Digital Outreach: Promoting a global understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

Technology allows educators to reach a global audience without amassing a large carbon footprint. The Skype in the Classroom programme from Microsoft enables me to spark curiosity and engage a wide range of students in dialogue to explore global issues, in particular, the threat of antimicrobial resistance, while supporting me to develop my skills as an educator. Through a multi-disciplinary approach, I employ Skype in the Classroom as a future-proof, powerful tool in our arsenal against the evolving microbial threat. We are not only responsible for teaching the next generation of scientists, but also the next generation of thought-leaders and professionals, who will work collaboratively towards our common goals.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the grand challenges of the 21st century, and global connectivity is one of the best solutions to promoting better understanding of this threat. The Skype in the Classroom programme has allowed me to teach sessions to students in Norway, India, Brazil, Miami, Florida and Puerto Rico, with students ranging from 10 to 18 years old. I use skype and Teams to deliver online lessons in an accessible way, starting with the scope of the problem, covering the technical detail of how resistance emerges and is spread, and looking at some of the newest approaches to tackling AMR. Using a ‘challenge-based-learning’ approach, we discuss how different professionals and roles within society can contribute to the issue. This makes the class applicable to students with a wide range of backgrounds, including those without a keen interest in science.