As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, key countermeasures to stopping the spread involved social distancing and limited contact. In step with Governor Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order, Schoolcraft College nimbly pivoted from face-to-face classes to distance learning formats to graduate as many students on time as possible.

The transition happened almost overnight as faculty and students came to terms with the new reality. Several professors employed new ways to teach, some even pioneering new educational methods that could be employed going forward. 

Professor Jesse Mason is at the forefront of such innovation. Mason obtained special permission from Saganworks, a software start-up based in Ann Arbor, to pilot their flagship product before its April release to finish the Winter 2020 term for his Physics 182 students. 

In brief, Saganworks allows the user to create a SAGAN, which is a 3D virtual space for storing information. SAGAN is an acronym for Spatially Accessible Gallery of Archived kNowledge. The name also pays tribute American astronomer and physicist Carl Sagan.

In 2019, Saganworks learned of Mason’s physics education channel, which has a view count in the millions, and the emerging software company approached him about exploring educational applications. Mason responded by learning the software and building a virtual teaching module on electric circuits to prove the concept, something that would end up being useful when the pandemic hit. 

When the transition to distance learning happened, Mason swiftly built a Sagan to finish the class, which is a challenging one. The course description for Physics 182 reads, in part: Using algebra and trigonometry, the more advanced topics of electricity, magnetism, light and modern physics are explored through lecture demonstrations, interactive activities and laboratory work.

Mason essentially built a classroom where students could access all the course materials – lectures, homework, solutions, labs and more. But he wanted it to be more than a mere repository for the information. Translating the dynamic nature of a live, face-to-face environment to a virtual one was something Mason focused on in particular. 

Replicating the classroom environment

“For me, teaching is not about standing there and lecturing at people. It’s a conversation, it’s interactive,” Mason said. “When I created my recorded lectures, which ranged from 15 to 25 minutes, I wanted to make them engaging enough so the students remain actively engaged.

“The biggest challenge was to have the same rigor after moving online. This made recording lectures and demonstrations challenging because I wanted the same depth and granularity as an in-person class.”

Mason recorded his lectures on YouTube, integrating “live” visuals of notes and illustrations on a virtual whiteboard. The class also used Zoom every week to meet for problem-solving practice and group quizzes.

“My students were the first in the world to use this software,” he said. “And they did so well so quickly, I invited them to graduate from Sagan user to Sagan builder in the final month of the course. 

“We converted our end-of-semester physics projects – which were supposed to consist largely of constructing physical devices and explaining the relevant physics – into end-of-semester Sagan projects. Students used the web-based software to build their own educational Sagan to explain devices like electromagnetic coil guns and solar sailcraft.” 

Proving the concept

Cassie Stitzman, who recently earned her Associate Degree in Science, was a member of the first class to use the Saganworks software. 

“When Professor Mason introduced Saganworks I was initially confused, but intrigued,” she said. “Professor Mason is very talented in making learning an interactive experience. I knew it would be something interesting.”

Stitzman, whose next goal is to earn a bachelor’s degree in zoology, was thankful for the opportunity to be among the first to use this cutting-edge technology.

“I found Saganworks to be an amazing, memorable experience,” she said. “I really enjoyed being able to design a room that can align with your project because you can express yourself academically or personally.”

Stitzman’s group created a Sagan based off motors. “Our Sagan, called Motor City, had two parts,” she said. “One part consisted of the types of motors and its timeline, while the other part consisted of demo videos and PowerPoints.

“Saganworks will no doubt be very successful. I truly enjoyed my experience working with it.”

Bright future

Mason has taught at Schoolcraft College since 2018. He also has taught Physics 181 (General Physics 1) and Physics 104 (Introduction to Astronomy). Moving forward, he sees incredible opportunity for implementing the Saganworks software.

“I intend to run all my courses out of Sagan from now on because of how intuitive three-dimensional storage is and how comfortable and welcoming the virtual environment can be,” Mason said. “Aesthetics is a really big deal to me. I think using Sagan made the coldness of the transition from in-person learning to remote learning much warmer.”

Mason added little touches to his virtual classroom to highlight this warmth, including furniture, artistic sculptures, several posters of ocelots and a few “Easter eggs” for the students to discover. 

“My students did not sign up for a remote course, so I made it my mission to give them the absolute best learning experience possible. Using and then building Sagans was a vital part of that experience,” he said. 

Visit Mason’s YouTube channel.