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	Blueprints - December 2003 Edition
Homepage Back Archives	Blueprints - December 2003 Edition

		Visiting scholar gives encore presentation Erica Nowak On Nov. 3, Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Visiting Scholar, Hal Abelson, Class of 1922 Endowed Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), spoke to a full capacity Villanova Room delivering a presentation on “Universities, the Internet and the Intellectual Commons.” The winner of IEEE’s Booth Education Award, Abelson has been cited for his teaching contributions in undergraduate computer science. He is responsible for the first implementation of the language LOGO and the Turtle Geometry program for the Apple II computer. As a Visiting Scholar, Abelson has eight stops scheduled at universities around the country. Remaining visits on his tour include SUNY Albany, Trinity University, Mills College, Carnegie Mellon University and Trinity College in Connecticut. After applying to the national chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for a visiting scholar to make a visit to campus, the University chapter selected Abelson from a list of 14 other noteworthy scholars. “We chose Hal because of the things he talked about. He didn’t just speak of his computer knowledge, but of the ethical side [of the information commons]. He talked about broad intellectual property, which is a big issue, it’s more geared as a broad philosophical idea,” said Doug Norton, Villanova PBK chapter secretary. “Visiting Scholars are seen as enriching the intellectual life of the campus across departmental and even collegiate boundaries. We anticipate[d] that Professor Abelson [would] appeal across disciplinary boundaries for an informative and challenging visit with a wide footprint across campus,” said Norton. Abelson began his discussion detailing a new initiative being taken by MIT, called Open CourseWare (OCW). OCW is a project in which MIT faculty will take their materials for class and put them in the Internet, for everyone, forever. The program was piloted with 50 courses in September 2002 and reached its goal of having published 500 courses by September 2003. According to Abelson, other universities are taking the same initiative and some are translating their materials into a plethora of languages. The question that was posed by this new system was whether it would result in a free MIT education off the Internet. Norton does not believe this will happen. “One of Abelson’s points is that the raw information you deliver in the course may be exactly the same, but that doesn’t mean that the course is the same. You don’t have the MIT professor in the classroom. Interaction is part of teaching. It is more than giving students the book,” said Norton. In addition to Abelson’s Villanova Room lecture, he also gave an informal talk on amorphous computer, as well as one on cryptography. He also, as part of the Falvey Library Distinguished Lecture Series, presented an informal conversation on the future of libraries.