Space Medicine is a Duke course on Coursera with nearly 30,000 learners since 2021. Just for fun, I imagined what Week 2 could look like on a platform built for interaction. Using the course’s existing videos, I rebuilt Week 2 as a guided story with a flight surgeon mentor and a hands-on activity after each video, then built the prototype.
01 · The reimagined module
Go for launch
About this prototype: the activity design is my own. The images are concept mockups I generated with ChatGPT for this proof of concept, and I built the interaction with Claude Design and Claude Code.
02 · Key decisions
Three design decisions to support learning
Keep the videos, change what happens around them.Learners watch the same 24 minutes of video as the live course. The new 14 minutes go to mentor chats and five short activities.
Act on each idea right after the video that teaches it.Each video is followed by one hands-on activity, so learners use an idea while it’s fresh, then make the calls in a real-time scenario on launch day.
Wrap the week in a story with a mentor.Dr. Elena Rivera, a lead flight surgeon, guides learners by chat as they prepare for a high-altitude flight and investigate the real 1862 balloon flight.
03 · Details
Want the details?
About the live course and my role▾
Space Medicine launched on Coursera in 2021 on a tight timeline. As Senior Learning Experience Designer and Project Manager, I coordinated the media teams and guided the scripts. We built it around what Coursera does well: immersive videos, knowledge checks, and graded quizzes, all accessible, modular, and self-paced.
The live course is unchanged. The reimagined Week 2 is a just-for-fun concept that uses the same videos and content to explore what the week could become on a platform built for interaction.
Week 2 as a live course vs. reimagined concept▾
Week 2 · Out of Thin AirSelect a block to see what learners do
Live on Coursera49 min
24 min of video15 min graded quiz10 min optional reflection
Reimagined conceptabout 46 min
Same 24 min of video+14 min new: mentor chats and 5 activities8 min real-time scenario
Video · 3 minSame in both
Case Study: What Goes UpThe story of the 1862 balloon flight comes first, so learners meet the symptoms before the vocabulary.
Video · 3 minSame in both
Physiology: The Fire of LifeHow cells use oxygen, explained with a candle.
Video · 6 minSame in both
Pathophysiology: HypoxiaHypoxia and its four types, and the symptoms that signal it.
Video · 7 minSame in both
Physics: Solubility, Altitude and PressureWhy less pressure at altitude means less oxygen reaches the blood.
Video · 5 minSame in both
Engineering: CountermeasuresThe engineer’s toolkit: pressure, oxygen, and the tradeoffs between them.
Graded assignment · 15 min
Week 2 Graded QuizA graded quiz at the end of the week covers the videos.
Discussion prompt · 10 min
(Optional) Week 2 ReflectionAn optional discussion prompt to reflect on the week.
Introduction · 1 minNew
IntroductionLearners meet Dr. Elena Rivera, a lead flight surgeon who guides them by chat. Each video arrives in her messages with a short note on what to watch for.
Video · 3 minSame in both
Case Study: What Goes UpThe story of the 1862 balloon flight comes first, so learners meet the symptoms before the vocabulary.
Exercise · 2 minNew
Rebuild the FlightLearners open Glaisher’s logbook in the chat, place each event at the height where it happened, and record a first hunch.
Video · 3 minSame in both
Physiology: The Fire of LifeHow cells use oxygen, explained with a candle.
Exercise · 2 minNew
Trace the OxygenLearners tap each stop one breath takes, from nose to mitochondria, then complete the candle equation for how cells use oxygen.
Video · 6 minSame in both
Pathophysiology: HypoxiaHypoxia and its four types, and the symptoms that signal it.
Exercise · 3 minNew
Watch Your CrewLearners hear radio check-ins from a training climb, name each sign of hypoxia, decide when to call for oxygen, and cross out the types that don’t fit.
Video · 7 minSame in both
Physics: Solubility, Altitude and PressureWhy less pressure at altitude means less oxygen reaches the blood.
Exercise · 2.5 minNew
The Oxygen Pie ChartAfter a worked example, learners calculate the oxygen in each breath at three altitudes and find the places in the dead zone.
Video · 5 minSame in both
Engineering: CountermeasuresThe engineer’s toolkit: pressure, oxygen, and the tradeoffs between them.
Final challenge · 3.5 minNew
Design the AtmosphereLearners pick the pressure and oxygen for an airliner, a spacesuit, and the space station, then check each design against three risks.
Graded quiz · 8 minRedesigned
Cabin Pressure LostOn launch day the cabin starts losing pressure and cabin altitude climbs in real time. Learners watch the crew and make the calls: oxygen first, then descend.
2021Launched
~30KLearners
4.8 ★Avg. rating
“Very interesting content taught in an easy, understandable way!”
Coursera learner, original course
One case examined through multiple perspectives▾
In the original course, each week opens with a case, then examines it through four disciplines. Select a lens to see how Week 2 explores the 1862 balloon flight of James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell.
