Pick your kind of course: Understand the system
By Kevin Pilar, Current Student Communications
Choosing an elective that’s both interesting and fits your schedule and program requirements can be challenging. To help with that, we’ve started a blog series that explores courses across the College in a more meaningful way. By speaking directly with instructors and hearing from students who’ve taken these courses, we’re aiming to give you a clearer sense of what to expect and what you might get out of them.
This first set of courses focuses on one simple idea: understanding the systems shaping the world around you.
CMNS 2223: New Media and Society
Best suited for: students who are naturally curious, open to exploring ideas, and willing to move beyond searching for “the right answer” toward understanding how things connect.
The course title and description leave a lot open to interpretation – and don’t fully capture what you truly walk away with: a new way of seeing the systems shaping your everyday life.
Instructor Caitlin Turner notes that what surprises students most isn’t just what they learn, but how connected it feels to their own world. The course is designed to be flexible and responsive – you will be encouraged to bring forward the issues you’re already thinking about, and class time is used to explore those in real time. Throughout the course, you’ll build a toolkit around media literacy and platform thinking – something you can carry into future courses, projects, and even how you interpret the world around you.
Each week, you’ll move through topics like wearable tech and self-tracking, memes, influencer culture, or algorithms and bias – examining how platforms shape what you see, and what you don’t. You’ll apply that thinking in practical ways. As Turner shares, some students have rethought how platforms influence their decisions – like reconsidering dating apps after analyzing those systems – while others have applied it more directly, such as helping a family business better understand how algorithms affect their visibility online.
Instead of traditional exams, you’ll create podcasts, map out complex ideas, and investigate real-world problems – reflecting the kind of thinking and communication you build throughout the course.
Turner’s goal is simple: “I just need your world to look different in one way.” And for many students, it does. The common thread isn’t one specific takeaway, but a shift in how you see, question, and make sense of the systems around you.
ECON 3300: North American International Trade Issues
Best suited for: students who want a practical understanding of global systems and are interested in building confidence in analyzing and communicating complex ideas.
While CMNS 2223 is about seeing the systems shaping your everyday life, ECON 3300 helps break these systems down. North American International Trade Issues focuses on how global systems function, and how to think through them.
This isn’t your typical economics class. Beyond theory and models, you’ll learn to make sense of complex global issues and explain them clearly. As one student, Luna, shared, it offered “a better understanding of how trade affects countries, corporations, and everyday consumers,” while another noted how the material felt “extremely relevant to the current world we live in.”
Instructor Jeffrey Ward frames the course around application: “It goes beyond the textbook material – we’re using the theories and models to understand what’s happening day to day.”
You’ll begin by learning core concepts, then quickly move into applying them to real-world situations – trade negotiations, global tensions, and shifting economic relationships are brought into the room and worked through using what you’ve learned. You will be expected to take a position, support it using newly learned concepts, and respond to questions from others. So, if you enjoy a spirited debate, this is your kind of class. As Ward puts it, “there’s not necessarily right or wrong – it’s a matter of how you argue it.”
That shift toward structured, evidence-based thinking is where much of the learning takes place. Assessment reflects this, with a final presentation where you’ll explain a trade topic clearly and answer questions in real time.
For some students, it goes even further, shaping what they want to pursue next. One student, Mark, shared that the course “challenged my worldview.” He also noted that it confirmed his decision to continue in economics, while helping him connect big ideas like comparative advantage to everyday decisions – such as how he spends time and chooses a career path.
By the end of the course, you will be able to break down global issues, support your ideas with evidence, and feel prepared to actively participate in discussions in and beyond the classroom.
Are these courses for you?
- CMNS 2223 helps you notice and question the systems influencing everyday life – especially in media and digital spaces. CMNS 2223 is a University Transferable course. Prerequisites are CMNS 1220 or CMNS 1221 or 15 credit hours, and permission from the instructor (Caitlin’s email).
- ECON 3300 helps you analyze and explain systems – like global trade and policy – in a clear, structured way. ECON 3300 is a University Transferable course. Prerequisites are ECON 1150 and ECON 1250.
Connect with your Student Success Advisor to see how these courses can fit into your program and help you make the most of your course choices this Fall.