This is part of Encounter Edu’s additional guidance for using the website during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. During this period of uncertainty, school closures and self-isolation, parents and teachers may need to teach differently.

Encounter Edu’s multimedia section has been designed to be used both at home and in the classroom. There is no registration needed and access is and will remain free.

The content has been gathered on a variety of expeditions and projects and is ideal for students to view on their own or with the guidance of a teacher, parent or carer.

For parents and carers who are home-schooling for the first time, it might be tempting to use online multimedia resources as a form of childcare during these trying times. This is fine, and members of our team are doing it too. We are all trying our best.

If you do want to take the learning a bit further, here are some ideas…

How to learn with video

In terms of the theory, there are two main ways that videos are used in education. The recall learning method is the one you may remember from school. You get a list of questions and you watch a video and try to get the information you need to answer the questions and then you get marked. You probably won’t be using this one at home if you’re a parent.

The second method is reflective learning and is great for shared watching with parents/carers and young people co-learning. It’s got a few simple steps:

1. First off, just watch the video and enjoy it.
2. Then, have a chat through some reflection questions. What surprised you most? What was your favourite bit and why? Did anything change your mind about something? What puzzled or confused you?
3. Watch the video again with your answers and discussion in mind. Did this help to clarify anything? Did you change your mind?
4. You can then follow up by looking online for further learning opportunities.

How to learn with photo galleries or diagrams

Our photo galleries can just be browsed as useful and educational escapism. Children can use them to as inspiration to draw pictures and label them or they can be used to support learning directed by a teacher.

The photos and captions can be used to create presentations about different topics. Currently our photo galleries are not designed to be downloaded and we are now working on creating downloadable zip files of all our standard photo galleries. This may take us a week or so, so please bear with us as we add this feature.

How to learn with 360 media

360 media, sometimes referred to as virtual reality, is a great tool for taking young people out of their current surroundings. To start using these resources, check out the general guidance.

As you browse through our multimedia resources, you will see that any 360 media are marked with an icon in the top left hand corner of the image tile. You can also see some of our favourites in the Ocean Education 360 collection.

You don’t need a virtual reality viewer to get the most out of these resources, but they do create a much more immersive experience. We normally recommend the Mattel View Master Virtual Reality Starter Pack. This has been discontinued by Mattel, but an online search should lead you to an online retailer that still has stock. To note, that you will still need a compatible smart phone to use in the viewer (see a list).

If you want to go further, check out the Google Expeditions app, as well as our suite of lessons designed to be used with Google Expeditions. We have written up some guidance for this as well.