Virtual Engagement Opportunities

Virtually, Anything is Possible At BHC

Even from home, you can stay engaged through volunteerism, exploring, and online opportunities for social interactions with classmates. We offer the following list of ideas and activities to virtually engage you in life-long learning.

Virtual Volunteering

You can still put some good out into the world from the comforts of home. Engage with others through virtual volunteer experiences:

  • Read a book to an isolated senior through StoriiTime.
  • Scan or edit books for people with reading disabilities through Bookshare.
  • Conduct research into global human rights violations through Amnesty International.
  • Help raise awareness and support for PPE, ventilators and senior support through Health4the World.
  • If you have a LinkedIn account, you can help answer career questions for students interested in your field. Learn more at Career Village.
  • Subtitle and translate TED Talks to bring ideas to others.
  • Provide tutoring and/or advice to low-income high school students to help them succeed through UPchieve.
  • Remotely help veterans and their spouses with career prep through mock interviews or job search advice.  See Hire Heroes USA for more information.
  • Send online messages or mail letters of encouragement to nursing home residents and staff through the Adopt a Nursing Home Program.
  • You can adopt a grandparent in London and have virtual video calls and keep their spirits high while in isolation through CHD Living.
  • Volunteer to be an Online Ambassador with Ark of Hope for Children.
  • Volunteer to Translate with Translators without Borders.
  • Give well-deserved Treats for Troops through Soldiers Angels Treats for Troops.
  • Be an online emotional support person at 7 Cups.
  • Make a global difference with the United Nations.
  • Lend your eyes to solve tasks for blind and low vision people. Visit Be My Eyes.
  • Identify New York Wildlife, map our galaxy or assist researchers in many other ways with Zooniverse.
  • Sew emotional support blankets for Binky Patrol.
  • Track bird populations with eBird.
  • Answer texts from people in crisis using active listening and collaborative problem solving with Crisis Text Line.
  • Crochet or knit afghan squares that will help build blankets for both babies and adults. Send them to Warm Up America.
  • Record audiobooks for Librivox.
  • Transcribe historical documents for the Smithsonian.
  • Send a card, letter or note once a week to someone undergoing chemotherapy. Apply at Chemo Angels.
  • Share your voice and help drive innovation in voice technology through VocaliD.
  • Provide learning and encouragement to children around the world via Skype and the Granny Cloud website.
  • Test, evaluate or develop elements of the National Park Service’s online presence.
  • Raise money in a virtual world with The American Cancer Society and Second Life.
  • Develop video games to help App to Succeed teach youth in need how to make good financial decisions.
  • Train others in technology to help overcome poverty with Right Here at Home.
  • Spread the word by sharing social media posts and important announcements from your favorite nonprofit organizations.
  • Help Harvard researchers learn the best ways to break down stereotypes by taking tests with Project Implicit.
  • Look at satellite images of storm and help researchers predict cyclone behavior with Cyclone Center.
  • Connect to additional Online Volunteer Opportunities.

 Virtual Visits

Want a way to get a little culture and education from the comforts of home? Now, you can “go to the museum” and never have to leave your couch.

Take a look at some of Google’s top museums that are offering online tours and exhibits. Museums around the world are also sharing their most zen art on social media to help people cope with staying home. Now you can even go “outside” with incredible virtual tours of some of America’s best national parks.

This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies. You can also find hundreds of artifacts on the museum’s virtual tour.

Google’s Street View feature lets visitors tour the Guggenheim’s famous spiral staircase without ever leaving home. From there, you can discover incredible works of art from the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary eras.

This famous American art museum features two online exhibits through Google. The first is an exhibit of American fashion from 1740 to 1895, including many renderings of clothes from the colonial and Revolutionary eras. The second is a collection of works from Dutch Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer.

  • Musée d’Orsay, Paris

You can virtually walk through this popular gallery that houses dozens of famous works from French artists who worked and lived between 1848 and 1914. Get a peek at artworks from Monet, Cézanne, and Gauguin, among others.

  • National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

One of Korea’s popular museums can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Google’s virtual tour takes you through six floors of Contemporary art from Korea and all over the globe.

As one of Germany’s largest museums, Pergamon has a lot to offer – even if you can’t physically be there. This historical museum is home to plenty of ancient artifacts including the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and, of course, the Pergamon Altar.

  • Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Explore the masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age, including works from Vermeer and Rembrandt. Google offers a Street View tour of this iconic museum, so you can feel as if you’re actually wandering its halls.

  • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Anyone who is a fan of this tragic, ingenious painter can see his works up close (or, almost up close) by virtually visiting this museum – the largest collection of artworks by Vincent van Gogh, including over 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and over 750 personal letters.

  • The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

European artworks from as far back as the 8th Century can be found in this California art museum. Take a Street View tour to discover a huge collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, and photographs.

  • Uffizi Gallery, Florence

This less well-known gallery houses the art collection of one of Florence, Italy’s most famous families, the de’Medicis. The building was designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 specifically for Cosimo I de’Medici, but anyone can wander its halls from anywhere in the world.

  • MASP, São Paulo

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo is a non-profit and Brazil’s first modern museum. Artworks placed on clear perspex frames make it seem like the artwork is hovering in midair. Take a virtual tour to experience the wondrous display for yourself.

Built in 1964, this museum is dedicated to the archaeology and history of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic heritage. There are 23 exhibit rooms filled with ancient artifacts, including some from the Mayan civilization.

 

Virtual Engagement Activities and Ideas

Playlists: Get in tune with other students by creating and contributing to a collaborative playlist. Perhaps you’d like to create a playlist with song titles that cleverly allude to digital technology or dealing with change.

Movies: Pick a film that can be streamed for free from our library film database: Feature Films for Education . Give your friends a few days to watch it, then gather them online to discuss their favorite bits and the storyline’s relevance to their lives. Or gather together on Zoom, screen share the movie to all participants, then open a discussion session after the movie has ended, learning more about each other through cinema.

Improv Games: Whose line is it anyway? You and your friends!  Many improv games can be slightly adapted to work well virtually, including One Word Story, Convergence, and 5 Things. Gather your friends in a Zoom room and play some improv games.

Hobbies: Are you a pro at origami? Have a friend with a knack for crocheting? Know a student who always manages to take the perfect mobile phone photos? Consider passing these hobbies on to other friends and student peers through a Zoom webinar. Participants will learn something new and the experienced hobbyists will get some fun teaching experiences. Alternatively, you can search YouTube for tutorials to watch together. Embrace how bad you’ll be at it initially; it can be relatable and hilarious.

Charades: With a video platform, like Zoom, charades can be fun, energizing, and challenging. You can generate charade prompts here or use the free Charades! app.

Online Games: Get board, not bored. Join your peers on multiplayer board games through Pogo, Tabletopia, or Poki. Score!

Karaoke: Use an online karaoke catalog like Karafun or SingSnag for an off-the-charts competition. Or, you can simply search for karaoke versions of popular songs on YouTube.

Personality Tests: You don’t even need to leave your homes to find out your personality strengths with the Myers-Briggs Type indicator, CliftonStrengths, or True Color.

Journaling: Journaling can be deeply therapeutic. Here is a list of suggested topics to start your daily journaling journey: suggesting daily prompts.

Gardening: Experience the joy of gardening…by osmosis: online gardening documentaries.

‘Desk’ercise: These desk-friendly exercises can inspire you to get your heart rates’ up and stretch your tired limbs, even if you don’t have a desk.

 

 Bonus: Want to learn to run your own engaging Zoom or Webinar event? Sharing some of the tips for engaging webinars here and facilitating awesome videoconferences here.