A Course-Long Online Simulation: The International Relations of COVID-19

Abstract

We report on the development and use of a course-long, online simulation in a recent, upper-level undergraduate course on the International Relations of COVID-19. We demonstrate how to conduct a simulation in an entirely online environment by including a description of our processes and logistical advice, guidance, and specific examples. This simulation format can be easily translated to fit varying durations, issue areas, and in-person formats. Our students reported that the simulation was a rewarding and thought-provoking experience, as they were offered a front-seat view to the inherent substantive and logistical challenges of international negotiation about an ongoing international crisis in real time.

Keywords:

• Simulations
• online learning
• active learning
• international negotiations
• global health

Notes

1 This research was determined to be exempt from Institutional Review Board review by our university IRB.

2 The Online Appendix includes detailed instructions, including a schedule, role sheets, and paper prompts, for both instructors and students.

3 For a class with only one instructor, we advise limiting the number of delegations to a maximum of five.

4 We advise an afternoon deadline. If the deadline is at midnight, instructors will have to monitor increasing simulation-related emails until late at night.

5 While this development was unintended by the instructors, it demonstrated the possibility of damage done by cyberattacks in international relations.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tanisha M. Fazal

Tanisha M. Fazal is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. Her scholarship focuses on sovereignty, international law, armed conflict, and medical care in conflict zones. She is the author of State Death: The Politics and Geography of Conquest, Occupation, and Annexation (Princeton University Press, 2007), which won the 2008 Best Book Award of the American Political Science Association’s Conflict Processes Section, and Wars of Law: Unintended Consequences in the Regulation of Armed Conflict (Cornell University Press, 2018), winner of the 2019 Best Book Award of the International Studies Association’s International Law Section and the 2019 Best Book Award of the American Political Science Association’s International Collaboration Section. From 2021–2023, she is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.

Maria Sanchez

Maria Sanchez is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colorado College. Her research explores the politics of how international institutions exert authority over national governments, particularly in the areas of human rights and post-conflict reconciliation. Sanchez teaches courses on international law, international relations theory, justice for state-sponsored human rights abuses, transnational migration policy, and European Union politics.