Key Practices for Online Delivery

While much of your knowledge, skills, and experience will apply to both online and in-person delivery, online delivery adds extra difficulty to creating positive STEM experiences for participants on account of its virtual nature and the distance introduced between instructor and participant. Many tasks are made more complex in addition to being less engaging for participants in an online environment. Below, we detail 5 key practices for you to use in your online program delivery that help to improve participant engagement and address some of the challenges introduced by the shift to online interaction. Some (or some parts) of these practices might occur naturally or informally during in-person delivery, but for online delivery, you may need to explicitly plan to include certain things or deliberately adjust your approach to delivery since doing so on the fly can lead to a disjointed or confusing experience for participants. 

CALL OUT: A worksheet has been developed for this section to help you organize your thoughts about the key practices that you will be learning about. It is designed to be completed in parallel with this section and notes have been made where you should pause, reflect, and write down your ideas. Click here to access the worksheet.

Set expectations

Setting expectations—establishing what participants should expect from instructors and vice versa—is a critical component of delivery, both in-person and online, but it becomes especially important during online delivery because of the less natural feel and flow when communicating via video conferencing.

• Layout an agenda. Just as you would set out a schedule at the beginning of an in-person program (and likely at different points through the program), laying out an agenda for your online delivery session gives participants an idea of what to expect. In some cases, where participants need additional support from a third-party, such as a parent, sibling, or support worker, this can provide an opportunity for such a person to plan for when they might be needed.

• Set out expectations for participation and interaction. Similarly, while you may cover etiquette or rules at the beginning of in-person delivery, it is crucial to do so at the beginning of an online session (or even/additionally in advance of the session) to establish how you will be using whatever platform you’re on and how participants are able to communicate with you and each other. How would you like your participants to identify themselves (e.g., first name only; first name, last initial; nicknames or code names) and does the platform you’re using allow for changes during a session?  

• Explain how to ask questions or how to ask for help. You should explicitly explain how participants should go about requesting help or asking questions and, if possible, provide opportunities for them to practice using the platform to do so to prepare them for if/when they actually need to during the session.

• Encourage using video/webcams but make it optional. Barring technical difficulties, at least one instructor should have their webcam on at all times. For participants, using webcams means that you are able to see them and that they are able to see each other. For you, it also means being able to see faces to gauge reactions and engagement levels. Unless it was a condition of registration, however, participants may not all have webcams. Further, not all participants may be willing to have their webcam on all the time or even at all. Participants should be allowed to engage in a way with which they are comfortable, so make sure there are ways for non-video participants to interact, including audio-only communication or screen sharing.

Pause here and fill in the “Set expectations” box in Part 1 of your worksheet.

CALL OUT: Specific to online programming, we’ve experienced that high school students will not want to engage the same way as the younger youth. While we initially encouraged cameras on/speaking over mic, it wasn’t very successful and we learned to instead focus on increasing engagement in a way that this age group wanted to engage with - using chat, breakout rooms, interactive polls, etc. We had to be persistent and consistent in our efforts to engage them but it has paid off. - Geering Up

Foster collaboration

Collaborative tasks are an opportunity for participants to not just develop their STEM skills and knowledge but also to share their experiences with, and learn from, each other. Being able to have participants work together in partners or in groups is something that borders on being taken for granted with in-person delivery, however, enabling and supporting collaboration becomes less trivial in online contexts.

• Provide specific opportunities for collaboration. Set aside time for participants to share their work and interact with each other in productive ways. This might mean having participants first try to help each other if they encounter challenges instead of having an instructor provide that initial support. There should also be opportunities for participants to discuss their experiences, especially to explain a solution or product and how they arrived at it.

• Use built-in communication platform features that support collaboration. Most of the common communication platforms have functionality for direct messaging between participants and the creation of breakout rooms. If you’re using a platform that supports these features, consider how you can use them to support participant collaboration. Note that features such as breakout rooms might make some instructor tasks, such as supervision of participants or keeping participants on task, more challenging than analogous in-person setups. Be sure to include and address such considerations in your delivery planning.

• Integrate external apps/platforms into your delivery where appropriate. Outside of the communication platform that you’re using, there are many third-party applications that can be useful for collaboration. For example, digital Post-it note boards such as Google’s Jamboard can be used as a way to collect and share participant thoughts or answers to a question; or video clip sharing platforms such as Padlet can be used for participants to present their work. Even something as simple as a shared Google Doc or Slides presentation can create a space for participants to work together and has the added benefit of creating a lasting product that they can refer back to if necessary. Be sure to note if you’re using a platform or technology that requires the creation of an account and be aware of any potential issues with privacy, permission, or consent. If your participants are too young to create an account themselves, you will need to organize with a parent or guardian in advance to make sure that your participants are able to fully engage when the time comes.

Pause here and fill in the “Foster collaboration” box in Part 1 of your worksheet.

Simplify

Having instructor-participant interactions take place remotely through a video conferencing platform means that there’s already an extra layer of complexity for online delivery compared to in-person delivery. When delivering programming online, you may find that you need to simplify some activities (e.g., by removing tasks or elements) or have more granular instructions (i.e., smaller steps) than you would otherwise expect.

• Minimize disruptions. Try to keep the number of times participants are required to switch between applications or tabs to a minimum. Each switch potentially means lost time and momentum for your delivery.

• Think about different ways that you can present or explain instructions. When giving instructions in-person, there are a number of additional channels of information that you use that you might not think about. Diagrams, hand gestures, and physical models all provide participants with extra information that helps them make sense of instructions and follow along. To support your online delivery, think about ways that you can provide your online participants with supplemental information, for example, you could include or send an instruction sheet, illustrations/photos of key steps, or videos of processes for participants to view in advance of, or during, your delivery.

• Shorter might be better. While you should try to have a range of activities in your content, this is especially important for online delivery where focus is harder to direct and maintain. Try to limit the number of key messages and concepts that you’re covering in a given session and be sure to be clear about what they are, reinforce them throughout, and explicitly connect (or encourage participants to connect) tasks and activities back to them.

Pause here and fill in the “Simplify” box in Part 1 of your worksheet.

Provoke curiosity

Curiosity is sometimes called the precursor to creativity. Curiosity is that wonder and asking “why” that drives exploration and investigation. In any learning environment, whether in-person or online, provoking curiosity is key to learner engagement. Any opportunity you have to grab attention by kickstarting curiosity, you increase participant motivation to make new connections and discoveries for themselves. 

• Ask thought-provoking questions. Consider how you might share information without lecturing. What questions might encourage participants to explore, discover, and make connections on their own? How can you help others dig deeper just by asking the right kinds of questions - and supporting them in forming questions of their own? 

• Consider phenomena. In STEM education, “phenomena” are those events and examples of nature in action that make learners pause and think. Phenomena are not easily explained, but rather stimulate imagination and provoke curiosity. This might take the form of a video, photo, story, or other media that would make someone pause and go “hmmm…” or ask the question, “how does that work?” For some examples of phenomena, check out NGSS Phenomena and consider how one of the clips or photos might stimulate learning to kick off an exploration.

Pause here and fill in the “Provoke curiosity” box in Part 1 of your worksheet.

Play

What does play look like in an online environment? We can understand “play” as activities that are fun, spontaneous, and interactive. Often in youth outreach, play takes the form of physical activities that may be unstructured with space for exploration, but play can also take place in online contexts with some imagination and intentionality. 

• Icebreakers. Icebreaker games are a playful way for you to get to know your participants and also for your participants to get to know each other. They can also be used to provide an opening hook for your programming; to help participants get familiar with the online platform that you’re using; and get used to the norms that you establish for interacting online.

• Unstructured games. How might you play with words, ideas, and have fun through games in online contexts? Sometimes this can take the form of trivia (e.g., Kahoot) or other online collaborative games. You might also challenge participants to come up with their own games in planned free time.

• Exercise creativity. What are some playful approaches to online delivery? Could you have a theme for the day or the week, with a unique virtual background or costumes? How might you leverage digital tools to play? 

• Make micro challenges. Quick exercises, like a 5-minute Scratch challenge or logo design task can be a way to break up other activities and give participants a chance to exercise playfulness and creativity.

Pause here and fill in the “Play” box in Part 1 of your worksheet.

Putting it Together

The recipe for successful online delivery is no different from in-person delivery in that it is a combination of preparation, consideration, and experience. Having considered both the instructor’s perspective (during the Preparing yourself for online delivery section) as well as key practices to improve the experience of online participants, you now need to think about how these will be reflected in your future online delivery. For Part 2 of the worksheet, you are tasked with coming up with 2 to 3 ideas or concrete steps, based on the concepts and practices covered, that you can take to help ensure that your participants have a positive experience with your online programming.

Pause here and fill in Part 2 of your worksheet.

(Optional) Once completed, discuss your responses with 1 or 2 colleagues:
Did you have similar ideas? What made you choose the ideas that you did? Together, can you think of 1 or 2 other ideas that might also help?

This is also a good point to plan time, either as an individual or with some colleagues, for reviewing upcoming content that you will be delivering and seeing how best to adapt it for online delivery. Practicing delivering the content online is one of the best ways to become familiar with the full functionality of the online platform that you’ll be using, as well as potentially rough areas that might not be apparent from a read through of the material.