supplement the Provost's and the Dean's contributions to the laptop purchase and thereby to obtain somewhat more expensive and powerful computers. This illustrates both the mismatches that centralized computing decisions can cause, and the benefits possible when departmental and central organizations collaborate to balance efficiency and flexibility.
John Dippold, a systems programmer, manages computer facilities for Economics and provides direct support to its faculty.
Like its neighbor departments, Political Science exploited the arrival of SAS and SAS-capable workstations by increasing its use of Athena. Thus, for example, 17.203 Political Science Laboratory and 17.842 Quantitative Research in Political Science and Public Policy both use SAS on Athena,
Political Science has been a prime mover in working with Academic Computing Services to make ICPSR data available on Athena.
Professor Charles Stewart manages the computer facilities and computing activities within the department, and serves as its link with Academic Computing Services.
Today PHILIPPE is a commercial product, with continuing development under the auspices of Murray's Laboratory for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (LATH), and SAINT GERVAIS continues development under the auspices of Professor Lerman's Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI). The two continue to be used in the Language Learning Resource Center (LLRC). LLRC was renovated recently to house both LATH and language-teaching technology for MIT subjects. In addition, LATH has helped Professor Shigeru Miyagawa to develop a Japanese analog to SAINT GERVAIS called TANABATA (THE STAR FESTIVAL).
When the two multimedia courseware projects in foreign languages separated from Athena, a hiatus ensued, but only for a while. During the past year foreign-language faculty began to seek tools on Athena for students to use routinely, especially tools to read and edit foreign-language texts. Two initiatives have evolved from this.
First, we identified and installed a Japanese-language EMACS editor on Athena. This permits users to display and to edit documents written with Japanese characters including texts for subjects, electronic mail, and other kinds of documents. We also updated a version of a Japanese language text formatting package based on LATEX. Tomoko Graham, Lecturer in Foreign Languages and Literatures, has learned to use these new editing tools and, with support from Academic Computing Services, has prepared a wide variety of class materials online. These include the syllabus, weekly schedules, reading assignments, and other handouts for 21F.501 Japanese I and 21F.503 Japanese III. Over the summer of 1993, a UROP student worked with Japanese faculty and Academic Computing Services to rewrite and improve an existing application for drilling Kanji character recognition. Professor Shigeru Miyagawa and his faculty colleagues will use this KANJI QUIZ software at all levels of the Japanese program.
Second, when we acquired FRAMEMAKER, a new document-preparation system for Athena, we also acquired several copies of INTERNATIONAL FRAMEMAKER, a special version that handles diacritics properly and provides foreign-language spellcheckers and thesauri. Several faculty members, including Professor Martin Roberts and his colleagues Shoggy Waryn, Gilberte Furstenberg, and Ellen Crocker, expect students to use INTERNATIONAL FRAMEMAKER in selected German and Romance language subjects that involve writing.
The faculty interest resulting from these two foreign-language initiatives has led Academic Computing Services to offer the affected departments new or upgraded workstations for use by faculty, and we hope to deploy this during the fall. It also has led us to arrange for students to have access to foreign-language USENET groups as a novel electronic window into other cultures.
These new facilities encourage students to use foreign languages routinely, as PHILIPPE and SAINT GERVAIS do, rather than confine themselves to textbook exercises.
In addition to these specific applications, other FL&L subjects, such as Professor Roberts's 21F.336 (née 21.218) Introduction to the French Short Story, use DISCUSS and other network communication tools to promote interaction among faculty and students.
Dr. Murray serves on the faculty Academic Computing Council.
Ruth Trometer directs the LLRC, and is assisted by several other staff. LATH has several additional staff for educational software development.
Two years ago Professor Anne McCants arrived to teach subjects in history and historiography. Her research involves statistical analysis of large historical data sets. She wanted to share her research approach with students. This was difficult without easy access to statistically-capable computers. When we brought SAS-capable computers to the east end of campus, Professor McCants was able to undertake research and teaching activities that had been difficult before. We also provided her an Athena workstation.
Except for Professor Perdue and Professor McCants, faculty in History rarely use computers educationally. Professor Perdue serves on the faculty Academic Computing Council.
The INTERACTIVE SHAKESPEARE software, developed through LATH for multimedia Macintoshes, lets students view different performances of the same Shakespeare play scene by scene. As they view the performance, students have access to the full text of the plays annotated with literary, historical, cultural, thespian, and cinematographic notes. Students can also record their thoughts and observations in a notebook, and insert excerpts from text or video as illustrations. Professor Donaldson encourages his students to write their papers within the INTERACTIVE SHAKESPEARE notebook. Students therefore use the multiple media not only to formulate their arguments, but also to buttress them.
In addition to this specific application, other Literature subjects, such as Professor David Thorburn's 21L.432 (21.032) American Television: A Cultural History use DISCUSS and other network communication tools to promote interaction among faculty and students.
Professor Donaldson serves on the faculty Academic Computing Council.
Professor Sherry Turkle served on the faculty committee that reviewed MIT academic computing in 1989-90.
A Project Athena curriculum-development grant and other support enabled the Writing Program faculty to work with Athena developers on the NETWORKED EDUCATIONAL ONLINE SYSTEM (NEOS). This suite of programs permits students to submit and retrieve papers (or other documents) online and provides tools for instructors to annotate papers and share them with students in seminars. NEOS was cited in an EDUCOM review of successful educational computing.[15] Several writing and non-writing subjects across the Institute use NEOS.[16]
In addition to developing NEOS itself, IS and Writing faculty have collaborated to design and implement a classroom for interactive, computer-based writing instruction. This room, 14-0637, has 17 Athena workstations, including one for the instructor, arranged around the walls, a large seminar table in the middle, and seats positioned so that students may swing back and forth between their workstations and the seminar table. A typical class session in this classroom moves back and forth between students working individually at their workstations and discussing whoever's paper the instructor projects up front. NEOS encourages collegiality and collaborative learning among students.
Recently a group of Writing Program and Engineering faculty proposed a new Writing Initiative. Selected Engineering (and perhaps Science) subjects would have extra session meetings taught by Writing Program instructors. These sections would be devoted to writing about the specific topics and technology under study. If it moves forward, the Writing Initiative will use NEOS and electronic classrooms extensively.
Professor James Paradis served on the faculty committee that reviewed MIT academic computing in 1989-90. Dr. Barrett serves on the faculty Academic Computing Council.
Academic computing pervades MIT education for two reasons:
But new challenges require new goals. I'll conclude this report by suggesting what some of these goals are, and sketching how we plan to meet them.
But departments regularly approach us requesting Athena support - or something like it - for new platforms. Today, for example, we have concrete requests or strong arguments from diverse quarters that we should support
By next fall there will be suites of basic authenticated network services for Macintosh and DOS/WINDOWS personal computers: authentication, communication, access to help and online information, network navigation. In addition, we have developed a layered version of Athena for DECstations whereby a user can choose layers of service for an out-of-the-box workstation. We believe that this general direction - providing layers of network-based service to diverse private machines - will scale to more platforms and serve more faculty and educational needs than our current model.
But a layered model for "Athena" and network services will have costs. Most important, moving away from the vertically integrated Athena model will reduce our ability to manage and support academic-computing facilities with a few central staff. This, in turn, may mean a reduction in service levels (machines will be down more often, for longer times), increased support costs, or both.
In addition, software is becoming more and more expensive. Even so it is a bargain: for example, Academic Computing Services currently spends about $200,000 on commercial software each year, whereas undergraduates probably spend more than $2-million on textbooks each year.
Some individuals argue that we should simply say "no" to software restrictions. However, most faculty and students demand that we provide the tools they need. Moreover, faculty members who ask us to purchase specific software generally expect us to provide ample access to that software, yet we often cannot afford the requisite number of licenses.
As other organizations begin to deploy computing environments as complicated as ours, software vendors will understand our needs better. They also will become more adept at pricing, and the bargains we once obtained because no one knew how to deal with us will become history.
We have begun work on mechanisms to enforce different software requirements without incurring unnecessary overhead. We will continue this work, but the software market shows no signs of manageable stability.
Like our peers, however, we are attempting to satisfy increasingly broad and complex demand with resources that are, at best, level. As an illustration, here is the essence of Figure 1 again, this time with central budgets for Project Athena (through the spring of 1991) and Academic Computing Services (thereafter) overlaid:
Trend juxtapositions like such as this present challenges. Maintaining an operational edge in the face of diversifying computer platforms, competing software, and expanding expectations will be difficult. It will require aggressive use of technology, adroit hiring and retention of staff, and flexible management. We are learning much about how to do this in Academic Computing Services and other Information Systems service areas by exploring quality-improvement and re-engineering techniques along with related organizational tools. We must remain open to new ways to organize our business for maximum quality and efficiency.
As this report has illustrated, support for educational computing varies across departments. This is especially true for educational development - that is, the work necessary to realize the educational potential of computer hardware and software. If MIT is to realize the full potential of its sophisticated computing and network resources then we must work to make flexible, useful authoring tools available on our systems, and departments must work to provide encouragement and support for faculty to enhance instruction with networked computing and other technologies.
As the MacVicar report argued strongly, it is important that educational improvement involving computing be integrated with more general educational improvement; thus her Committee's recommendation that development of educational applications of computing proceed from a departmental base. Similarly, Athena and other academic computing will be able to improve education at MIT only if MIT devotes the necessary resources to educational improvement:
Readers of these tea leaves say that we must assume two important things about the future:
And so we move toward the future.
November 23, 1993