The rapid migration of courses from blended teaching to a fully online learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic required the timely development of new, online teaching resources and re-imagined strategies, to teach practical skills to university students. The move to deliver content that was fully online challenged the assumptions and conventions about the use of face-to-face classes, especially in STEM disciplines that rely on experiential learning. This critical review uses case studies to describe the innovations that were used to adapt undergraduate, first year (foundation) biology courses which were previously delivered using a blended learning pedagogy to a fully online format. In doing so, the opportunities to enhance traditionally practical based activities have also been considered. Future innovations for blended learning, however, require inherent properties and capacity of technologies to support aligned learning tasks.
Reflections on the crisis response to learning however, act as a catalyst for educational change towards more flexible models and practices in future interconnected learning environments.