Managing Data... and Covid An Experience Report

The Covid-19 pandemic presented a vast array of challenges for professors and students the world over. As we navigate Covid's long tail, many challenges remain. Those challenges - nasty as they are - can be recast in a constructive light and imbued with pedagogical significance as practical, common-ground motivational tools for teaching topics in data management. The author has done just that. In addition to teaching on full-time faculty in the Computer Science department at Marist College, he was a key member of their Covid-19 screening team. After designing and implementing data management systems for generating representative samples of the college population for surveillance testing, results tracking, and compliance monitoring, he used those experiences in new, hands-on ways to integrate data management theory with real-world practice in his classes. This experience report - wherein the author explains this journey and notes lessons learned - is an example of how, even once this pandemic has receded fully into the past, experiences like these can provide opportunities for educators to incorporate timely topics into their data management courses.