Virtual Education Programs

MDC Virtual Education Programs

Join the MDC staff for a variety of online virtual programming all about the Indian River Lagoon!  From animals and plants to conservation science research and beyond, we’ve got programs that the whole family will enjoy.

Registration for these programs is FREE, but donations always are appreciated. We need your support to stay afloat!

We currently use the Zoom platform (as well as some Facebook Live) for our virtual programming. We want to assure you that we have been careful to enact all the safety protocols to make our Zoom experiences positive ones, and we will continue to monitor any safety and security updates.

Virtual Public Lectures

While we await the ability to have larger congregations of people again, we are offering our popular monthly public lectures in an online-only format. Each month we highlight a different topic and invite an expert guest speaker as a way to educate our community. We hope you’ll join us for these free informative programs.

Coming soon…

The Marine Discovery Center’s May Monthly Lecture Series will explore the Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Amy Vu, extension coordinator of the lab in Gainesville, Fla., will talk about the lab and its work, pollination and honey bees in general. Vu runs the University of Florida Master Beekeeper Program, the University of Florida Bee Colleges, the UF IFAS Honey Bee Blog and the UF IFAS Honey Judge Program.

She will be joined on the webinar by New Smyrna Beach’s Doug McGinnis, former president of the Tropical Blossom Honey Co., a family-owned company that, for 75 years, bought and bottled honey and honeycomb from Florida and Georgia beekeepers and marketed it throughout the state, nation and to more than 20 nations. McGinnis served six years on the National Honey Board. A Florida alum, he has raised funds and supported construction of the UF Honeybee Research Laboratory.

The program is free, but participants must set up a personal Zoom account to access the webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Past Webinars

Virtual Florida Master Naturalist Program

The Florida Master Naturalist Program (FMNP) is an adult education UF/IFAS Extension program developed by the University of Florida and provided by many Extension offices and participating organizations throughout the state of Florida. FMNP training will benefit persons interested in learning more about Florida’s environment or wishing to increase their knowledge for use in education programs as volunteers, employees, ecotourism guides, and others.

Marine Discovery Center teaches the core Coastal module twice a year as well as several special topics throughout the year.

Traditionally these courses are taught in-person, but due to the restrictions brought about by COVID-19 we are implementing online-only and hybrid versions of our core and special topics.

Coming soon…

MDC’s Little Lessons Webinar Series

Little Lessons are geared towards children in Pre-K – 2nd grade and are a combination of Facebook Live storytime sessions and webinars.
We are not presenting new Little Lessons at this time, but please enjoy recordings of our past programs.

Past Webinars

Coastal Connections Webinar Series

“Discover Amazing” as you join our talented staff for a closer look into what makes the Indian River Lagoon and Florida’s coastal ecosystems so special. From creature features and microplastics research to the plants and animals of shoreline restoration work, you’ll learn what MDC staff and volunteers do to protect and restore the vital habitats of the Indian River Lagoon.
We are not presenting new Coastal Connections at this time, but please enjoy recordings of our past programs.​

Past Webinars