#16 Online Teaching Tips with Dr. Lance Ford, Trainer of Over 20,000 Teachers

Show Notes

Join us as we speak with Dr. Lance Ford, a veteran educator and pioneer in the field of distance learning. Dr. Ford has been integrating video conferencing technologies in classrooms for over 20 years. He focuses  on how video conferencing can enable authentic engagement between teachers and learners, regardless of location.

Dr. Ford shares insights from training over 20,000 teachers worldwide on effectively using tools like Zoom. He discusses common misconceptions teachers have before embracing video conferencing, as well as the biggest benefits and value-adds they experience after adopting these technologies. Dr. Ford also explores hardware considerations, the nuances of teaching music virtually, overcoming engagement challenges, differentiating instruction, and fostering community in a distance learning environment. He shares creative ideas and "golden moments" that emerge when teachers and students start leveraging the interactive capabilities of video platforms.

This inspiring discussion is a must-listen for any educator who wants to learn more about how to use video conferencing to create effective and engaging virtual learning experiences.

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Guest bio:
Dr Ford is a Zoom Rooms Educator/Teacher. Lance has been a classroom teacher for over 30 years. As a Zoom Educator, Lance has had the opportunity to train over 20K teachers from Afghanistan to Australia and Canada to Brazil in the effective implementation of video technologies in the classroom. He teaches as an adjunct instructor for Carl Albert State College in Poteau (POTO), OK where he leverages a variety of tools to engage learners both live and on-demand. He completed his PhD in Educational Administration, Curriculum and Supervision in 2009 from the University of Oklahoma. Although he has been teaching via synchronous remote video for over 20 years, Lance’s focus is not the technology. Instead he is focused on how tools become the transparent conduit for authentic engagement regardless of geo-location.

Links:
Dr. Lance Ford: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lance-ford-00856849/ 

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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.