Connecting students with the Arctic: Live classroom online teaching from the Arctic to the USA and Europe: five case studies

Researchers working in polar regions face unique challenges not only in terms of environmental extremes and logistics, but also with respect to communications and commitments at their home institutions. With the increasing availability of highspeed internet at remote polar locations, some of these constraints are now diminishing. Polar scientists now have opportunities to communicate in realtime, including directly into universities, schools and public spaces. This paper explores the practicalities and implications of online teaching at institutions in the UK, USA, Germany and France, delivered from the remote Hamlet of Pond Inlet in the Canadian High Arctic by three of the authors. In this qualitative experiential study, the experience of an expedition to the region in early spring 2023 showed that, despite some remaining technical challenges, live teaching from remote locations in the Arctic to secondary, further and higher education institutions can engage with students. The technology to allow this is now a realistic but still limited option, providing students with an unprecedented learning experience. Such communications might help to inspire a new generation to understand and value polar regions.