Jeremy Blaschke, Union University assistant professor of biology, responded to the university’s transition to online classes in a unique and engaging way by taking his students “into space.”
Like many institutions across the nation, Union University made the decision to move classes online beginning March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, abruptly uprooting the structured educational boundaries students and faculty have known their whole lives.
In a matter of days, professors had to restructure class material to an online format. For many courses, this meant restructuring the entire semester. For many Union professors, the idea of going online threatened the structure they were comfortable teaching in.
Blaschke decided to combat this by simulating a new kind of structure of his own through storytelling.
It’s 1000 years in the future, and the humans that inhabit both Earth and Mars are almost extinct. Blaschke is a member of a 10-person crew that is exploring another planet to possibly inhabit and are reporting back to a group of biologists on the species they discover. The biologists in this scenario are the students in Blaschke’s zoology class.
“There are some really crazy animals that we talk about that people have never heard of and have never imagined being real animals,” said Blaschke in a news release from Union University. “For a lot of these, they seem alien already.”
Senior psychology and sociology major Jaime May is serving as one of Blaschke’s biologists for this mission. She feels like this fictional world that Blaschke has created makes online school a little bit easier.
“I’m grateful that he cares so much about our education and achievement,” May said, “that he is willing to sacrifice more of his own time to see us succeed.”
Blaschke’s space exploration mission backstory is complete with a spaceship background and costume for his YouTube video lectures, and his students, divided into small groups, were tasked with creating names, backstories and personalities of their “crew members.” Now all of these “crew members” and their stories are being woven into the story that will unfold as the semester continues.
