Blue Flag environmental education activities around the world have been presented with challenges due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, many marine and coastal environmental educators have been looking at innovative ways to adapt traditional learning options.
Photo: © Marine Dimensions
One of these educators is Marine Biologist Dr. Sarah Varian, who runs a small community-oriented enterprise in Ireland. Her business Marine Dimensions is dedicated to raising awareness about the marine and coastal environment. As a result of the COVID-19 restrictions, Sarah and her team have been working on adapting one of their most popular workshops, The Marine Experience, to run online.
The workshop, which is designed to introduce all age groups to the wonders of our marine world, has traditionally been very hands-on and practical. This included an interactive display of live animals and authentic marine regalia, ranging from lobster claws and whalebones to starfish and shark egg cases. Therefore, when the Marine Dimensions team got the confirmation from the Wicklow County Council to trial some online events for the County’s Blue Flag Environmental Education Activities, they weren’t sure how effective a ‘hands-off’ option might be.
However, the educators found that they were able to maintain the high engagement rate of the workshop by keeping other core components of the outreach. For example, small group sizes, a knowledgeable tutor and interesting bio-facts all improved the quality of the learning experience.
Indeed, reviews provided by workshop attendees were very positive, and several benefits were noted in relation to running the event online, including the potential for:
Maximising social distancing requirements concerning COVID-19 restrictions
Added convenience for families working from home
Engaging from a wide variety of locations, e.g. some families even watched the event en-route in the back seat of their car
Flexibility in terms of interaction - families could turn off their video and audio to allow privacy if so desired
Lower carbon emissions because of reduced travel associated with the event
With such encouraging results, the Marine Dimensions team is now looking forward to adapting the workshop to connect with schools and other programmes, thereby reaching out at the community level.
The trial online Marine Experience events were kindly facilitated by Wicklow Libraries, with funding from Wicklow County Council and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment through the Community Environment Action Fund (Local Agenda 21) in Ireland.
To read more about their programme, visit www.marinedimensions.ie
