The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced virtually all school functions to either come to a grinding halt or embrace a virtual environment. While the move to virtual learning is the most recognizable change seen in our classes, some courses have even changed the whole curriculum. One notable example is HSS 360—Public Policy Analysis, run by Professor Lindsey Cormack of the College of Arts and Letters. Previously, the course was slated to focus on gun ownership, mass shootings, suicide, and domestic violence but now the course has pivoted to COVID-19.
In a message to her students, Professor Cormack explained that the course will pivot to “real time public policy analysis on country and city approaches to COVID-19.” Professor Cormack also explained how we are living in a “truly unique public policy time.” Seeing the pandemic unfold in real time and how the government responds to such an unprecedented public policy challenge provides an invaluable learning experience for students.
Going further, Professor Cormack also elaborated on the potential benefits of the change in curriculum. She added that “there is room to make some cross-national or state policy comparisons with assessable outcomes” and her students have a chance to “sift fact from fear” in their analysis of daily updates.
On the other hand, Professor Cormack also explained some of the potential downsides of the change in curriculum. For instance, this sudden change may throw off some students, as the plan was to discuss gun policy but will now be discussing the pandemic, which could leave some students feeling stressed. Moreover, another change would have to be made in switching to a “class project” basis as opposed to the “small group project” structure they were originally doing.
Despite this change, the results so far have been positive. Professor Cormack said that her students are “really shining” and adjusting nicely to the change. She went on to say that she is “really happy to read their weekly write ups” and “some of the teams are conducting really interesting research.” In addition to their data collection and project procedurals, the students are also “learning about the myriad of challenges in finding indicators or measurements of concepts” as well as “the time pressures of a quick turn around coupled with the novelty of the situation we all find ourselves in.”
Outside of the change in class topic, some structural changes to the course also had to be done. Once the change to online learning was announced, the midterm had to be put online, but was eventually scuttled. Moreover, the final project had to be re-worked. On the first week of online learning, Professor Cormack led a brainstorming session on public policy questions and afterwards each student had to submit a topic question as a candidate for the final group project. Then, the top five were chosen and a shared Google sheet was created to allow students to opt into teams or areas of interest. Afterwards, a revised class outline was created, which detailed the plan for the rest of the course until its completion in early May.
While the sudden shift to online learning has made many courses feel derailed and some are still getting back on track, the change in curriculum highlighted here illustrates how the unparalleled situation we are living through can also provide our students with an extraordinary learning experience.
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