News Release

The Johns Hopkins University has announced the creation of a Center for Educational Resources to support faculty in the use of new media and digital technology in education.

Based in the university's Sheridan Libraries, the center will help faculty to develop supplements to campus- based courses, Web-based distance education courses and digital resource kits. The center will also conduct research on the impact of technology in improving instructional techniques. It will examine how technology can be used to provide advanced high school students and older, nontraditional students expanded access to university resources.

Candice Dalrymple has been appointed associate dean and director of the center. Dalrymple was formerly associate dean for external programs in the university's Whiting School of Engineering, where she was responsible for technology-related initiatives and academic oversight of the technical communication program. As chair of SEDE, the university's Subcommittee on Electronic and Distance Education, she has coordinated institutional initiatives in Web-based instruction since 1995.

Dalrymple's initial focus will be on planning, grants and fund raising, and creation of a new facility. Once operational, the center will provide a broad range of resources, including personnel and expertise for production of digitally enhanced courseware; guidance in instructional design; short courses for graduate students and faculty on uses of instructional technology; and assistance for research and grant writing to generate external funding for interdisciplinary digital initiatives.

"The expanding collaboration between the libraries and faculty in the application of technology to teaching and learning will be enriched by creation of the Center for Educational Resources at the Sheridan Libraries," says James Neal, dean of university libraries. "The center provides an exciting opportunity to further the development of enhanced Web-based course design and instructional techniques."

Initial support for the Center for Educational Resources is being provided by a grant from the Hodson Trust. Settled by the family of Beneficial Corp. founder Col. Clarence Hodson, the Hodson Trust since 1920 has donated more than $93 million to four Maryland colleges for merit scholarships, technology improvements, library expansion, research grants and building construction. In addition to Johns Hopkins, the Maryland institutions receiving Hodson Trust gifts are Washington, Hood and St. John's colleges.

The Sheridan Libraries encompass the Milton S. Eisenhower Library and its collections at the Garrett Library, the Hutzler Reading Room and the George Peabody Library.

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