I fully agree that your method could be adapted for a wide variety of other courses. We’ve had a similar success every term in our GRN175 The Aging Mind with the first-week discussion (below) where a student thinks and writes about one person. The richness of their posts seems to increase each term as they so often recognize that they’ve already been exposed to a powerful and positive image of an older person.

Thank you.

***
GRN175 Discussion 1 – Keeping in mind the trajectory that human longevity is taking, post a comment answering the following questions:

(1) Give us the first name of the OLDEST person you have ever met. This could be yesterday or when you were much younger. It could be a relative or a friend or a neighbor or someone you only met once but still remember meeting that particular elder. Tell us the age (or best guess) of that person when you last were with her or him. Next, calculate as close as you can the year that this person was born.

(2) Briefly describe the circumstances and describe your recollections about that person, what you observed, heard, whether you had a conversation, etc.