Why Distance Learning? is a podcast about the decisions, design choices, and assumptions that determine whether live virtual learning becomes shallow and transactional—or meaningful, relational, and effective at scale.
The show is designed for education leaders, instructional designers, and system-level practitioners responsible for adopting, scaling, and sustaining virtual, hybrid, and online learning models. Each episode examines the structural conditions under which distance learning actually works—and the predictable reasons it fails when it doesn’t.
Through conversations with researchers, experienced practitioners, and field-shaping leaders, Why Distance Learning? translates research, field evidence, and lived experience into decision-relevant insight. Episodes surface real tradeoffs, near-failures, and hard-won lessons, equipping listeners with clear framing and language they can use to explain, defend, or redesign distance learning models in real organizational contexts.
Hosted by Seth Fleischauer of Banyan Global Learning, and Allyson Mitchell and Tami Moehring of the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, the podcast challenges outdated narratives about distance learning and explores what becomes possible when live virtual education is designed intentionally, human-centered, and grounded in evidence.
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#85 Hot Takes: What Five Episodes of Research Taught Us with Seth, Allyson, and Tami
Episode 85
Monday, July 20, 2026 • Duration 41:55
In this special episode of Why Distance Learning, hosts Seth Fleischauer, Allyson Mitchell, and Tami Moehring skip the guest interview and trade hot takes drawn from their recent run of research conversations — with Michael Barbour, Bobbi Sandberg, Jered Borup, and Kristen DeBruler. Each host came in with their own list, then picked which ones to dig into together. What surfaces is a set of specific, evidence-backed reframes: where parents' instincts to help go wrong, why remote isolation is a design failure rather than an inherent cost of distance learning, and what's actually breaking down when students sense their teachers are using AI on their feedback.
Together, the hosts work through the Academic Communities of Engagement framework's head/heart/hands distinction, and why the "heart" and "hands" work — trust, executive-functioning support — protects kids more than parents jumping in on academic content. They connect a CBS News piece on remote-worker isolation to Michael Barbour's finding that logging into school was, for some students, the most normal part of their pandemic day, arguing that isolation is what happens when culture isn't designed on purpose, not something baked into the medium. And they spend the back half of the episode on AI: not the cheating problem schools have mostly focused on, but the mirror-image trust break when students catch teachers using it on feedback without saying so — and why an honest, disclosed, assignment-by-assignment AI policy beats a blanket ban nobody actually follows.
Key topics:
Head, heart, hands: the Academic Communities of Engagement (ACE) framework
Why parental "head" support (re-teaching content) can do more harm than good
Remote work isolation as a design failure, not a modality problem
Michael Barbour's finding on pandemic remote learning and student mental health
Teacher-student trust and AI-generated feedback
Assignment-by-assignment AI disclosure as an alternative to blanket bans
Note: this is a hosts-only episode, so there's no guest bio or guest-provided links to confirm — just the items above referenced on air.
About the Hosts: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of Why Distance Learning. Through Banyan, he designs live virtual programs that connect K-12 classrooms to global peers and expert facilitators — building the kind of structured, human-centered distance learning the podcast explores. See https://banyangloballearning.com/
Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell work with CILC, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, to help educators implement high-quality live virtual learning experiences across grade levels. Discover more at CILC.org.
#84 Why Is Teaching Online Still Not Part of Teacher Prep? with Michael Barbour
Episode 84
Monday, July 6, 2026 • Duration 45:51
In this episode of Why Distance Learning, your hosts talk again with Michael Barbour — the most-cited researcher in K-12 online and distance learning — about what it would actually take to fix how teachers are prepared to teach online, and why thirty years of K-12 virtual learning hasn't produced that change yet. Drawing on his 2024 paper with Charles Hodges, Michael lays out six concrete steps — two focused on building the research base, four focused on teacher preparation programs — and explains why none of it happens without explicit mandates from states and accreditation bodies. The assumption under examination: that teacher prep programs will gradually incorporate online pedagogy on their own as demand grows. The evidence suggests they won't, for the same reason they never properly integrated technology in the first place.
Together, the hosts and Michael explore the structural reasons teacher preparation programs can't make room for online pedagogy without a mandate, even when they want to. They dig into a counterintuitive finding from Newfoundland and Labrador — where students with K-12 online learning experience actually performed worse in college online courses than their peers, not because online experience is harmful, but because of how that particular program's heavy synchronous structure coddled students in ways that didn't transfer. They examine what the research actually shows about online learning and mental health (short version: the modality isn't the problem, and during the pandemic, logging into school may have been the most normal part of a child's day). And they work through the affordances and tradeoffs of synchronous versus asynchronous instruction — a framework any practitioner can apply immediately. Michael closes with the two big questions currently driving his research: where is the field of K-12 online learning thirty years in, and how much of what gets regulated in the US is driven by ideology rather than evidence?
Why teacher prep programs don't change without state or accreditation mandates
The Newfoundland counterintuitive finding: when prior online experience hurts
Site-based facilitators / e-deans and the role of on-site support in distance programs
REWIND #51 From Stopgap to Standard: The Rise of Virtual Learning with DLAC's John Watson
Monday, March 2, 2026 • Duration 48:28
After attending DLAC — the Digital Learning Annual Conference — founded by John Watson, one thing is clear: the digital learning community doesn’t retreat under constraints. It builds.
Yet, for some, the question persists: Was distance learning just a pandemic stopgap? Or is it a durable part of education’s future?
In this episode, John Watson joins us to unpack what the field actually learned from 2020 — and what it didn’t.
One of the most persistent misconceptions, he argues, is the conflation of emergency remote instruction with purpose-built online learning. High-quality digital programs take months or years to design. What happened during the pandemic was an emergency pivot. Those are not interchangeable.
More importantly, this conversation reframes the debate entirely. The future isn’t “online versus in-person.” It’s about expanding options.
What We Explore
Why online learning should be compared to real on-the-ground alternatives — not idealized versions of school.
How digital access enables other opportunities (CTE pathways, dual enrollment, flexible schedules), not just online coursework.
Why hybrid models are emerging as one of the most dynamic growth areas in K–12.
What personalization actually means — beyond superficial choice menus.
How AI may reshape agency, instruction, and lifelong learning in unpredictable ways.
A powerful story of a student who moved from functional dropout status to graduate school through a hybrid pathway.
Throughout the conversation, a consistent theme emerges: Success should not be measured at the system level alone. It has to be measured at the level of individual students and the futures they’re building. Distance learning isn’t valuable because it’s digital. It’s valuable because it creates flexibility where rigidity used to exist.
A Shift in Perspective
Instead of asking whether distance learning has a future, perhaps the better question is:
#76 Building Florida Virtual School From Scratch with Julie Young
Episode 76
Monday, February 16, 2026 • Duration 36:36
Virtual learning didn’t start as a tech experiment. It started as a capacity and access solution.
In this conversation, Julie Young traces the early design logic behind Florida Virtual School—what problems it was built to solve in the mid-1990s, and what that origin story still reveals about rigor, relationships, student identity, and how to design learning systems that scale.
You’ll hear why the mission was never “deliver online,” but break the capacity ceiling—especially in places where schools couldn’t staff courses, couldn’t afford expansion, or literally didn’t have rooms to add sections.
Key Ideas and Moments
1) “Virtual delivery was the means, not the mission.”
Julie frames FLVS as a response to overcrowding, teacher shortages, and unequal course access—not a fascination with the internet.
2) The AP “try it with a safety net” design
An early innovation: students could attempt AP coursework while having a built-in path back without public shame, sometimes even with the same teacher—reducing fear of failure and expanding who even tries advanced courses.
3) Why some students “become a different person” online
Julie describes how virtual learning can enable students who were failing or labeled in traditional settings to succeed because:
they can move faster or slower without an audience,
teachers can give more individualized attention,
relationships can be built deliberately,
bullying/social status pressures are reduced.
4) Relationship-building as an operational system, not a vibe
Early FLVS practice emphasized front-loading relationship-building: extended calls, deep parent conversations, learning student voice through writing, and using that baseline for both instruction and academic integrity (in an era before tools like Turnitin).
#75 How Do You Know If Your Virtual Program Is High Quality? with Dr. Chris Harrington
Episode 75
Monday, February 2, 2026 • Duration 41:35
How do you know if your virtual program is actually high quality—without reducing it to a checklist?
Dr. Chris Harrington returns to the podcast to share how he’s building the Virtual Learning Accelerator: a human-centered system that helps leaders assess program quality, translate results into priorities, and support teachers over time—without outsourcing professional judgment to AI.
What you’ll get from this episode
A clear way to think about quality as a system, not a tool or a single role
How standards-aligned self-assessment becomes useful instead of performative
Practical guardrails for using AI to speed up improvement without distorting it
A sustainable model for improving virtual programs year over year
Key moments
00:01–02:05 — Why the quality question matters now
02:20–07:30 — The Virtual Learning Accelerator: coaching, assessment, and PD as one system
09:46–14:45 — How the needs assessment works (14 standards, ~45–60 minutes, instant report)
15:45–18:45 — Why the AI launch was delayed: tightening rubrics and recommendations
21:03–26:40 — Turning scores into action: why coaching is the translation layer
28:30–36:10 — Supporting teachers at scale: micro-courses aligned to online teaching standards
37:00–40:10 — Revisiting “Why Distance Learning?”: the shift from access to quality
#74 Online Readiness Is a Leadership Problem with Dr. Alexandra Salas
Episode 74
Monday, January 19, 2026 • Duration 36:01
Distance learning doesn’t fail because of tools—it falters when leadership, policy, and systems don’t align around student success. In this episode, Seth Fleischauer and Allyson Mitchell sit down with Dr. Alexandra Salas, founder and CEO of the Delmarva Digital Learning Association, to unpack what institutional readiness for digital learning actually requires.
Drawing on her experience in higher education leadership, instructional design, and nonprofit systems change, Dr. Salas challenges the idea that digital learning is merely a delivery mode. Instead, she frames it as a connective infrastructure—one that can support access, belonging, wellness, and persistence when designed intentionally.
The conversation moves beyond emergency remote learning to examine how organizations evaluate readiness, why frameworks matter, and what leaders must confront if digital learning is going to meaningfully support students rather than strain them.
What This Episode Explores
Why digital learning should be evaluated at the systems level—not course by course
The difference between emergency remote teaching and sustainable digital learning
How leadership, governance, policy, and student support services shape online success
Why “online readiness” is about people and structures as much as platforms
The role of reflection frameworks (Quality Matters, OLC, ISTE, and others) in continuous improvement
How wellness, trauma-informed practices, and student belonging intersect with distance learning
What teaching yoga online revealed about presence, connection, and learning in virtual spaces
Why distance learning is better understood as connected, accessible, future-ready learning
Golden Moment
Dr. Salas shares an early career story from her time as an instructional designer—partnering with faculty to bring courses like anthropology, chemistry, and Arabic online before large-scale platforms made it commonplace. The moment highlights a recurring theme of the episode: trust, curiosity, and collaboration matter more than tools when innovation involves real change.
Why Distance Learning?
#73 Virtual International Collaborations Build Equity, Maturity, and Global Competence with SUNY COIL's Hope Windle
Episode 73
Monday, January 5, 2026 • Duration 43:15
In this episode of Why Distance Learning, Seth Fleischauer, Allyson Mitchell, and Tami Moehring welcome Hope Windle, Director of SUNY COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning). Together they unpack what COIL actually is, how it works inside real courses, and why it gives all students—not just those who can study abroad—access to meaningful international collaboration. Drawing on years of experience connecting students across countries, languages, and disciplines, Hope explains why meaningful collaboration isn’t about content mastery alone, but about process, perspective, and growth.
Pain Point
Many educators believe that authentic global learning requires travel, study abroad programs, or well-funded international exchanges—opportunities that remain inaccessible to most students. Even when virtual connections exist, they are often superficial, short-lived, or focused on “learning about” others rather than learning with them.
Solution
SUNY COIL offers a project-based, faculty-driven model that embeds international collaboration directly into existing courses. Rather than one-off calls or presentations, students work in mixed international teams on shared problems—ranging from food insecurity and data visualization to journalism, astrophysics, and app design.
Throughout the conversation, Hope shares:
What distinguishes COIL from “Mystery Skype”–style exchanges
Why friction, miscommunication, and failure are essential parts of cross-cultural learning
How COIL builds student maturity, humility, professional communication skills, and global awareness
Why virtual exchange is a powerful tool for equity, access, and inclusion, especially for students historically excluded from international experiences
How the UN Sustainable Development Goals provide a flexible, shared framework across disciplines
#72 Inside CILC — Field Ed, Roam From Home, and the Future of Virtual Learning
Episode 72
Monday, December 22, 2025 • Duration 35:01
In this episode of Why Distance Learning, Seth turns the spotlight to co-hosts Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell to explore the work they lead at the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC). For more than 30 years—long before the digital pivot of 2020—CILC has been connecting classrooms and communities to museums, zoos, aquariums, and cultural institutions through live, interactive virtual programs. But as demand grew, so did a problem: users loved the programming but struggled to find the right experience in a catalog of over 2,600 virtual field trips.
To solve this, CILC redesigned everything around two clear pathways: Field Ed for PreK–12 classrooms and Rome From Home for adults and older adults. Each gives users a curated entry point rather than a maze of search results. And instead of forcing teachers or community coordinators to juggle logistics, CILC introduced bundles and fully hosted webinar series—options that reduce prep time to almost zero while improving the learner experience.
What problems CILC kept hearing
Teachers overwhelmed by too many choices, not enough guidance
Adults and senior-living communities needing moderated, accessible programs
Content providers unsure how to adapt or refresh virtual programming
School budgets going unused because scheduling felt too complex
What the redesigned model delivers
Field Ed: A clean K–12 catalog aligned to curriculum, standards, and CTE
Rome From Home: Cultural and wellness programming designed for older adults
Bundles: Flexible funds teachers can use anytime, without losing budget
Webinar Series: CILC handles hosting, registration, moderation, and tech
Consulting: Support for museums and cultural institutions building or rebooting virtual programs
The episode also explores what makes a virtual field trip truly work. Tammy and Allyson break down pacing, interactivity every few minutes, accessible visuals, and the presenter “presence” that makes a screen feel like a shared space. For older adults, the structure shifts—more narrative, slower pacing, and extended Q&A—because live virtual learning often becomes a social anchor, not just a lesson.
#71 Virtual Field Trips + Student Collaborations = Low-Lift, High-Impact Solutions for Global Competence
Episode 71
Monday, December 8, 2025 • Duration 31:25
In this special episode of Why Distance Learning, the tables turn—Seth Fleischauer steps into the guest seat as co-hosts Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell interview him about the purpose, design, and future of Global Learning Live, Banyan Global Learning’s next-generation experiential global learning program. They explore what authentic global learning really requires in today’s classrooms—and why the medium of live virtual learning matters more than ever.
Most schools want to build cultural competence, empathy, and real-world communication skills, but:
Finding reliable global partners is inconsistent and often falls apart mid-year.
Language learners rarely get opportunities to use English in meaningful, real-world contexts.
Teachers lack simple, low-prep ways to bring global learning into existing schedules.
Field trips and international travel are expensive and inaccessible for most students.
The result? Global learning remains an aspiration, not a system.
However, Banyan's Global Learning Live is structured, scalable model that connects students worldwide through live field trips, global collaborations, and authentic showcase moments. Seth shares how 20 years of partnership with Tsai Hsing School led to the creation of an experiential cycle that prepares students not only for academic success, but for a rapidly changing, interconnected world.
What the program delivers:
Live Virtual Field Trips Bringing students into real places—Portland bridges, Renaissance fairs, and more—with authentic “whoa” moments that make learning unforgettable.
Global Student Collaborations Cohorts, not brittle partnerships—designed to reduce dropout risk, increase diversity, and ensure ELL accessibility.
Authentic Purpose for Language Learning English isn’t a worksheet—it becomes the tool students use to communicate across borders and share their original ideas.
#70 How Virtual Clubs Transform School Culture with Pearson's Cindy Carbajal
Episode 70
Monday, November 24, 2025 • Duration 38:11
Educators often assume that clubs, activities, and school culture must happen in person—that building belonging in virtual learning is limited or even impossible. Many imagine distance learners as isolated kids behind screens, missing the social experiences that shape identity, leadership, and community.
But what if that assumption is simply wrong?
In this conversation, Cindy Carbajal, a 20-year veteran of Pearson Virtual Schools, shows us how vibrant, student-driven communities thrive online through thoughtful structure, flexible engagement pathways, and opportunities for real agency.
Cindy oversees a global clubs and activities program serving 11,000+ students across time zones, grade levels, and cultural backgrounds. Her work demonstrates that:
1. Student-Centered Design Fuels Real Belonging
Clubs are built with a goal that at least 50% of live time is student talk time—not passive listening.
Students share, present, lead, and create—driving engagement and ownership.
Broad-topic clubs (like Art Club instead of Crochet Club) help students discover unexpected interests and communities.
2. Flexible Models Match Virtual Students’ Real Lives
Every offering includes both synchronous and asynchronous pathways, ensuring access regardless of schedules, time zones, or family obligations.
Live sessions build community; asynchronous challenges deepen skills and allow for self-paced exploration.
Michael Barbour is widely cited as the most prolific researcher in K-12 online and distance learning. His work spans student success and persistence in virtual environments, teacher preparation for online instruction, and the governance and regulation of K-12 online programs across jurisdictions. He is currently focused on building a research agenda for the field and examining how political ideology shapes online learning policy in the United States compared to other countries. Barbour holds a faculty position and has previously held posts at Wayne State University, among others.
About the Hosts: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of Why Distance Learning. Through Banyan, he designs live virtual programs that connect K-12 classrooms to global peers and expert facilitators — building the kind of structured, human-centered distance learning the podcast explores. See https://banyangloballearning.com/programs/global-cohorts
Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell work with CILC, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, to help educators implement high-quality live virtual learning experiences across grade levels. Discover more at CILC.org.
How do we design systems where digital tools expand human possibility — rather than merely digitize existing constraints?
The schools represented at DLAC are not arguing for replacement models. They are building blended ecosystems that combine online coursework, face-to-face experiences, internships, community partnerships, and emerging technologies in ways that make school more adaptive.
Episode Links
Learn more about DLAC and their year-round professional learning communities: https://www.deelac.com
Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning, which designs structured live virtual and global learning experiences that expand student connection across classrooms and continents.
Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell work with CILC to support educators in implementing high-quality digital learning experiences across grade levels.
🎧 Listen in for a grounded conversation about what’s hype, what’s durable, and why distance learning is less about modality — and more about access, design, and student futures.
5) The parent’s role: support pace, don’t replace the teacher
Julie is explicit that FLVS was designed with teachers responsible for learning, and parents as partners for pace, communication, and context—not as the primary instructor.
6) What online makes possible in K–12 ↔ college pathways
From ASU Prep Digital, Julie shares how online models remove “physical campus” and age-related barriers in dual enrollment—making authentic college coursework possible even for unusually accelerated middle school students.
7) Why she wrote the book now
Julie’s book aims to capture 30 years of policy, research, mistakes, and breakthroughs—the “drama and trauma” of building an industry that many newer educators only encountered through the distorted lens of 2020.
Who This Episode Is For
Policy and system leaders shaping virtual/hybrid strategy
District and school leaders designing scalable online programs
Instructional designers and program operators trying to make relationships reliable at scale
Anyone tired of pandemic-era assumptions substituting for real history
In Dr. Salas’s words, distance learning isn’t about distance at all. It’s about access, inclusion, and possibility—especially for learners in rural or underserved communities. When aligned with strong leadership and intentional systems, digital learning becomes a bridge rather than a substitute.
Educators across K–12 and higher education can begin rethinking global learning by:
Designing short, team-based international projects within existing courses
Prioritizing process, collaboration, and reflection over perfect outcomes
Allowing students to navigate real-world challenges like time zones, communication styles, and cultural differences—with guidance rather than rescue
Viewing virtual exchange not as a backup to travel, but as a distinct and powerful pedagogy
Why Distance Learning?
For Hope, distance learning creates space for reflection, grace, and intentional response. By combining synchronous connection with asynchronous thinking time, virtual learning allows diverse voices, languages, and cultures to grow together—right now, not someday in the future.
Discover global virtual learning opportunities and resources at CILC.org with Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell.
Seth Fleischauer’s Banyan Global Learning provides meaningful global learning experiences that prepare students worldwide for success in an interconnected world.
Moments from the field bring it home: students from Nicaragua to Minnesota solving a physics challenge together in Field Ed Live, or the older adult who said, “I never thought I’d see the Smithsonian again—and I did, from my chair.” These are the access and opportunity stories that define why distance learning matters.
Why distance learning?
Because it brings the world to people who might never reach it—and brings it back to those who thought they’d lost it.
A Low-Overhead, High-Impact Design Schools can join four-week pilots with one live class per week + a showcase and asynchronous global exchange.
ELL-Ready, Teacher-Friendly Materials Built to make participation meaningful for all levels, not just native speakers.
Impact to date:
More than 42,000 student years of distance learning delivered.
Students report increased confidence expressing original ideas in English.
Meaningful growth in perspective-taking, curiosity, and cultural competence.
Practical steps educators can take—whether or not they join the pilot.
1. Bring the world into your classroom through personal live video. Use your own life, community, or experiences as cultural text. Even small shifts build perspective-taking.
2. Integrate short, purposeful global exchanges. Asynchronous collaboration—sharing artifacts, reflections, or questions—can be powerful without live schedules aligning.
Access to a global cohort of classrooms across continents
4. Start planning for sustained global engagement. Seth describes the future vision: a global network with diverse cohorts, built-in supports for ELL learners, and eventually a FERPA-compliant platform designed for authentic collaboration at scale.
Overlap between global clubs and local school clubs These insights help fine-tune offerings and spark new opportunities—like peer tutoring, reading buddies, and esports leagues.
How Educators Can Apply These Insights Today
1. Start with the student experience—not the content.
Ask: Where can students lead? Where can they share? How can this be theirs?
2. Build broad entry points.
Instead of a niche club for each interest, create umbrellas where kids can explore together.
3. Don’t replicate in-person school—capitalize on what’s uniquely possible online.
Global reach, time-zone diversity, virtual volunteer opportunities, and student leadership that scales across schools—these are advantages brick-and-mortar can’t match.
4. Teach students how to interact online.
Cindy’s programs explicitly teach:
How to give feedback in writing and art clubs
How to share space respectfully
How to show kindness online (Kindness Club!)
5. Track what matters.
Attendance, satisfaction, enrollment, and student stories help shape future offerings.
Discover more virtual learning opportunities at CILC.org with hosts Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell.
Seth Fleischauer’s Banyan Global Learning provides meaningful global learning experiences that prepare students across the globe for success in an interconnected world.
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