Computer Science E-1 Lectures

"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 turning it on. In this course we demystify computers and the Internet, along with their jargon, so that students understand not only what they can do with each but also how it all works and why".

Understanding Computers and the Internet is produced by David J. Malan, is a course that will be offered in Fall 2006 at Harvard University's Extension School. It is part of the school's Distance Education Program. It is aimed at giving some technology background to local and distance students with different levels of computer knowledge and it is accompanied by a series of hands-on workshops for f2f learners and problem sets for distance learners.

Below is 2006 syllabus. The first podcast is due on September 22nd. I'll be adding links to each of the recorded lectures as they are being released. Meanwhile you can listen to 2005 podcasts and watch the videos. (I've inserted this Odeo podcast player but haven't been able to make it work yet)

• Lecture 1: Hardware
• Lecture 2: Hardware, Continued
• Lecture 3: Software
• Lecture 4: The Internet
• Lecture 5: The Internet, Continued
• Lecture 6: Surprise
• Lecture 7: Multimedia
• Lecture 8: Security
• Lecture 9: Security, Continued
• Lecture 10: Website Development
• Lecture 11: Programming
• Lecture 12: To Be Announced
• Lecture 13: Dotcoms
• Lecture 14: Computer Science