Morehouse In The Metaverse
Pandemic Panic, Pandemonium, Pressure or Preparation?
By Dr. Muhsinah Morris
Some would panic, others join the pandemonium, most others succumb to the pressure and pause while these professors felt the pressure and met it with intense preparation. Turning a classroom that was once in person into an online classroom was hard enough but turning that online classroom into a virtual reality classroom was another milestone imagined and realized by 4 professors at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. In order to elevate the minds and hearts of scholars thwarted from the school they had called home, the “Ultimate Team” which they have been monikered from Morehouse College created a virtual dream imagined in real life for students in their courses. Dr. Ethell Vereen, Assistant Professor of Biology, 2019 Vulcan Awardee in Teaching Excellence and the PI of the Vereen Research Institute (VRI) (http://www.vereenresearchinstitute.com/dr-ethell-vereen.html) created captivating content and curriculum for a First Year Experience (FYE) course, Men’s Health. Dr. Ovell Hamilton, Assistant Professor of History and Author of Sanctified revolution: The Church of God in Christ: A history of African-American holiness (https://www.amazon.com/Sanctified-revolution-history-African-American-holiness/dp/6588545118) helped students in World History immerse themselves in battles that happened long before their parent’s era on earth much less their own. Dr. Tanya Clark, Assistant Professor of English, 2020 Vulcan Awardee in Teaching Excellence and expert in Afrofuturism (https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/learn-about-the-genre-that-informed-black-panther-during-black-history-month/k4yn3BYdfCJFc9ksziRwnK/) developed and implemented pilot cross-disciplinary modules with Dr. Vereen and Dr. Morris that could be used in her Honors Blacks in Wonderland FYE course being taught now in the Fall of 2021. Dr. Muhsinah Morris, Academic Program Director of Chemistry, Assistant Professor, 2021 Vulcan Awardee in Teaching Excellence and PI of the Morris Research and Innovation (MRI) Group piloted 4 novel skills and problem based learning (PBL) modules for her Advanced Inorganic Chemistry course (https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmuhsinahmorris). Together with former program manager and assistant director of sponsored research, DuShunte Carmon, these professors embarked on an experience that would change the face of education in the Sciences and the Humanities.
Humble Beginnings
How do you engage the disenfranchised, displaced student being educated during a global pandemic? Ask any one of these 4 brilliant professors at a small, liberal arts college for Black males in the heart of Atlanta, GA. Full immersion into the content without any distraction can elevate the hearts and minds of students who just can’t sit through another Zoom meeting of their minds. Instead, the upgrading of breakout rooms to a room where all can gather without social distancing rules and masks became a gracious reward tethered to meeting learning outcomes for the courses they were enrolled in. All made possible by a simple imagining that such could exist.
Believing the Dream
Dr. Michael Hodge, Interim Executive Director of the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) and former Provost at Morehouse College conceived of an educational space devoid from infrastructural limitations where the scholars of the future would emerge. Thus, he secured funding through Qualcomm and the Southern Company to expound on his vision to give students a cutting edge technologically sound educational experience. DuShunte Carmon built a relationship with CEO of VictoryXR, Steve Grubbs to deploy this concept of a virtual college campus that embody the values and virtues of Mother Morehouse. The team at VictoryXR along with the Ultimate Team worked tirelessly through 2 solid months of conceptualizing the designs for each subject’s classrooms. Logistics of deploying headsets to students, training of teachers and students, designing curricular content, and forging through all tech obstacles were secondary to the primary goal of helping students reach and exceed the educational outcomes through immersing them in the world of their disciplines.
To Dream
Ironically, Morehouse is the Alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and 2020–2021 was a school year hijacked into an online environment out of necessity. Moreover, it was a school year when young black men globally saw themselves murdered in the streets of America and broadcast in the news on a loop. It was an Election Year, one riddled with controversy and corruption. It was a global pandemic of which no vaccine was yet available, and the best safeguard against the COVID-19 virus was to shelter in place with your own immediate families. Interaction was limited and hope was hard to muster when reality was tough to swallow. The future well-being of the world was hard to predict and in some ways still is being rediscovered by many. Yet the light of scholarship and service was emblazoned in these 4 professors. They saw the vision first imagined by Dr. Hodge, carried forth by Dr. Keith Howard, Dean of Faculty and DuShunte Carmon. They accepted the challenge and dug in. Foregoing all opportunities to rest on their laurels, this team leaned in and helped their students realize excellence once again with enthusiasm and encouragement. They brought something new to the doorsteps of their students, something that could catapult them into the 21st century as pioneers of new worlds. These student scholars were a realized dream. Immersed in worlds from the past, present and future, these professors took the courage built from decades of dedicated scholarship and pedagogical discovery into the virtual world. It was like watching history be created right before your eyes. And it happened at Morehouse in the homes of students across the country.
