Want to freshen up your course subjects next semester? Need an elective but don’t want to look through the entire academic timetable? I did a deep dive on some niche electives, so you don’t have to!
Keep in mind that some of these courses require you to have prerequisites. I have noted these below for each course description.
CANA 1102: Halifax and the World: Part 1
This course serves as an introduction to two subjects that you may be interested in pursuing further throughout your degree: Canadian Studies and International Development. The content connects your daily life in Halifax to important global figures and the history of art, music, and literature. And it connects Halifax’s history to greater global issues such as race, class, colonialism, and justice. If you’re interested in learning more about Halifax and its place in the world, you might love this course!
No prerequisites!
THEA 1051: Introduction to Theatre Organization and Stagecraft Part 1
This course allows you to learn about all the behind-the-scenes magic in theatre! You’ll learn about designing and creating props, lighting, sound, and stage management in lectures as well as hands-on environments. I personally took this course as a third-year Science student and loved it, as it was an exciting break from my usual coursework.
No prerequisites!
SUST 1000: What is Sustainability?
This introductory course looks at sustainable living through many lenses, including energy, water, land use, food, urbanization, and social equity at both the personal and global levels. It also allows you to gain crucial academic writing skills.
No prerequisites!
ARCH 1001: Intro to Architecture 1
If you just have an interest in architecture or you’re considering an architectural career, this course is for you! It introduces basic themes in architecture: site, function, history, materiality, and expression/social commentary. Lectures are complemented by design exercises using the conventions of architectural drawing.
No prerequisites!
CSCI 1170: Introduction to Web Design and Development
This course introduces you to key web concepts and skills for designing, implementing, and maintaining web content. Topics include introduction to the Web, UI and UX best practices, hypertext markup languages such as HTML, style sheets, client-side programming, multimedia foundations, dynamic content, and web content organization and maintenance.
Prerequisite: It’s assumed you have some programming experience.
ECON 2216: Economics of Global Warming
This course examines the costs and benefits of the effort to reduce climate change. It addresses questions such as: How do we value the well-being of future generations? How do we balance helping the poor with environmental sustainability? What policies can align incentives with environmental sustainability?
Prerequisite: ECON 1101.03 with minimum grade of C
SOSA 2402: Food and Culture
This course examines the concept of food through many lenses, such as nutritional science/health, belief/ritual systems, oral/textual histories, and ancient productive systems. It also explores food domestication and its relation to the concept of ‘ood entitlement. Emphasis is placed on non-European societies.
Prerequisite: One 1000 level SOSA course or FYP
HSTC 2210: Engineering the Planet
This course explores the notion of the Anthropocene, the idea that the Earth has been significantly and permanently altered by human activity. Through the lens of environmental history, it examines the material, social, political, and conceptual technologies used to relate and manipulate environments over the last 12,000 years.
No prerequisites!
PLAN 2010: Sustainable Community Design
This course explores how the makeup of communities can change in response to changing environmental awareness, shifting economic conditions, emerging technologies, and a focus on sustainable local action. Case studies and collaborative projects are completed as part of the coursework.
Prerequisite: Restricted to students who have completed at least 30 credit hours
HLTH 2000: Centering Black Canadian Health
This course introduces you to Black Canadian communities, particularly the history and unique experiences of African Nova Scotians. You’ll explore the historical and generational trauma and impacts of racism and discrimination on Black Canadians’ health and wellness through analysis of the social/structural determinants of health and topics of access, mental health, and chronic disease.
Prerequisite: Must be in second year
CSCI 2203: Data Science for Everyone
This course will provide an overview of the world of data science research. You’ll learn how to analyze data from social media and the internet to understand societal questions (e.g. revealing insights about how happy we are, who we’re friends with, how often we lie). It focuses on the content in a non-technical manner that’s accessible to everyone.
No prerequisites!
CRWR 2099: Love
This creative writing course introduces representations of love in literary and cultural contexts through engagement with historical and contemporary texts in many forms and genres. You’ll learn to critically analyze scholarly frameworks of love, romance, desire, and sexuality.
No prerequisites!
GWST 2192: Gender, Sexuality and Society
This course explores how the understanding of sexuality and gender are impacted by socio-economics and culture in contemporary Canada, and how their meanings interact with other social factors like age, ethnicity, class, and others. It also delves into the evolution of gender as a social construct, the histories of gendered expectations and organization of relationships, and gender/sexual activism.
Prerequisite:: One of SOSA 1002.03, SOSA 1003.03, FYP, or 3 credits of GWST at any level
CSCI 2204: Social Media and Content Creation for Everyone
This course explores the relationship between social media and the user as a content creator, developer, and manager. Topics covered include popular social media applications, their functionality and infrastructure, interface and content design, search engine optimization, and search algorithms, and connecting them with principles of usability and user experience.
No prerequisites!
SOSA 3025: From Friends to Followers: Social Networks and Connectivity
This course examines the social world through the perspective of social media, with topics ranging from the theory and practical applications of social network analysis, exploring how it’s used across various domains, including social media, diffusion of ideas, and kinship relations. You’ll learn how to complete social network analysis—the ability to identify influential actors within networks and to examine community structures—through case studies and real social media data.
Prerequisite: One 1000 level SOSA course or FYP
SCIE 3211: Communicating Science to Non-Scientists
In this course, science students learn and practice core concepts of communicating science to non-scientist audiences. Multiple forms of delivery are discussed, practiced, and critiqued, including written, oral, and visual. The impact of social media on how scientists communicate with the public is also explored.
Prerequisite: Must be a BSc. student and have completed 60 credit hours (likely 3rd year or above)
MGMT 3450: Money, Power, and Bad Decisions: How we got it wrong, doing everything right
If you’re interested in how money has impacted our contemporary society, this course might be for you! It highlights historical events that have advanced our use and exchange of money and how they have affected society.
Prerequisite: Must be in third year
DISM 3010: Introduction to Disability and Disability Management
This introductory course provides foundational information on disability management for any student wanting to create accessible spaces in their future careers. It specifically looks at disability theories and connects disability and occupation.
No prerequisites!
HLTH 4040: Health Law for Non-Lawyers
This course is designed for healthcare students to gain an understanding of legal issues they may encounter in their careers. The course starts by going over the Canadian legal system, the Canadian healthcare system from a legal perspective, and the nature of legal proceedings. It also covers practice management, confidentiality and disclosure of information, issues of care at the end of life, and the impact of human rights legislation on healthcare services and delivery.
Prerequisite: Faculty of Health students only