This course is all about understanding: understanding what's going on inside your computer when you flip on the switch, why tech support has you constantly rebooting your computer, how everything you do on the Internet can be watched by others, and how your computer can become infected with a worm just by being turned on. Designed for students who use computers and the Internet every day but don't fully understand how it all works, this course fills in the gaps. Through lectures on hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, privacy, website development, programming, and more, this course "takes the hood off" of computers and the Internet so that students understand how it all works and why. Through discussions of current events, students are exposed also to the latest technologies.
E-1 isn't so much about computer science as it is about technology and how it all works. Most every student who takes this class uses computers every day but doesn't necessarily understand what's going on underneath the hood (or, in some cases, is outright scared!). All students exit this more comfortable with computers and the Internet.
Even if you are not a student at Harvard, you are welcome to "take" this course via computerscience1.tv by following along via the Internet. (The course's own website is at www.computerscience1.net.) Available at left are videos of lectures along with PDFs of problem sets. Sample solutions to the latter are not available, but if you have questions or would like to discuss the material with others, do join the course's Google Group.
If you're a teacher, you are welcome to adopt or adapt these materials for your own course, per the license.
If you'd like to take this course for real (on Harvard's campus or via the Internet) in order to receive feedback on work, grades, and a transcript, the course will next be offered through Harvard Extension School in Spring 2010. You can register online as of December 2009.
Special thanks to Chris Thayer for the course's videos.
Have a question about the course (even if you're not a student at Harvard)? Want to field questions from others? Join computerscience1-discuss, the course's Google Group!
We just created this group, so it's pretty quiet at the moment, but the course's staff will keep an eye on it for now!
So that this course is more accessible to individuals with disabilities and to individuals for whom English is not their native language, we are in the process of transcribing this course's videos in English and subtitling them in other languages.
If you would like to translate one or more videos on this site into another language, please let David know at malan@post.harvard.edu! Thanks to dotSUB.com, it's easy to do so (provided you know the language!). If curious as to what the process would be like, watch this tutorial on how to translate a video on dotSUB.