Here our secondary science teaching team reflects on how 2020 changed them as educators, and what helped them make online lectures and tutorials more valuable for their students.

This time last year, we had a mere 12 hours to suddenly shift our first face-to-face secondary science education seminar online. Like so many of our colleagues in education, we were under the pump to navigate new challenges and make snap decisions while still providing quality learning experiences and establishing connections with our students.

We were mindful that we were working with future teachers, and saw this as an opportunity to share complex decision-making and reflections with our students, as captured in our previous article.

How teachers can embrace the rapid shift to online learning and teaching

We didn’t imagine we would not see a student in person for the rest of the year. Nor did we think seminars would still be online at the start of 2021.

New challenges moving forward

As we continued with our online lessons, we were pleasantly surprised to see how most, if not all, of what we learned in 2020 still stands. But we also identified new challenges for 2021.

In 2020 we asked: ‘How could we make the scheduled space suit our needs at such short notice?’

In 2021, this has changed to: ‘How can we make the online space suit our needs?’  We are now required to offer all classes in an online mode, alongside some on-campus classes. How can we continue to keep momentum in the online space? How do we ensure equitable access and outcomes for students online and on-campus?

In 2020 we struggled with: ‘How can we engage students in an online space, when our seminars and tutorials relied on dynamic teacher-student interactions?’

In 2021, this became: ‘How can we infuse interactivity in the online space with large groups of students on Zoom?’  Our seminars have up to 200 students, and tutorials have around 30. How do we ensure dynamic discussions are not lost? How do we encourage students to interact with us and their peers? How do we integrate teaching activities to avoid a highly segmented approach?

How to make online lessons for large groups of people interactive?

Building on lessons from 2020

The five tips we wrote about in 2020 are still highly relevant. But we now have new insights to share about supporting our students in an online space.

1. Make connections

Relationships are central to teaching and learning. Over the year, our focus shifted from building relationships to strengthening and maintaining relationships — not just between us and our students — but between students themselves.

We devoted time to regular, personalised check-ins. We’d set a fun theme for the week, like ‘bring your pet day’ or ‘describe how you’re going as a kind of dessert — which dessert would you be and why?’. These prompts increased engagement, and cameras and microphones came on during these check-ins.

2. Make room for meaningful discussions

Breakout rooms and time for interaction were highly valued. This was a space for students to meaningfully talk to each other, share ideas, offer feedback and develop camaraderie. As breakout rooms closed and students returned as a whole group, we encouraged them to report back to the class, take part in forums, and gave lots of opportunities to ask questions.

Some students were watching seminars and tutorials as recordings and could be overwhelmed with the number of recordings they needed to engage with. Pre-readings, videos and these initial activities soon became important to set the scene — a flipped classroom model.

3. Less is more

It was challenging to think of how to help students achieve the same learning objectives while moving to online. As we progressed through the year, we realised less is more. We stripped back to the key, essential messages we wanted students to take away. As we did, we identified a need to increase opportunities for dialogue and interaction.

Students were forgiving and resilient as we all learned together and tried different ways of interacting and capturing ideas. We tested out Zoom, Google Docs and Sheets, Jamboard, Poll Everywhere, Padlet and YouTube, which all proved to be useful tools for supporting our students’ knowledge development.

It was hard to let go of activities and ideas we considered essential for future teachers, but we found new ones in the process.

We modelled for our students that teaching is a learning profession where it is important to be creative and take pedagogical risks — something we want our pre-service teachers to emulate in their future classrooms.

4. Swim with the current

Accepting that teaching and learning online looks and feels different was a significant step we had to take. Equally, accepting that there are many reasons why students may not be online in a synchronous class, or have their video or mic turned off, was important.

Everyone was living through this pandemic with their own tensions and coping mechanisms. It was okay not to be okay.

We played to our strengths as a team, swapped roles each week and supported each other. We recognised each class would take meticulous planning and trust in each other.

What word comes to mind when you think of science?

This word cloud was created as part of interactive activity using Poll Everywhere.

Principles to adopt in 2021

The online mode of teaching is here to stay.  It can offer flexibility and added value to students and educators alike. Here are some principles we have adopted for this year.

Focus on the relationship first. As we deliver our seminars and tutorials this year, developing relationships in an online space will be paramount for our practice.

Accept everyone works differently. It is human nature that everyone responds and works differently, and as we teach in this online space we are cognizant of this situation and the impact it may have on pre-service teachers' ability to interact with us and their peers.

Provide supporting resources. Offer additional readings, website links, and open Zoom links so students can make their own catch-up times, videos and podcasts. This allows students multiple ways to access content at their own pace.

Build dynamic interaction. Get people talking, sharing and commenting. It could be written comments, speaking with or without video or annotating a shared slide. Everyone's input is essential if learning is to be shared and valued during class.

Embrace interruptions. Accept they will happen — from dropping out of Zoom to kids needing a cuddle. This can be an opportunity to get to know each other and understand what’s happening beyond the classroom.