TRU professor to deliver online summer course covering COVID-19

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The fast-moving issues and ever-changing effects of COVID-19 will be the focus of a new online course offered by Thompson Rivers University this summer.

TRU Professor Dr. Michael Mehta, along with a full class of 40 students, will be diving into COVID-19: The Course, over six weeks beginning on June 22, exploring the sociological and geographical impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as they unfold.

Mehta explained that while pandemic events are nothing new to humanity, there would be many questions raised as to how COVID-19 is different from other outbreaks, including how the virus is reshaping an increasingly connected global community.

Mehta is a current COVID-19 researcher and member of the expert Canadian research community, CanCOVID, recently set up by Canada’s Chief Science Officer.

The widespread impact of the pandemic over multiple industries is something Mehta will be covering throughout the course, and said that while the course falls under the disciplines of geography and sociology, the topic is multi-faceted which the student enrollment has reflected.

“Students are going to get different things out of this course depending on their background,” Mehta stated. “There are students coming in with an interest in business and commerce. Some are more strictly sociological.”

Throughout the course, students will break into groups of five to develop a project that analyses one topic related to changes brought on by the pandemic over environmental, social, economic, public health or policy dimensions.

While students will be studying and researching the effects of the pandemic all over the world in real time, they’ll also be practising new models of education as TRU, and many other universities shift to an online learning atmosphere as restrictions continue into the fall semester.

Instead of live online lectures, Mehta will be listing annotated powerpoints and online readings for students to access, keeping their twice a week meeting times for discussions on course topics.

“Students will be working together, using online tools. I’ll be jumping in and working with them in their small groups. This is going to be a really interesting experiment,” Mehta said.

Calling himself a more traditional professor, teaching geography and sociology in lecture formats, Mehta is interested in moving away from the old model of lectures and readings, adopting a blended learning approach, especially as students and professors work from home.

“You really have to move away from the old model of delivery, because people are working from home and have all different kinds of access to technology. They may be working in different timezones if we have international students. It really requires a different approach,” Mehta said.

“My hope is that universities don’t go back to the old model once COVID ends.”