#9 Our Titular Question: Part Two with the CILC Pinnacle Education Collective

Show Notes

Welcome to Part Two of this  two-part episode in which Seth, Tami, and Allyson delve into the insights and experiences of a diverse group of North American distance learning professionals. 

As we do with each episode, we asked each participant the titular question of our podcast: Why Distance Learning? It's a question that distance learning providers all have to answer, the implication often being: why don't you just do this in person? Each of the people in CILC's Pinnacle Education Collective have reflected deeply upon this question as you will learn in this episode. The answers go way beyond trying to replicate an in-person experience virtually and instead venture into the medium's ability to push the very limits of what's possible in the classroom.

Check out Part One (Episode #8) when we ask this same crew for golden moments from their careers: times when their values aligned perfectly with the controlled chaos of an educational experience over distance learning.

Discover the outdoors with Karin Davidson-Taylor at the Royal Botanical Gardens here: https://bit.ly/3NROQws 

Explore with Annie Mumgaard at the Morrill Hall: University of Nebraska State Museum here: https://bit.ly/3pobwer 

Investigate with Katie Wolfson at the UCAR: Center for Science Education here: https://bit.ly/42XSxoI 

Jump in with Brandon Hall to Learn Around the World here: https://bit.ly/3pu6fC3

Learn along with Dr. Jasmin Poor at the Roper Mountain Science Center here: https://bit.ly/3JDaodH 

Dig in with Kellie Saraceno at Longwoods Gardens here: https://bit.ly/3Jyu42c 

Discover with Jessica Meadows at Fort Monroe Authority here: https://bit.ly/3XsXFQC 

Embark with Marc Kotz on a Born 2 Move Adventures here: https://bit.ly/46oxPRR 

Dive in to learn from Jason Robertshaw at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium here: https://mote.org/pages/education/education-online 

You can always keep up with Allyson and Tami at the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) here: https://bit.ly/445KkjM 

As always you can stay connected with Seth at Banyan Global Learning here: https://bit.ly/3NOScAn 

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.