#15 Connecting Students to the Sea with Darin Trobaugh of the Alaska SeaLife Center

Show Notes

In this episode of Why Distance Learning, hosts Seth, Tami, and Allyson interview Darin Trobaugh, an Education Specialist at the Alaska SeaLife Center. They discuss Darin's diverse background in environmental engineering and teaching, which allows him to bring unique content to each of the over 2,000 educational programs he's taught. Darin shares how he combines his passion for animals with opportunities to share science  with learners of all ages. A highlight is Darin's perspective on the importance of using distance learning to share a little piece of Alaska with students who can't visit in person. He touches on how Alaska itself becomes a character in many programs, and the value of teaching Alaskan culture broadly. Darin also discusses benefits and challenges of broadcasting live from the SeaLife Center rather than a studio, including keeping the animals cooperative. Other topics include terminology, designing programs for young learners, and grant funding for distance learning initiatives. Throughout the conversation, Darin emphasizes that distance learning allows the SeaLife Center to fulfill its mission of inspiring conservation of the marine environment in creative new ways.

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Guest bio:
As an Education Specialist at the Alaska SeaLife Center, Darin Trobaugh enjoys combining his passion for animals with the opportunity to share fun science with audiences of all ages.  After studying environmental engineering at the University of Illinois and Oregon State University, Darin spent 2 years teaching high school in Papua New Guinea with the U.S. Peace Corps.  His diverse background allows the conversation to meander a bit during his education programs, so even after teaching over 2,000 programs he still brings in unique content each time.  Darin’s favorite aspect of distance learning is being able to share a little bit of Alaska with people who can’t easily reach the state in person – hopefully that inspires them to make the effort and get there someday!

Links:
Check out the Alaska Sea Life Center at https://www.alaskasealife.org/

Browse amazing virtual learning opportunities at CILC.org

Seth's  Banyan Global Learning provides live virtual learning series in Character Education to schools in North America at banyangloballearning.com

Creators and Guests

Host

Allyson Mitchell

SF

Host

Seth Fleischauer

TM

Host

Tami Moehring

What is Why Distance Learning??

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.