September 27, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Pamela Higgins
pamela.higgins@jhu.edu
(410) 516-8325

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY'S SHERIDAN LIBRARIES TO LAUNCH CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

The Johns Hopkins University has announced the creation of a new Center for Educational Resources to support faculty in the use of new media and digital technology in education. Based in the Sheridan Libraries, the Center will serve as a planning and production resource to enable faculty to develop supplements to campus-based courses, web-based distance education courses, and digital resource kits. The Center will conduct research on the impact of technology in improving instructional techniques. It will also examine how technology can be used to provide advanced high-school students and older, non-traditional 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 Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins, where she was responsible for technology-related initiatives and academic oversight of the technical communication program. As chair of the Subcommittee on Electronic and Distance Education, she has coordinated the University's institutional initiatives in web-based instruction since 1995.

Dalrymple's initial focus at the Center will be on planning, grants and fund raising to sustain and expand the work of the Center, and the 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 at Hopkins. "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 Corporation founder Colonel Clarence Hodson, the Hodson Trust has donated over $93 million to four Maryland colleges since 1920 for merit scholarships, technology improvements, library expansion, research grants and building construction. Other Maryland colleges receiving Hodson Trust gifts include Washington, Hood and St. John's colleges.

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

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