By Shane M Hanlon

Back in early 2020, before we in Sharing Science knew that we’d spend most of the year working from our homes and doing most of our communication via virtual platforms, we mapped out a new kind of webinar series. We not only wanted to be more deliberate about creating content around a central theme but also to find ways to make the content more attractive and accessible after the webinars were over. Sure, we always archive our webinars but, if we’re being honest, not a ton of folks want to sit through an hour of content when they can’t ask questions in real time. Enter the Virtual Learning Hub. 

For each webinar, we’ve created additional content to convey key points via multiple mediums. I’ve taken to TikTok and Reels to create scicomm videos with my dog. Our own Olivia Ambrogio has flexed her artistic drawing skills by creating <1-minute animations as well as animated webinar summaries. And our graphic design department has been putting together infographic summaries. 

Each webinar has its own page; however, we didn’t have a good landing page for the entire hub. Until now. Check out Virtual Learning Hub in all it glory: 

You can browse the hub here. Or, if you want direct links to the topics we covered:

• Science communication in a virtual world
• Online engagement: Intro to social media for scientists
• Online engagement: Expanding your online presence
• Online engagement: Utilizing emerging platforms
• Scicomm advocacy: Creating an effective one-pager
• Scicomm advocacy: Writing an op-ed or letter to the editor
• Fall Meeting prep: Mastering the virtual presentation & making the most of an e-lightning poster

Stay tuned for our 2021 webinar series on storytelling (we’ll outline it here in early January) and enjoy!

-Shane M Hanlon is Program Manager of AGU’s Sharing Science program. Find him on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.