As Canadians grapple with the ramifications of COVID-19, universities across the country are opening up courses to teach students about the pandemic.
At McMaster University, Ahmad Firas Khalid began teaching “Politics of Pandemics” this semester, after Karen Bird, the chair of the political science department at McMaster, approached him about adapting course content to reflect students’ interests.
“Any conversation about course development really starts with a deeper reflection on what our students want to learn,” Khalid said. “But, you know, as much as we want to offer a course on COVID-19, you also need to expand the knowledge base.”
Khalid’s course analyzes political responses to the pandemic, ranging from municipalities to the World Health Organization (WHO). This analysis is conducted through simulations aimed to get students to respond to crises as if they were leaders themselves.
Interspersed throughout these simulations include conversations on wearing face masks or reopening schools, with background knowledge provided through podcasts or timely articles.
“Students don’t really want to just read a textbook. They want to be engaged, so we have to find creative ways to engage them, and one way is to include things like videos and music or articles that have been verified by the professor and checked for quality,” Khalid said.
He added that he thinks this is the new reality of academia. In turn, this modernized style gives some students reassurance and heightens their engagement.
For Shelby Seymour, a fourth-year political science student at McMaster, Khalid’s course eased her worries about the novel coronavirus by giving her up-to-date information as the pandemic evolves.
“It’s kind of nice to talk about [COVID-19] with people that are coming from similar situations as you, because at least I’m getting reliable information,” she said. “I find that taking this class has helped with anxiety around COVID because at least I know what’s going on now.”
Harleen Chahal, a third-year student studying life sciences, says she enjoys “Politics of Pandemics” because it consistently raises new information she can engage with and use in everyday conversations.
“You can go back and talk to your friends about it and say, ‘Actually, what you heard is not true,’” she said. “There’s always new topics to discuss regarding COVID, so I don’t think I would get tired of it.”
Hashmat Khan, a macroeconomist and professor at Carleton University, is currently running a course on the economics of pandemics. He says he budgeted for 30 students, a typical class size for a third-year elective course, but had to continue increasing the limit until he reached 180 students.
To him, this shows that there is a keen interest in how the pandemic has shocked economic systems and reintroduced rarely-discussed topics, such as universal basic incomes and sustainable investments.
“[COVID-19] is having effects on the economy, and I think many of them are permanent effects. And that’s where we will see continued interest in economics,” Khan said.
Ultimately, as Khalid said he believes, COVID-19 represents an opportunity to re-examine and reform how universities consider which courses to offer their students. In his view, there are clear benefits to offering courses on today’s most pressing issues.
“I was lucky enough to have the chair reach out to me and create this course collaboratively together. I wish that all universities would follow suit,” he said.
