Why Distance Learning?

Seth, Allyson, and Tami welcome special guest,  Ben Newsome, founder of Fizzics Education and Virtual Excursions Australia, to share his extensive experience in creating engaging hands-on science programs via distance learning. Ben provides valuable insights on the power of live virtual programs for learners, especially those living in rural and remote communities not only in Australia, but around the globe. Ben provides insight on how to train energetic science educators to engage a global audience. He discusses his collaborations with other institutions to create immersive virtual learning events. Tune in to learn from Ben's wealth of experience and how distance learning connects groups globally and breaks down barriers to learning.Ben is the author of Be Amazing!: The Way to Teach Science the Way Primary Kids Love and the host of the FizzicsEd Podcast!  Show Note Links: Get to know more about Fizzics Education by visiting their website here: https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/ Discover more about Virtual Excursions Australia and upcoming events here: https://www.virtualexcursionsaustralia.com.au/Stay Connected to Ben: Follow @fizzed on all social mediaLearn about virtual field trip offerings here: CILC Member Page: https://www.cilc.org/ContentProvider/ViewContentProvider.aspx?id=424 Check out his book, Be Amazing! - tech science the way primary students love here: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Amazing-teach-science-primary-ebook/dp/B072L2JN3H Make sure to tune-in to his podcast FizzicsEd & FizzicTwists that you can start following here: https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/category/podcast/ Dive Deeper into Research Mentioned: Read the study by Megan Ennes, ‘Museum-Based Distance Learning Programs: Current Practices and Future Research Opportunities,’ published in the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning here: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1297905.pdf Find out more about how the United States Department of Agriculture defines rural communities in America here: https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-classifications/what-is-rural.aspx#:~:text=This%20delineation%20of%20built%2Dup,with%20fewer%20than%202%2C500%20people Learn more about best practices for online teaching using the TITAC Method from Banyan Global Learning here: https://banyangloballearning.com/best-practices-for-online-teaching-orig/ Tech Troubles Troubleshooting Links to test your technology set-up on the videoconferencing platform you may be using: WebEx: Test Call ; &

Show Notes

Seth, Allyson, and Tami welcome special guest,  Ben Newsome, founder of Fizzics Education and Virtual Excursions Australia, to share his extensive experience in creating engaging hands-on science programs via distance learning. Ben provides valuable insights on the power of live virtual programs for learners, especially those living in rural and remote communities not only in Australia, but around the globe. Ben provides insight on how to train energetic science educators to engage a global audience. He discusses his collaborations with other institutions to create immersive virtual learning events. Tune in to learn from Ben's wealth of experience and how distance learning connects groups globally and breaks down barriers to learning.

Ben is the author of Be Amazing!: The Way to Teach Science the Way Primary Kids Love and the host of the FizzicsEd Podcast! 

Show Note Links: 

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.