Abstract
In his work The Culture of Calamity, Kevin Rozario explains that “it is conventional, and by no means inappropriate, to think of disasters in strictly negative terms, but calamities have often presented opportunities” (3). Following the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the rapidity with which faculty members and students were asked to adapt to new modalities was unprecedented, and not without difficulties. At the same time, opportunities presented themselves in the midst of the chaos and confusion. In this collectively-authored essay, faculty from the English and Language Studies Department at Indiana University Kokomo reckon with the challenges and opportunities presented to our pedagogy and research by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the relatively small size of our department, we traffic in numerous areas of expertise and speak fluently to the pedagogical implications across a number of fields. Significantly, our student population includes a number of at-risk students, especially working class and first-generation students, and our teaching is necessarily informed by that information, and by the potential technological limitations students may possess.
Recommended Citation
Coby, Jim
(2021)
"A Department Responds to COVID,"
Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 6:
Iss.
1, Article 30.
Available at:
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol6/iss1/30