Part-time graduate students enrolled in online courses
in the Whiting School of
Engineering are now able to join in group environmental
and ecological field trips without commuting or rearranging
their schedules.
This autumn, in Zohreh Movahed's distance-learning
course called Principles of Water and Wastewater Treatment,
students from around the world will be asked to tour their
region's water treatment plants and share their pictures
and findings on Web pages provided through the school's new
virtual collaboration environment.
In the spring, students in Bill Hilgartner's ecology
course will tap into the same virtual environment to follow
him on a tour of the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources' Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area in
western Baltimore County.
According to online coordinator Brenda Knox, field
trips are an integral component of environmental programs,
and technology has now made it possible to give working
adults in Johns Hopkins'
Part-Time
Engineering Programs' online courses the same
opportunities as students in the face-to-face classes.
"Most people think of distance learning as
incompatible with field trips," Knox said. "By adding an
interactive, virtual element to distance learning, we can
change this perception and expose students to more examples
and a more complex understanding of course topics."
For more information on the program's virtual
connection to its part-time students, or to participate in
the waste water or ecology field trips, contact Brenda Knox
at 410-516-4768.
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