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Since the dawn of modern technology, managers have long discussed the effectiveness of virtual work. While general trends have indicated increased acceptance of virtually working in recent years, the onset of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced a majority of the world’s professional workforce to quickly embrace virtual work. Building upon previous research, this chapter suggests that virtual work is positively correlated with productivity. Using an online open survey, the study examined the extent to which sustained virtual work impacts perceived individual productivity, perceived organisational productivity, collaboration, job satisfaction, and connectedness over a 15-week period. Findings demonstrate that perceived productivity and connectedness were particularly high in the initial weeks, tapering downward as a function of time physically removed from co-workers. Job satisfaction remained largely unchanged and collaboration yielded no reportable trends. Managers reported more negatively than non-managers in all tested variables. Findings support more flexible working systems for employees in the future.

This chapter will provide an overview of how Problem Based Learning (PBL) is used to support first year chemistry students at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. The chapter will go on to provide an overview of the learning journey that we have undertaken over the last seven years by discussing the challenges we have encountered and by including details of how we have adapted our approach based on student and staff feedback and other considerations. The chapter is a follow up to a previously published article with a focus on the changes made since this initial publication (Williams, Woodward, Symons & Davies, 2010).