2020: the year that changed everything. This might be a headline we read someday in the future or it might be part of a history lesson our grandchildren will take. The global pandemic has impacted many people on so many different levels that it is hard to retrace all the outcomes. We do, however, know that all education systems have been challenged around the globe, in primary as well as secondary and tertiary education.

The switch to digitalised teaching methods has been the biggest change so far. Zoom meetings instead of classes, submitting exercises and essays on online platforms instead of the teachers‘ offices, different formalities, different curricula. All of these aspects have led to a significant increase of the importance of digital teaching material, especially that of teaching videos. Instructional videos have a very wide range of applicability – as scaffold during live classes for instance, as revision material, as introduction to a complex topic or simply as individual help at home.

Students of the University of Hamburg have started to work on optimising multipurpose videos which can be used independently or in combination with conventional teaching. We would like to share with you one of our videos on the past perfect simple tense. According to the curriculum for secondary schools in Hamburg, this topic is normally taught in year seven or eight. We hope to inspire more students in teacher training into producing and sharing new, modern pedagogical material with one another. We’re all in this together!

If you’ve got a teaching video you would like to share, please do not hesitate to contact us!