CLASS IS IN SESSION WITH HOPKINS AT HOME

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins University has been a link for many people to trustworthy scientific information.

Image credit: Illustration by Jackie Ferrentino

Now, the university is delivering knowledge to the world like never before to wherever you are—even your couch—with Hopkins at Home, an initiative developed in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association. Free and open to all, Hopkins at Home is an online resource that provides live and archived lectures and in-depth minicourses led by premier faculty, along with a gateway to JHU TED talks, Peabody Institute performances, and other education and entertainment offerings from across the university.

"When it became clear that the university was going fully remote for a while, it made sense to take this opportunity to highlight the breadth of expertise Hopkins faculty have," says Vicky Schneider, associate director of Collaborative Partnerships for the Alumni Association. In light of restrictions owing to COVID-19, she helped accelerate the launch of Hopkins at Home, which delivered its first lecture, "How long is too long? Communication, expectations, and compliance with stay-at-home orders," on April 7. It featured Mario Macis, an associate professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and affiliate faculty of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, and David Unger, an adjunct professor of American foreign policy at SAIS Europe, live from Italy, where he was living under a stay-at-home order.

Several of the initial weekly lectures were related to the pandemic. Later ones have covered a wide array of topics—from the art of negotiation to rethinking American education—representing expertise from across the university's divisions.

Hopkins at Home minicourses—numbering 20 to date—dig deeper into timely topics and eternal questions. Current students, parents, alumni, members of the public, and even high schoolers have logged on from five continents. All courses capped at 100 or fewer participants have reached capacity within a week of posting, including one of the most popular, Investigating the Temple of Mut with Betsy Bryan, the Alexander Badawy Professor of Egyptian Art and Archaeology in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. In partnership with the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, 10 entry-level short courses in the humanities were added to Hopkins at Home offerings this summer.

Lifelong learning has always been an important part of alumni engagement, delivered to graduates through a variety of resources. "Hopkins at Home is one more way to inspire and engage our alumni and remind them of the exceptional academic tradition of which they remain an integral part," says Susan deMuth, assistant vice president for alumni relations and executive director of the Alumni Association.

Share your ideas to grow Hopkins at Home via hopkinsathome@jhu.edu.