In response to the COVID-19 lockdown, the FSC BioLinks team is venturing into the world of e-learning.
Taken from the FSC website
It’s tricky to replicate our usual invertebrate identification courses online but we’re going to try to find ways to keep teaching everyone all about the wonderful world of invertebrates even whilst we’re all stuck at home. Firstly, we thought we’d try running some “Virtual Meet Ups” to help us keep in touch and keep learning.
What are Virtual Meet Ups?
These are informal online/live meet ups on Zoom, which are around 1 hour long. In each meet up there is a 30 minute talk/presentation on topics such as invertebrate ecology, easy to ID species/groups, or projects/recording schemes we can all get involved with whilst at home by either us or a guest speaker. These are interactive sessions so there are opportunities to ask the FSC BioLinks team and the guest speakers any questions you may have, we’ll also give a quick update on the FSC BioLinks project and our future plans for other meet ups and e-learning opportunities.
We’ve been blown away by how popular they are, how quickly they book up and the long waiting lists of people trying to get a place. Now we know they work and are popular, we’re going to start increasing the capacity of these meet ups so hopefully everyone can join in.
To give you an idea of how it all works, the photos below are from one of our Virtual Meet Ups. Please note: you don’t have to use a webcam or microphone if you don’t want to and no one will judge you if you’re still in your pyjamas!
How can you join in?
We announce all of our events, including these, via our e-newsletter, so please sign up here if you haven’t already. Please note: booking is essential as we have a limit on how many people can join the meet ups at a time.
Click here to book a place
Do you want to be a guest speaker?
The FSC BioLinks Virtual Meetups are a great way to engage with the biodiversity sector, bringing together amateur naturalists with experts. We deal with all the admin, technology and hosting (and you’ll have at least two of us supporting you during the live session) so that the speakers can focus on their presentations and answering any questions. We’re aiming to host two Virtual Meetups a week, though this may include repeating popular sessions.
These meet ups are around 1 hour long consisting of:
- 10 minute intro by the FSC BioLinks team
- 30-40 minute talk presented by guest speaker*
- 15-30 minute Q&A session*
* length of time is up to the speaker.
Our project focuses on improving invertebrate identification and recording skills, as well as exploring how technology can be used to support recording. Our volunteers and followers are interested in a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to) invertebrate ecology, identification, recording and conservation.
If you’d like to be a guest speaker, then please fill out our speaker application form below and send it to biolinks@field-studies-council.org. We’ll then be in touch to discuss any potential opportunities.
Guest Speaker Application Form
Do you have any ideas about what topics we could cover?
The FSC BioLinks project focuses on identifying and recording invertebrates, and exploring how technology can assist biological recording and species identification. If you have any ideas about future meet up topics then please let us know by emailing biolinks@field-studies-council.org.
Upcoming/past Virtual Meetup topics include:
Bees in (and out of) the City project
The Most Remarkable Migrants of All (PhD research project on insect migration)
Why iRecord
Setting up an iRecord Activity
Spiders you can ID and Record During Lockdown
Sounds of the Wild: Intro to Passive Acoustic Monitoiring
Butterflies in London – a Hidden Success Story?
Online videos as a Tool for Biodiversity Education