distance learning Archives

Aug 21 2024

5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students at the Start of the School Year

By John Spencer Empowering Students, Podcast 8 Comments

As an educator, you are a community builder. From day one, you getting to know your students on a relational level. It’s often in the little things, like sending an email the first time they miss a class period or sending a positive note home…

Oct 29 2020

Building an Empowered Community in Distance Learning Courses

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Podcast 4 Comments

During this pandemic, many students have described feeling lonely and isolated as they shifted into online environments. This disconnect is amplified when distance learning courses are designed with only individual work in mind. This occurs when students access an asynchronous class and watch videos, read…

Sep 29 2020

What can food trucks teach us about virtual and hybrid learning?

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Innovation, Podcast 4 Comments

When we think of innovative companies, it's easy to imagine an open-air tech startup with ping pong tables and free drinks and huge windows and chairs so modern you're not sure how you're supposed to sit in them or look at them. Sometimes I look…

Sep 15 2020

5 Models for Making the Most Out of Hybrid Learning

By John Spencer Creativity, Distance Learning, Podcast 11 Comments

In the 1960's, cities built multipurpose stadiums for football games, baseball games, and concerts. These were supposed to be sleek, modern, and broad enough to encompass the needs of every entertainment industry. They were designed to be all things to all people. However, the multipurpose…

Sep 09 2020

The Power of Student Check-Ins During Distant Learning and Hybrid Courses

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Podcast 11 Comments

In my last article, I wrote about ways that we can get to know our students in virtual and hybrid courses. I also did a webinar on building a community online. You can watch it on replay here. One of the best ways to build…

Aug 24 2020

5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students in Virtual and Hybrid Environments

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Empowering Students, Podcast 6 Comments

Aug 12 2020

How to Make Virtual Meetings More Interactive for Students

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Podcast 11 Comments

Video conferences can be exhausting. You might notice that students who are highly engaged during an in-person session suddenly disengage in a virtual meeting. Often, there are challenges with video lag or simply the inability to see the room entirely. I created the following visual…

May 18 2020

Seven Teacher-Tested Ways to Find Renewal During Distance Learning

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Podcast, Teacher Life 5 Comments

Last week, I created the following goofy video as a reminder about the differences between teaching in-person and teaching from home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adrezHg-Aj0&t=97s Subscribe to YouTube Channel While this video is a little goofy, it points to a reality that teaching from home is vastly different…

Apr 28 2020

Empowering Students in Distance Learning Environments

By John Spencer Distance Learning, Podcast, Technology and Media Literacy 9 Comments

Student engagement can be a real challenge in this sudden shift toward distance learning. But one way to improve engagement is by empowering students. In this article, we explore how to improve equity and access and how to shift toward student ownership. Listen to the…

Apr 23 2020

Two Free Distance Learning Webinars

By John Spencer Distance Learning No Comments

I'm a huge fan of taking creative risks and trying something new. For this reason, I decided to do my first two live webinars this week. It was a truly energizing experience for me! Even though I'm an introvert, I loved the chance to connect…