The Johns Hopkins Gazette: February 5, 2001
February 5, 2001
VOL. 30, NO. 20

  

Engineering School Begins Online Courses for Part-Time Programs

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

Johns Hopkins has entered into an agreement with Eduprise, a leading provider of distance learning services for education institutions and businesses, to launch the first online component of the Part-Time Programs of the Whiting School of Engineering.

Five completely Web-based credit courses were launched on January 22 to provide additional learning opportunities to graduate students who are unable to attend classes.

"Johns Hopkins has a long tradition of serving adult and part-time learners on campuses in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., corridor, and in facilities in China and Italy," said Roger Westgate, executive director of Hopkins' Part-Time Programs in Engineering and Applied Science.

Part-time students account for about half of Hopkins' 18,000 students and earn approximately 40 percent of the degrees awarded, according to Westgate. "Many are students who cannot attend traditional classes because of conflicts with their work or family lives," he said. "The implementation of the online program greatly enhances our ability to leverage our reputation as a provider of top-quality education and allows us to address the needs of lifelong learners regardless of their location."

Eduprise, Hopkins' partner in the online courses, is a leader in designing, developing and deploying private-labeled online solutions for education providers.

"We have worked closely with Eduprise instructional experts to build a seamless online learning environment that part-time students and faculty can access using any computer with a standard browser," said Candice Dalrymple, associate dean and director for the Center for Educational Resources in the Eisenhower Library. "All communication between the instructor and students and among students will take place through bulletin board postings and asynchronous discussion sessions," she said.

The project represents a unique partnership among three distinct organizations: the School of Engineering, Eduprise and the Center for Educational Resources within the MSE Library.

Engineering faculty provide the intellectual foundations and all course content. The Center for Educational Resources provides WebCT course management tool training, consults with individual faculty on developing digital resources and solving problems in the migration of traditional courses to the online environment and offers faculty support during the delivery of the online courses.

Eduprise provides a complete hosting environment for the WebCT course management system, 'round-the-clock support for students and instructors, course conversion and instructional design services, and strategic planning consultation.


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