Teaching hundreds of college students online as well as two kids studying at home sounds like enough to keep anyone busy.
Pam Sherratt, the sports turf specialist at Ohio State University is doing both and then some. Aside from teaching nearly 1,000 college students online, as well as a fifth-grader and an eighth-grader stuck at home due to the coronavirus lockdown, Sherratt also is working with Pioneer Athletics to teach kids about lawn care through a series of videos posted to social media. Pioneer Athletics is a supplier in the turf paint business for the sports turf market,
"The purpose is to try to help parents give kids something they can do at home. An activity to keep them busy and engaged," Sherratt said. "Being a parent home with two kids, helping teach them and do schoolwork while teaching online, it's been a nightmare. I think we're all looking forward to it being over."
Sherratt often preaches the rule of thirds when mowing golf courses and athletic fields, and the inaugural video in the series is all about proper mowing height, which she says is 3 inches for a home lawn. The second video teaches kids (and their parents) how to measure their lawn, which is important when applying seed, fertilizer, herbicides or any other product. A third video is due to drop any day now.
Pioneer's James Hlavaty came up with the idea for the video series as a way to keep kids engaged with something related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) while at home under a virus-induced shelter-in-place order. He and Sherratt have known each other since Hlavaty's days with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he was assistant groundskeeper from 2000-2016.
The purpose is to try to help parents give kids something they can do at home. An activity to keep them busy and engaged. Being a parent home with two kids, helping teach them and do schoolwork while teaching online, it's been a nightmare. I think we're all looking forward to it being over.
"He reached out to me because he wanted to do something STEM-related that we could aim at middle school-aged students and their parents," she said. "We've been having fun with it, and it's something that can be fun for kids, too. It also helps me stay relevant to our administrators, so that they can see I'm working from home, and it helps Pioneer Athletics engage with their customers."
Many of Sherratt's friends, family members and even neighbors have found the videos and have provided feedback that usually includes "I did not know that!"
Staying relevant with university administrators shouldn't be much of a challenge for Sherratt, who is teaching a total 947 students during the spring semester. She has a combined 597 students in her Sports Turf Management and World of Plants courses. She also has an additional 350 students in Karl Danneberger's popular History of Golf course. Danneberger, as many of you know, was hospitalized at Ohio State from mid-March until April 16 after he was diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus in March. He is scheduled to return to teaching during the summer.
"All of the content was already created by Karl. Literally, I was posting grades and answering questions," Sherratt said. "Thank God I didn't have to create content. I would have been struggling."
