Coronavirus Course Boasts Largest Enrollment In UMW History

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — The University of Mary Washington is holding a series of free semiweekly lectures via Zoom on the impact of the new coronavirus, from exploring its economic impact to explaining why accurate communication is vitally important to the public. The eight-week course, called “COVID-19 in Context,” has the largest enrollment in UMW history, according to university officials.

As part of the course, UMW Professor of Communication Anand Rao gave a lecture with assistant professor Elizabeth Johnson-Young on Monday titled “Communicating COVID-19: How We Talk About a Pandemic Changes What We Do.”

In his talk, Rao said that surveys have shown that public health messaging has been getting through to the American public. "Americans were paying attention, and they were generally taking the actions recommended by authorities," he said.

The vast majority of the American public wants to be informed and has a shared understanding of the virus and the crisis, he added.

The public also has been on the lookout for misinformation and views it as a major problem, according to polls. Rao cited a Gallup poll that found 82 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans are concerned about coronavirus misinformation.

In the poll, 68 percent of the respondents viewed social media as the primary source of misinformation about the crisis. At 54 percent, the Trump administration was viewed as the next biggest source of misinformation about the coronavirus, according to the Gallup poll.

In his lecture, Rao said the use of understandable terms and relatable ideas and the confident presentation of useful information are key to delivering a successful message.

Along with giving lectures, Rao is serving as facilitator of the “COVID-19 in Context” series with Arts and Sciences Dean Keith Mellinger. “We have been floored by the response,” Rao told UMW's media relations and communications department.

The lecture series, which takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays through July 22, was created for current and incoming students who can receive academic credit and is offered for free to everyone, including the public. More than 1,900 people have registered for the lecture series, including participants in 39 states, plus Washington, D.C., and countries across the globe, including Canada, England, France, Switzerland, Japan and Ghana.

The classes feature 30-minute presentations, followed by 30-minute Q&A sessions open to all. The classes are followed by chatroom breakouts for students enrolled in the three-credit course to discuss the material before they then take a quiz.

All lectures are being recorded, captioned and posted on the course website. For more information or to join the course, email the College of Arts and Sciences at cas@umw.edu.

As for classes in the fall, UMW said it intends to hold in-person classes for the upcoming academic year. "However, the situation is fluid and dependent upon widespread cooperation with CDC guidelines on prevention and social distancing," the university said.