#4 Making DL SUPER FUN! with Lee Gambol of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Show Notes

Seth, Allyson, and Tami hang out and talk everything distance learning with health, science, and museum educator Lee Gambol, the Distance Learning Coordinator at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Lee and your hosts talk about the current state of virtual learning in their respective states and how school districts that lack bandwidth and tech can get the resources they need to access live virtual field trips. Lee brings her charisma to a conversation about using hardware and props, her wacky teaching approach, blending hands-on with distance learning, customizing content for audiences of all ages, and supporting a team that ensures the same standard no matter who is providing the live virtual visit. Don't miss out on this episode, where you'll not only be inspired by Lee's expertise in distance learning, but also learn some tidbits about how bodies function and hear the crew share some real life scar stories. Get ready for an informative and fun-filled ride!

• Show Note Links: 
  • Get to know more about Cleveland Museum of Natural History by visiting their website here: https://www.cmnh.org/ 
  • Stay Connected to Lee: 
    • Discover more about the virtual field trip available by visiting their CILC Member Page here: https://www.cilc.org/ContentProvider/ViewContentProvider.aspx?id=216 
  • Dive Deeper into Research Mentioned: 
    • Find out more about the Rural Utilities Services grants that can help with funding for bandwidth, hardware, and software: https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-utilities-service 
    • If you are interested in setting up a fund to support your classroom, you can visit DonorChoose to open an account here: https://www.donorschoose.org/ 
    • To learn more about opportunities to gain access to resources to support stronger bandwidth, make sure to check out Internet 2 - https://internet2.edu/ 
    • Discover more about Governors  expanding broadband access in schools per state with this article - https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/governors-prioritize-expanding-internet-access-for-k-12-students/ 
    • Get to know more about the Comcast Project Up Program that is dedicated to advancing digital equity and how you can get involved here - https://corporate.comcast.com/impact/project-up 

Host Links:
Browse amazing virtual learning opportunities at CILC.org

Seth's  Banyan Global Learning prepares students for real life with live virtual learning experiences in Character Education: 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.