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Emerging	Perspectives	
ep.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca	

 

 

Adapting to the New Normal During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Innovative 
Approaches in Virtual Teaching and Research towards Youth Engagement 

Suzie Sukyoung Lee, 1 Didem Erman, 2 and Tanvir Chowdhury Turin2 

 

1Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary 
 2Department of Family Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary 

 

Despite a growing number of immigrants and refugee (IR) youth, limited knowledge 
exists concerning the challenges that these youth face that can impact their health. 
We aimed to address this knowledge gap by conducting summer education 
programs for IR youths to increase their knowledge of health and wellness. Due to 
the epidemic of COVID-19, we transitioned to online learning, which required us 
to come up with creative ways to engage the students. We utilized tools including a 
virtual human library, simulations, and games to meaningfully engage learners. 
We learned that diversified and interactive learning activities are essential for 
participant engagement, and a virtual environment provides the opportunity to 
connect with diverse individuals. However, online learning may have reduced 
accessibility for students who do not have the suitable technology or environment. 
In the future, we will address this limitation by making asynchronous study 
materials available for students.  

 
Keywords: community-capacity building, youth engagement, virtual teaching, 
virtual research, simulation-based learning, game-based learning, human library, 
immigrant and refugee youths. 
 
Lee, S. S., Erman, D., Turin, T. C. (2021). Adapting to the new normal during the 
Covid-19 pandemic: Innovative approaches and research towards youth 
engagement. Emerging Perspectives, 5(2), 23-28. 

 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a large disruption in traditional education and research 
practices. As a group of students and researchers who work to empower youth in health advocacy 
by leading education programs and engaging in discussions with youth, it was necessary for us to 
transition from in-person meetings to online engagement. This paper discusses the various 
strategies and tools that our group has been using for facilitating an engaging online learning 
environment and conducting research to study the different challenges faced by immigrant and 

 
1 sukyoung.lee@ucalgary.ca 



Lee, Erman, & Turin (2021) – Emerging Perspectives  24 

refugee youth. We discuss how different online tools were chosen and utilized to effectively 
engage with youth and obtain their feedback regarding what they gained from the program and 
how the program can be improved. We adopted three innovations – a virtual human library, 
simulations, and game-based learning – and delivered them using Zoom, breakout rooms, 
PowerPoint and Kahoot. We hope that the findings of our paper will help individuals to build their 
repertoires of tools for community-engagement education and research involving youth.  

The Program 

The RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Student Empowerment) for Health and Wellness is a 
team of students and staff at the University of Calgary whose objective is to advance immigrant 
and refugee health through community engagement. To do this, our team leads summer education 
programs every year for immigrant and refugee youths (14-18 year olds) to increase their 
knowledge of health and wellness. Increase in health knowledge is assessed through pre- and post-
program surveys that asks students to report their level of understanding on specific topics in health 
(e.g., health research, social determinants of health, and nutrition). Examples of learning activities 
that are typically part of the in-person summer program include a field trip to the local homeless 
shelter and a mini-symposium where students present their health research projects to their friends 
and families. We collect feedback from students and conduct a focus group with the youth 
participants to better learn about the impact of our program and the challenges that immigrant and 
refugee youth face.  

Pandemic-Related Challenge and Adaptations 

Due to the suspension of in-person gatherings, our education sessions had to be delivered 
entirely online. This required us to come up with creative ways to engage the students. We explored 
and utilized a variety of virtual tools to adapt our methods of content delivery, learning activities, 
and learning supports that form the framework of effective teaching (Oliver, 1999). In particular, 
we utilized simulations, human libraries, and game-based learning as tools to meaningfully engage 
learners by promoting conversations and collaborations that are essential for effective learning 
(Northrup, 2002). Figure 1 provides an overview of these adaptations. The sessions were carried 
out using Zoom video conference and small breakout rooms to promote active discussion and 
involvement (Simon, 2018).   

Figure 1 
Comparison of frameworks used for in-person education sessions and virtual education sessions  

 
Virtual Human Library 



Lee, Erman, & Turin (2021) – Emerging Perspectives  25 

One of the program objectives was to help the students understand how culture and 
ethnicity affect health. We aimed to introduce youth to individuals from diverse racial and 
professional backgrounds and create a safe discussion environment to identify stigma and biases. 
To do this, we facilitated a ‘human library’ (The Human Library Organization, n.d.), whereby 
students heard the lived experiences of the challenges surrounding culture and race from guest 
speakers of different backgrounds. Our guest speakers included a counsellor who works daily with 
immigrant and refugee families, an Indigenous artist and teacher, and an immigrant medical 
student from Africa. We stationed our speakers in individual virtual breakout rooms and students 
were split into the rooms, where they had the opportunity to engage with each speaker. Some of 
the discussed topics included mind-body connection in the Indigenous community, mental health 
in immigrant and refugee families, and challenges and benefits of the immigrant experience. After 
30 minutes, students were rotated into a different room with a different speaker who shared their 
unique insights on the lesson topic. We felt that virtual breakout rooms worked even better than 
in-person for such a session because each discussion was able to take place in isolation without 
noise interference or the requirement of separate physical rooms. In post-session feedback forms, 
students reported that they learned how ‘racism can come in different shapes and forms’ and that 
in immigrant families, ‘it’s important to destigmatize mental health and let them know it’s ok[ay] 
to seek help’.  

Simulation-Based Learning 

Simulation-based learning refers to the use of simulation software, tools, and games to 
enrich student learning by modeling a real-life situation (Aebersold, 2018). In our session that 
focuses on social determinants of health, we aimed to augment student understanding of the topic 
through experiential learning. We designed and conducted a simulation board game on PowerPoint 
to teach about social determinants of health. The game design was inspired by the board game 
“The Last Draw Straw!” (Reeve et al., 2008). Within small groups, each player took on a character 
profile with defined gender, social-economic status, and race. Students were led through different 
scenarios and the outcomes of actions were determined by their predefined character profile. For 
example, a given scenario would illustrate how socioeconomics can affect exposure to accidents 
in a poor/rich neighborhood. After the session, one student commented that she enjoyed the game 
as it ‘gave insight into the many small and often forgotten ways that social determinants impact 
people’s lives’.  

Figure 2 

An overview of the social determinants of the health simulation game 

 



Lee, Erman, & Turin (2021) – Emerging Perspectives  26 

Note. Students gained or lost chips (movable yellow circles) based on resulting consequences 
which were listed on an event card. Students were led through different stages of life (childhood, 
adolescence, adulthood, and old age) and different sets of event cards corresponding to each life 
stage. The game was prepared by Suzie Lee and Whitney Ereyi-Osas.  

Game-Based Learning 

We utilized a platform called Kahoot (https://kahoot.it/) which can be used to generate 
gamified multiple-choice quizzes. It was used to test students’ knowledge about the lesson topic 
at the beginning of the session, prompt participant participation, and allow students to recognize a 
knowledge gap that may motivate them to focus on the lesson. We found it helpful that the platform 
permits students to respond anonymously, providing the opportunity for them to participate 
without the fear or shame of answering questions incorrectly.  

In addition to using a game, students were encouraged to draw and type their ideas onto 
the shared screen in prompting class discussions. For example, students were encouraged to circle 
their answers when given different choices on the screen and asked to describe the reasoning 
behind their answers. This gave way to interactive discussions. The annotation tool, which was 
built-in to Zoom, was used to complement teaching because it helped students visually engage 
with the lecture material, provide their insights, and allowed interaction with other students.   

Reflections on Access and Participation 

Our program engages immigrant and refugee youth, and it is important for us to consider 
the socio-economic constraints in online teaching and learning. Students may have technical 
constraints that may prevent them from engaging in online learning such as lack of stable internet 
access, or lack of conducive environment for learning at home (Lapitan et al., 2021). This 
highlights an important concern of equity in accessibility because we may have lost willing 
students who no longer register or fully engage in our program. We tried to address this problem 
by recording and sharing the sessions for participants to access later. In the future, we will also 
make asynchronous teaching materials (e.g., articles, videos, and podcasts) accessible to students 
along with recorded sessions. Participants also mentioned their need to socialize and connect with 
their peers during the sessions. To address their socialization needs, we will reserve time for 
interactive activities (i.e., sharing answers to an icebreaker question and games) that enhances 
meaningful engagement amongst participants. Despite limitations, our virtual program showed 
benefits: before transitioning to online, we heard feedback from students that commuting to class 
for the RISE program was very difficult. The transition to a virtual program eliminated the need 
for students to physically commute to class, which may have increased accessibility for students 
in general.  

Conclusion 

The pandemic pushed us to adopt new ways to carry out our learning program and research. 
In turn, this also provided us with a valuable opportunity to explore a variety of new tools and 
frameworks because we were obliged to develop creative solutions to overcome the limitations of 
virtual teaching. We learned that diversified and interactive learning activities are essential for 
participant engagement, and a virtual environment provides the opportunity to connect with 
students and speakers from different places. Students reported gaining new insights from engaging 
with different members of the community. When we transition back to an in-person program, we 



Lee, Erman, & Turin (2021) – Emerging Perspectives  27 

hope to incorporate the newly adapted methods of games (e.g. Kahoot, Jeopardy, social 
determinant of health game) that facilitate virtual mentorship outside of class, and to bring in 
diverse guest speakers to meaningfully engage students and help promote growing understandings 
of health and wellness. 

References 

Aebersold, M. (2018). Simulation-based learning: No longer a novelty in undergraduate 
education. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(2), 1–1. 
https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.VOL23NO02PPT39 

Edmonston, B. (2016). Canada’s immigration trends and patterns. Canadian Studies in 
Population [ARCHIVES], 43(1–2), 78–116. https://doi.org/10.25336/P64609 

Lapitan, L. D., Jr., Tiangco, C. E., Sumalinog, D. A. G., Sabarillo, N. S., & Diaz, J. M. (2021). 
An effective blended online teaching and learning strategy during the COVID-19 
pandemic. Education for Chemical Engineers, 35, 116. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECE.2021.01.012 

Northrup, P. T. (2002). Online learners’ preferences for interaction. Quarterly Review of 
Distance Education, 3(2), 219. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/95275 

Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education, 
20(2), 240–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158791990200205 

Reeve, K., Rossiter, K., & Risdon, C. (2008). The Last Straw! A board game on the social 
determinants of health. Medical Education, 42(11), 1125–1126. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1365-2923.2008.03215.X 

Simon, E. (2018). 10 tips for effective online discussions. EDUCAUSE Review. 
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2018/11/10-tips-for-effective-online-discussions.  

The Human Library Organization. (n.d.). The human library. https://humanlibrary.org/about/  
 

  



Lee, Erman, & Turin (2021) – Emerging Perspectives  28 

Acknowledgements 

  We would like to acknowledge and thank the past and current RISE for health and wellness 
team members for their contributions in creating and applying the virtual adaptations – Adibba 
Adel, Amira Kalifa, Amy Chen, Amy Omusuku, Aria Ardebili, Chin Tan, Hailey Lafave, Hannah 
Yaphe, Ife Onabola, Ini Adeboye, Jarrah Aburezq, Jovita Shroff, Kaitlyn Paltzat, Karam Senjar, 
Katherine Liu, Kim Davarani, Marisa Vigna, Naomie Bakana, Nour Hassan, Omar Razavi, Sanam 
Sekandary, Sophia Lu, Thompson Luu, Tobi Souza, and Whitney Ereyi-Osas. 

Author Note 

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.  

 


