BPIC rolls out first travel plans
If it's true that there's strength in numbers, there should be discounts involved--or so goes the thinking of the travel subcommittee of the university's Business Process Improvement Committee.
   In 1999, Johns Hopkins spent an estimated $25 million on business-related travel, which included more than 40,000 plane flights, many of which were to international destinations.
   No significant discounts, however, were derived from this frequent flying, according to Gary Ostrander, chair of the travel task force and associate dean of research in the School of Arts and Sciences. Ostrander said that in the past the university has not taken full advantage of its position as the largest employer in the state and one whose affiliates travel frequently. Full story...

Software puts syllabi, message boards and grades online
Whether by posting slides of important works of art, creating links to archived literature or creating an online class bulletin board where students' questions can be asked and answered, faculty members across the disciplines increasingly are finding that they can use the Web to enhance their courses.
   Since fall 1998, Hopkins ITS/Research and Instructional Technologies and the Sheridan Libraries' Digital Knowledge Center have been collaborating to offer training sessions for faculty wishing to use a software program called WebCT to design Web-based courses. The software has gained popularity: from two Web-based courses that were offered in spring semester 1998 to 19 that were offered in spring 2000.
   Among the wide range of courses that have used WebCT are Cell Biology, Women in French Literature: The 17th and 18th Centuries, Women at Work in America 1780-1980, Calculus III, From the Study to the Stage and Physiological Foundations. Full story...

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