2020: The Course

2020 is over, but the impact of the chaotic, stressful, and challenging year remains. The University of Washington did something unique. Vice Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs Ed Taylor pulled together a course about 2020 that allowed students to analyze the year in real-time. The course was offered in the fall across all three campuses and featured lectures from UW Tacoma faculty.  Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success Bonnie Becker participated as did  Assistant Professor Sharon Laing, and Professor Carolyn West. In this episode, Becker and Laing talk about the course and how 2020 impacted both their personal and professional lives. 

Transcript

Dr. Sharon Laing:

2020 will be a year that will be remembered for the ways in which our university or students, the nation, communities and the world have been impacted. We must look at 2020 as a year in which we contributed to the betterment of our world and our society.

Katelyn Ward:

From UW Tacoma, this is Paw'd Defiance.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

Welcome to Paw'd Defiance, where we don't lecture, but we do educate. I'm Eric Wilson-Edge today on the Paw'd, 2020: The Course. The University of Washington turned 2020 into a class involving all three campuses, including UW Tacoma. The course provided faculty and students a chance to discuss and contextualize in real time what turned out to be a truly historic year. In this episode, we'll talk about The Course and its impact with UW Tacoma Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success, Dr. Bonnie Becker, current UW Tacoma student Katelyn Ward, as well as UW Tacoma Assistant Professor, Dr. Sharon Laing. Dr. Bonnie Becker, thank you for joining us today on Paw'd Defiance.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

Thank you for asking me.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, I wanted to have you on the show to talk about 2020 and specifically 2020: The Course, which is what it sounds like leaders from all three UW campuses came up with this idea of putting this very strange year into context as a class that would be available for students. So yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. So, let's start with sort of a basic question. What is the 2020, The Course? I wonder if you could talk about some of the goals of the course?

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

Sure. So, I believe the original idea came from Dr. Ed Taylor, who works in the provost office at UW Seattle. He is the head of undergraduate affairs across the campuses. And he had this idea of creating a learning experience where we could talk about, and experience 2020 almost in real time together. And they thought it was important for this to be a tri-campus experience. To our knowledge, we don't know of another course that has been taught in this way. It's a two credit class, it's a credit, non-credit, which is UW speak for a pass/fail class, which having two credit classes is actually a really important thing on our campus.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

To be full time you need take 12 credits, and five credits is the normal, is the sort of typical average class size. So a lot of students are looking for a two credit class. So, the goals were to explore 2020 from a few different perspectives with a focus on certainly the pandemic and certainly the sort of racial and social justice reckoning that we have experienced this year, but also the election, the economy, looking at things like bots and trolls on Twitter. Everything was very timely, but also sort of timeless and that it brought together faculty from across all three campuses.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

We had two representatives from UW Tacoma, Dr. Sharon Laing and Dr. Carolyn West, and have an opportunity to reflect together in a four-credit online option. And just to have this chance to bring the credible minds from across campuses who do research on various aspects of 2020. In our section at Tacoma, in order to be able to offer the class, we needed to have an existing class to sort of put it under. And that existing class was an IAS seminar, which was a two credit class. And the 2020, The Course main section was one credit. So there were a number of different versions of the class taught across the three campuses that were either one or two credits. So there were some in-person sections in Seattle that were mostly international students who needed some in-person component of their class schedule. So there were some in-person sections.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

In Bothell, they had some sections that were meant, especially for first year students that included some intro to college basic skills kind of stuff. At Tacoma, we went with BIS seminar and ours was two credit. And so we decided to collaborate with the UW Tacoma library who brought an element of information literacy to our sections. The local version had this information literacy component to it. So there were some learning objectives around how to critically assess information sources, which also seemed incredibly timely to 2020. So Marissa Petrovich and Erica Bailey helped develop some material from the Tacoma library. So, there was a team of people putting this together and I actually really liked these different versions on different campuses because they sort of all had their own flavor to the material.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, you were the co-instructor for this course. So what sorts of things were you responsible for in terms of maybe putting it together or getting it online? That sort of thing?

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

Sure. So, one real luxury of this is that there was a team of teaching assistants and graders and Ed Taylor did all of the interviews and arranged all of that material. But on Bothell's campus and on Tacoma's campus, we had myself and then Cinnamon Hillyard who has the exact same title as me, but at UW Bothell. So, she's the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success. We were the point people for our campuses, we helped to administer the courses, but also contextualize them a little bit on our campuses. And then the whole instructional team met weekly and we had a lot of opportunity to contribute some just-in-time adjustments, as you can imagine, because the whole class was supposed to be so timely. I mean, for example, there was a recording done the day before the election and another recording done the day after the election with an intention of sort of bookmarking the election once we knew the outcome.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

But as we all know, we did not know the outcome the day after the election. And so there was a lot of just-in-time happening in this class. And so being part of this instructional team, it was just a really neat opportunity to collaborate in a tri-campus setting for us to get to know each other. It ended up being a very ... It was just a lovely group of people to get to know. We got to know each other in more personal ways and to help bring the voice of Tacoma students into the room, to say, "Well, for our students, this might look a little different," or for another example, on Veteran's Day.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

We had a special Veteran's Day session and making sure that we were providing resources for folks for follow-up making sure that those resources were true to the Tacoma campus when we did the land acknowledgement. So, there was a session on sort of tribal sovereignty and the land acknowledgement was the Seattle land acknowledgement, making sure that the Tacoma land acknowledgement was added to that as well. So making it true to ... There was this vision that the course would be a campus experience, Cinnamon and I were there to make sure that that was a genuinely tri-campus experience that we were included in ways that we could see ourselves in.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

It strikes me as kind of fascinating to be doing this course as it's happening. So do you know what the thinking was to do that? Because I could see folks just deciding, We'll talk about this year once it's over," but to do it in real time, I could see that being some real benefits to that, and also seeing everything kind of hard in some ways, because there definitely been some challenging times this year, especially recently. So, I wonder if you know a little bit about why the decision was made to do it sort of in real time?

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

I think it was part of the appeal of it was to have the material, to have an opportunity for all of us to process what was happening as it was happening. It's not a simply academic endeavor. It's not just a scholarly endeavor to sort of reflect back. It's a reflecting forward that we don't get to do very often. It's unusual for us to be able to have meaningful conversations about what is happening in the moment. So, I think that was part of what made it so special. I imagine there will be future courses about at least aspects of what happened this year that are more retrospective, but having an opportunity to do it in the moment was part of the appeal of the whole thing.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, let's talk about the time capsule, which was an element of The Course. Talk about that project and whether or not you put anything in the time capsule.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

Sure, absolutely. So, the idea behind the time capsule is to to have each student and all of the participants put an item, but when I was a kid, you would literally put an item in a army box and then you'd bury it and then you'd come back and under it. We did that at summer camp. We did this in a more sort of 2020 style where it was virtual. So you'd have an item that you submitted a picture of that item, but it is all being printed out. And so there is going to be a paper version of this time capsule, and our hope, I don't think the folks organizing this have quite figured out how yet, but the hope is in 2040, we would all get together and open the time capsule and see what we had to say about 2020.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

God-Willing, I should still be, but you'd have to come back to remember then. I might be on the closer to retirement, but not quite retired yet. So, I'm really hopeful that I will somehow be able to come back for the opening of the time capsule. So, I submitted ... I don't know about regular listeners of the podcast, but you and I spoke earlier during the pandemic about mask making and it's something that was very important to me. I submitted the first mask I made which was made out of an old pillowcase and some string that I had laying around the house. And I explained to them that I didn't actually know how to sew, my daughter who is now 10, but when she was eight per four H group, she did a sewing project and she's sewed this gorgeous sparkly ball gown that actually won some awards at the State Fair.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

And I took her to all of her lessons. I looked over her shoulder and I kind of learned how to sew. I learned well enough how to sew a mask. And so with that humble original mask, and it was such an unusual time in March. The stores were empty, elastic was sold out, fabric was sold out. You couldn't get really basic things. And so friends on Facebook, family members from across the country, supplies just start rolling in. They said, "If you're going to make masks, here's some stuff." And so I started a little bit of a factory on my dining room table, making masks. I ended up making about 475 of them. I distributed them to a range of different community groups. Some really fun ones.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

So, the Tacoma Farmer's Market got into my masks, the Point Defiance Zoo. So, the zookeepers had a bunch of my masks. Some you'd have to come on staff. I sent some to the St Leo's Food Bank, some to a women's shelter. So, it was a really meaningful thing to me and that original mask that is like this snapshot of this moment in time where like digging around the house for an old pillow case just made sense to me then in a way. I feel like the pandemic has evolved over time. In those beginning times everybody was really trying to be on together. There was a lot of sort of community feeling to this. Lots of Zoom happy hours. And there was that TV show that YouTube series some good news from the guy from the office who was putting that together.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

And so everybody was trying to lift each other's spirits and there was this real spirit of community about it. I feel like as this dragged on, we've kind of snapped back into some of our older habits and more sort of individualistic habits. I think it's a good thing that you can now just go to the supermarket and pick up a mask without it being a big deal. I didn't think it was good that a Marine biologist with no sewing experience was making the masks that were helping protect people's health. It was a moment of desperation a little bit, but on the other hand, that spirit of like, "We're in this together. Times are hard, but we're going to get through this." You don't share a lot of that language anymore, that feeling anymore.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

The Some Good News Show got sold to one of the networks. Just that whole earthy, "We're in this together," feeling kind of fell apart a little. And so I didn't want to put a mask in, so many people put in masks, so you want it to be a little bit original, but I just had to, it was just so obvious. My runner up, which I did put in, I actually worked through a pair of slippers because I wear my slippers every day when I [inaudible 00:16:18], and I actually wore a hole through my slippers. For my birthday, I bought myself a new pair of slippers. So, I almost put my gross slippers in there, but 2040 Bonnie would probably not be super excited, but I thought I owed something better to her.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

Those are great stories, and I can't believe that you were really just because you and I had talked quite a bit and early on, you were making a lot of masks and really nice masks. And I guess I didn't realize that you were only then figuring out how to do all of that. It seems like you figured it out pretty quickly because you made a ton of them.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

Yeah, it was ... I think our kind of work that we do as professors, especially when we're working from home, it's we're on a screen all day. I feel like what I contribute is often very abstract for us and that's not fair. And I think I contribute a lot that is more tangible than that, but I'm on a computer, I'm typing and I'm doing spreadsheets and emails, and to be able to close my computer and go do something physical and tangible, honestly, really helped me with my own mental health and my own anxiety around what was happening in the world. It made me feel like I was doing something to help, but I also was exercising my mind in a different way that allowed me to get through that era. And if I'm totally honest, I stopped over the summer for a variety of reasons.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

Partially, because masks were more available, but also some stuff going on in the family. And I actually ... I went through a little bit of low point when I stopped. I didn't realize how much that process was actually helping my own health and not having that, and being on the computer all day, and then being on a computer all night really was killing me. And it didn't hit me until later. So, it's kind of corny, but it's like I got as much from making those masks because I think other people got from receiving them.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, in terms of The Course, so helping put it together and making it happen and then being a part of it, has that changed how you view this year or what's been happening given your new insights or ways of thinking about it?

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

I think so. I think the material has been really interesting, and I don't know, true to style, it's often not the straight content that moves me. It's often the environment and the context. So first of all, in my administrative capacity, I haven't been teaching as much as I used to. And so I have not been teaching during the pandemic. And so having an opportunity to teach is really helpful in my work around student success, having some firsthand experience with the really broad range of different reactions of students to this kind of learning environment. I also really got a lot out of ... So, when you would ask about goals of the course, one thing that kind of came out throughout the course is Dr. Taylor, in every interview asked each of these professors how they got to where they are.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

I found that really interesting, and I think a lot of us during the pandemic are really doing a lot of self exploration, I hear a lot of people saying this on Facebook or Twitter, or just face to face, like, "How do I contribute? What is what I do professionally make a difference?" Because there are definitely people who are epidemiologist, and how they contribute is really clear. And I think for a lot of the rest of us asking ourselves, "What is my purpose?" I made an illusion before, about 20 years from now I might be close to retirement, like, "Where do you want to be in those 20 years?" And so having an opportunity, even though I'm a tenured professor, I'm pretty far along now, I think there's this myth, it's like, "What do I want to be when I grow up?"

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

And then you just sort of figured that out and then you're that for the rest of your life. But even just for me personally, learning about the path of these various colleagues, that was also really interesting to me. I think in terms of the content itself, there was some really interesting explorations, especially among scholars of racial justice, people who have been working on ... When we talk about sort of this reckoning, this summer, sometimes it seems on the news, they're talking about like, "A lot of this is new," and it isn't. And so hearing from folks who have been studying and have been activists themselves reflect on their impressions of 2020 was really helpful and meaningful to me to put things in context and to remember that it's a marathon and not a sprint.

Dr. Bonnie Becker:

We had one lecture about misinformation and disinformation that I think did in the moment really challenge me and how I look at where my sources of information are coming from. That was also very timely. She had actually been working on Russian disinformation campaigns and was on the radar of some of those Russian disinformation units knew of her and had interacted with them. I mean, it was a really fascinating look into a world that you hear about on the news, but you don't often get to hear someone who has firsthand experience. That one really stuck with me as well. So, they were all a little different. But it was helpful. Like I was saying at the beginning of the pandemic was this, "We're all in it together," phase. And then there was this like, "Forget that, everyone for themselves," phase. And so having this opportunity in the fall to be a little bit more collective about it and to talk about this in a more cooperative way, I think was also really helpful.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

That was Dr. Bonnie Becker. Up next, UW Tacoma accounting major, Katelyn Ward. So, I wanted to have you on today to talk about 2020, The Course, which UW up in Seattle offered and all three campuses participated and you took this course. So I'm wondering why you decided to take this class.

Katelyn Ward:

Great question, Eric. So, when I saw the email about the Canvas community invite, I felt inspired right off the gate. I would have the opportunity to hear from scholars about how 2020 has impacted the community and their research and their lives. And that came more of periods when Dean Taylor introduced the course, talking about how the course was inspired based on the pandemic and the recession, and then the Black Lives Matter protests.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, in taking the course, and it's over now from my understanding, has it changed your thinking about this year? And if so, what way?

Katelyn Ward:

Oh, absolutely. Throughout the early part of this class or the seminar, we learned about how to dissect misinformation and disinformation during crisis events, how to engage in online information more responsibly. And then how there's a lack of the legal education in our society currently, we learned about the climate change and the impacts of COVID on climate change. And then a few different scholars shared their research on the impacts of the pandemic and racial inequities.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, of all the speakers you heard from and lessons presented, is there one that sticks out in your mind.

Katelyn Ward:

Off the top of my head, I'd say Prof. Wong, who early in his college career wanted to be an Asian-American writer, but that just wasn't available to him while he was in college. But due to that lack of knowledge in the field during his time, Prof. Wong had to learn about the topic himself, which really caused me to stop and evaluate if I saw any gaps and the knowledge I've acquired this year, or if anyone has while trying to research their field or their passion.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

There is a time capsule that folks could put something into. I was wondering, did you put anything in the time capsule?

Katelyn Ward:

Yeah. So, I put a COVID test, doctor's note in the time capsule. It was around that time that my daughter developed a cough, and because of her age group, she was mandated by the state of Washington, if she had one symptom to fire a test. So, we both went in and got tested. And thankfully, we didn't have COVID, but it resonated here and lack of preparation on my part being stuck at home for five days, six days, waiting for those tests results.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

I can empathize with you. Our childcare provider about a little over a month ago, early November, she was diagnosed with COVID. And so we had to ... That was definitely we were all getting tested and it was a stressful worrisome 48 hours. And everyone turned out not to have COVID, but it was very intense. And as a parent, you have to make it seem like everything is okay. Well, at least for me in my mind, I was like, "What if it's not okay? This is terrible. It could be the worst thing ever in being," but also not wanting to freak our kids out.

Katelyn Ward:

I know. I'm sure, I probably did.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, for your time capsule, did you know right away, "Oh, I'm going to do with this testing," or was it like, "Oh, I want to put one of these, three or four things could go in here," and then did you have to sort of figure out why you would want to put one in or the other?

Katelyn Ward:

That was really a neat process. So we had the opportunity to meet across campuses over Zoom and share our thoughts and ideas. And there was a lot of discussion around people submitting the voters pants lift, because of the election during the time. And then I just kept staring down at this doctor's note saying, "Oh, well, if I wanted to remember anything," which of course who wants to remember 2020, but when I look back at it, I can be like, "Oh, I was part of society. I got tested."

Eric Wilson-Edge:

Let's talk a little bit about your 2020. How's it going? What are some of the challenges you faced? It was an interesting year. We had a pandemic, we had an election, we had a protest, social justice protests, a lot was going on. So, walk me through how these events impacted your life.

Katelyn Ward:

Oh, great question. Well, if I could describe 2020 in one word, it would be challenging. I went from being a part-time employee and a full-time single mom and student to being a 24/7 stay at home mom, preschool teacher and student, and then the agonizing worry of the state of our country during the election. And how long that took, that just described 2020 in a nutshell, with the length of time and the nail biting events that occurred. It was worse than a Seahawks.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, sounds like you're a single mom, you're a student as well as a teacher finishing up college. So, how have you managed to do it? How have you managed to keep it together these last 10 or so months?

Katelyn Ward:

I have my good days and my bad days. I think everyone can relate to that. I look for the little joys and each day, like teaching my daughter addition, since she's learning her numbers. And as an employee and a student, I don't really get to experience that much while she's in daycare pre-COVID. So, it's been rewarding to see her success and mine. I mean, as a student, working remote, you run into so many barriers hurdles about, "Okay, I have a question, where can I turn to, who can I turn to?" But I see my success in test scores or being able to answer questions over synchronous class time, or trying my best while my daughter's napping to take advantage of those online Zoom office hours. So just a little joys.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

You might remember UW Tacoma, Assistant Professor, Dr. Sharon Laing from earlier episodes with University of Washington Associate Professor, Dr. Wendy Barrington. The pair discussed the social determinants of health and how that impacts marginalized communities. Many of the topics Dr. Laing discussed previously, found their way into the lecture she gave for 2020, The Course. So, I want to start by talking about your involvement with The Course specifically. I know it was broken down into different talks or lectures that faculty gave. And I was wondering if you could talk about what you gave your talk about.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Yeah. There were several things for this course and it covered a range of topics, and these are topics that are relevant to what transpired in 2020. My topic was to address the issue of race and racism, and perhaps thinking about how that helped expose the ravages of the COVID-19 virus. So, I first spoke about the structural and systemic racism that does exist in the US, and thinking about what are the biological and social implications of racism. So, for the social implications, I try to really speak about how the virus exposed the uneven racial consequences that led to the disproportionate death rates among people of color, particularly from the COVID-19. and these uneven racial consequences include who do not have the safest jobs or paid sick days, or who live in crowded homes, or who lack private transportation, who lack healthcare access, and also who reside in neighborhoods that promote health.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Now, all of the sponsors that I discussed really predicted who died from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, so far blacks and indigenous Americans have suffered the greatest losses during the COVID-19 crisis. Now, imagine these data. In 17 states in the United States, more than one in 1,000 black residents have died. Now, blacks represent 12.4% of the population, yet up to 20% of death. In 13 states, more than one in 1,000 indigenous residents have died. Indigenous Americans represent about 0.8% of the population. Yet 1.4% of death. Now, these are very, very stark numbers that we really all have to reckon with and come to terms with, but these are some of the data that really had me ruminating about what might be our role, certainly in higher education, but certainly in our communities as well, to address these social and economic inequities that exist that these inequities are putting many people of color at risk. And we must stop it at some point. We must stop it right now.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

Two questions, so why did you decide to participate in this course? And then what guided your thinking once you've decided to do that in terms of what topic you were going to cover?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Well, in terms of why did I participate in the course, Dr. Taylor sent out this email to us to ask us to participate. And this is a question that was posed to me during the panel presentation last night. I remember this very clearly, one sentence in that email invitation really stuck with me. He said, "2020 will be a year that will be remembered for the ways in which our university, our students, the nation communities, and the world have been impacted. We must look at 2020 as a year in which we contributed to the betterment of our world and of our society." Again, think about last line there, 2020 as a year in which we contributed to the betterment of our world and our society. Now, what an impactful statement that was made.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

What an opportunity for me as a teacher and a researcher really to help our future generation of students put this year into context. What an opportunity really to help them visualize the forces that were operating this year and what an opportunity to help them contextualize really how our society can and did move forward from a very, very catastrophic time in our history. Going back to the statistics that I presented to you regarding BiPAP groups and the impact of the COVID-19 on this group. There was absolutely no way I could not have spoken about the factors that contributed to this devastation in these communities. And so it just was a very natural movement on my part to speak about the implications of race and racism on health outcome among BiPAP communities.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So through your work with this course, whether that's putting together your chalk or talking with other faculty in this course or students in this course, has that process informed or changed your thinking about 2020?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

It didn't change my thinking. It certainly helped me focus more on what I need to address as a researcher and certainly as a public servant to educate our community about issues that are longstanding in our community. And so it really, perhaps, instituted a sense of urgency on my part to do more in my work, in what I say and how I say it, to enlighten and hopefully encourage others in my profession to continue to do this research to support communities who are disadvantaged.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

From my understanding of putting a course together, faculty spent a lot of time prepping to get this, to get something, say, "If you're going to teach it in the fall, you're spending a lot of time before then getting it together." This is a course it sounds like you were putting it together while you were learning how to fly it. So, I wonder what that was like for you as a faculty member to have that experience?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Yeah. It was really quite interesting because I remember when I was putting the course together, I was also trying to prep for my fall courses and in the school of nursing and healthcare leadership, two courses. Pretty heavy lady courses that I was prepping for. I think what made it much easier for me as a faculty is that I chose the topics and the topic is something that is passionate for me. I have the data already. And so it's one thing to put together a lecture based on someone else's outline of what the course should be and what the content should be, but it's another thing to put together a lecture based on what you're passionate about, and also is about the work that you're currently doing. And so in that respect, it was not a very challenging endeavor for me. I guess the piece that if there was any challenge for me, perhaps that it was the way that I'm delivering this information on Zoom. This information I had not previously delivered in this mode using this mode of delivery.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

And so I wanted to make sure that I had very impactful information, that the way I spoke about the information resonated, and because again, you don't have the feedback from the students to change course or correct course, or make adjustments according to what you're speaking about at the moment. It's pretty static. And even during our current Zoom classes right now, as you're delivering your talk, students may be able to engage somehow, they may talk or ask a question or stop you. So you do have that feedback. So, this was more of a static way to deliver a talk on a topic that I had a great deal of passion about. So yes, that may have been the challenge, but pulling everything together and pulling the content together was not challenging at all.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, let's talk about the time capsule. Did you add anything to it?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

I did. It was interesting, what I chose to add to this time capsule was the syllabus of the first course that I was asked to convert to an online class was when the state shut down and we knew we were going to be online. And what was ironic about it was that the class that I converted, the class that I had to teach is the final class that our healthcare leadership students are required to take before they actually walk and go out to become healthcare leaders. Now, this final class interestingly enough, is a steelwork class, is a class where they're actually out in the community doing work for the community, addressing health and wellness, imagine that.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

I'm here now, I have to figure out how am I going to simulate in person activity in the community because they can't do that. So I chose to put the syllabus about our class out there, because I thought how ironic it was that I'm trying to help our healthcare leadership students understand what is going to be like going out in the community when we are witnessing this pandemic, with other healthcare professionals out there battling for their lives while they're trying to save other people's lives. It was quite an interesting time for me as an educator in trying to prepare our students for their role as healthcare leaders going out.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So I wonder how did you ... Because I don't know if they can do field work. So, did they do field work? And if not, you said you had to simulate it. I'm so curious how you did that?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Yeah. A lot of thought and trial and error and hit and miss. Well, we had a couple of students who were able to go onsite, but again, a lot of the work that they did that work was virtual. For the students who could not go onsite because a lot of sites had shut down. What I did do was think about what is an emergency response plan that we could put in place to address some of the challenges that we're seeing right now and what would you do as healthcare leaders to address? So, I asked them to think about certain risk factors that's going on right now, some particular emergency concerns and think about a risk response plan. And a couple of things came to mind. One thing that they address was what was going on in terms of healthcare systems and the fact that they weren't able to do elective procedures, surgeries, and the fact that there were financial disadvantages that were being experienced and how as a healthcare leader, they might think about addressing that concern.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

A lot of them of course spoke about telemedicine, which became very common during this time. And incidentally, is my research, telehealth. And so they talked about how they could implement telehealth to address healthcare needs from a distance while still addressing solvency for the medical system. They talked about how you address the issue around the homeless and the fact that in this city we do, and certainly Seattle, particularly we have a homelessness concern and during a pandemic, how would you protect one of the most vulnerable communities that is the homeless to assure that they are receiving the care that they need, that they can socially distance. How do they, because you have issues of mental health concerns as to explain why they're not able to stay within certain facilities. So, they were really very thoughtful. And so though I wasn't able to have them really go into the setting, they were really from a distance really interrogating some of the challenges that were occurring in our healthcare system, and how would they, and how can they as healthcare leaders address those challenges from a distance.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So let's switch gears a little bit. 2020, as we're talking, this is the last 12 hours or so of this year. How's it been for you both in a professional sense and I, on a personal sense? How are things going?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Interesting. 2020, ironically has been a very busy year for me because of my commitment certainly. A commitment I've made to be more helpful than intentional in the work that I do to address anti-racism, to address health disparities in both my voice, as well as my research. So professionally, I've been quite busy on that. Personally, I spent much more time, I shouldn't say much more time because almost seems like I never spent time, but I spent a great deal of time with my children and my spouse. And so I think that if there is any up parts, any positive to this year is that family members are forced to be together, whether they want to, or not, we're not going about business as usual, no running off and doing all these other things because we want to. And so this time has been really wonderful for me, and I know that it was time that I probably would not have had with my children and my spouse. And so I'm grateful for that. So personally, that has been a benefit of this year.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

So, let's say it's 10 years from now, or however many years from now, and this is well behind us, hopefully. When you look back on this time, what do you think you'll remember? And then all of us, some more than others have had to make changes to our lives. I'm wondering the things that you've changed to maybe adapt to the times. I wonder, which of any of those changes you made, do you think will stick as we move past this?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

What will I remember about this year? There's so many things to remember. Certainly, this is a year that one must never forget. But I think the one thing that has stood out for me is the dedication, resilience and motivation of our students. It has been remarkable. I'd like to speak about one particular incidence in my class. This is a class that I taught. This is a critical analysis, critical writing classes, a pretty weighty class. And I had a number of students there, but I remember specifically two students in my class, during the course of the quarter, they were diagnosed with the virus, the COVID-19 virus. And these are independent students from separate families. And both students lived in a multi-generational, multi-family household. And so for both students, ironically, you had mothers and grandmothers and cousins, and also children. And it turned out for both of these students, all the members of their family were diagnosed with the virus as well.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Believe it or not, both of these students had young children under the age of one years of age, that they were still nursing. And I noticed that because they showed me the medical report that they had the virus. And one student, I remember she contacted me she wanted, believe it or not, an extension on an assignment because of the fact that her father was in emergency room with the virus and that her mother was also suffering from it. And I really wanted to tell them, "Don't keep pushing so hard. You take care of yourself, we'll figure this thing out."

Dr. Sharon Laing:

But they didn't. They continued coming to class. And I remember one moment watching, I was on video and one of them was nursing her little child, and the child had the virus, mother did as well. And nursing during the lecture and the mother not taking care of her child, was trying to attend. And she was attending to the lecture very seriously. The child's eye was running, the mother looked very weak and still she wanted to continue with this class regardless. And what really moves me at the end of the day was that they did persist and they did finish the class. And both those students, one got a B+ in my class one got an A- in that class. And it wasn't because it was a giveaway grade. They worked hard. At the end of this class, the class where they were required to give a presentation and they knocked it out of the court, they sat up, they were stoic, they were graceful, they were prepared and they delivered a presentation.

Dr. Sharon Laing:

How can I not work hard when I see this? How can I not push ahead? I mean, this was just a moment of grace for me to see. It was a moment of hope. It was a moment of ... These students, they were my heroes. The level of resilience and determination for their grades they were going to get through this. And I think the members of their family did okay. No one did ... Thank God, knock on wood, pass from this. But this is what moves me as an educator. This is what drives me as an educator. I can not give my very best when I'm around people who give 3,000 of measures in terms of their efforts. And so that's something that I'll never forget that I work with students who were heroes and sheroes, and it was impressive.

Eric Wilson-Edge:

All of us to some degree have had to make changes to our life and adapt to the situation. Me personally, I think that I'm probably wanting to keep wearing a mask when I'm in public. Now, it really doesn't bother me and it seems like it's a smart choice. So, I think as we get past, I'm probably wanting to continue to wear a mask to the grocery store, that sort of thing. Do you know yet some of the things that you've changed that you think will stick after we're past this virus?

Dr. Sharon Laing:

Yeah. I know, this may seem like a cop-out, Eric, but I wish you were mad. I think I will continue to wear masks. I will continue to sanitize when I come from outside. I recognize that there are certain things that we just can't take for granted. And I think this year has reminded us that we should be very vigilant about these types of things. So, it's not a cop-out, this answer. It truly is an important recognition for all of us that moving on, life will never be the same. And so certain practices that we've adopted, we probably should continue with those practices. And I will continue with that practice as well.

Katelyn Ward:

Thank you to our guests, and thank you for listening. Be sure to like, and subscribe. You can find us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Stitcher and Apple Podcasts.