World of Learning Institute Podcast and Newsletter
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The Power of Engagement in Online Learning
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The Power of Engagement in Online Learning

How do I engage students in virtual environments? Season 4 Ep. 1 #71

Greetings!

Welcome back to Season 4 of our podcast! This year we will take a peak Beyond the Screen: Excellence and Online Education - looking at how everyone - regardless of where you teach or learn can benefit from the best practices of Online and Virtual Learning. We are grateful that you continue to listen in.

And, this year we are trying something new because we want YOU - the students, educators, and families to all see what we are up to and how YOU can engage with the World of Learning Institute! Below you will find not only our podcast notes, but also our Quick Bites for educators, our Family Newsletter, and our Calendar of Events.

Please let us know what you think. Let’s have a great school year!

Pat

This Episode

We hosted two amazing guests as we started our fourth podcast season, Beyond the Screen: Excellence and Online Education. Melissa Henderson is a virtual learning specialist at the World of Learning. Over the past year has done an amazing job in creating an engaging environment for the students who come to us in our K-12 program. She understands the importance of building relationships. Listen in to hear about the ways she helps learners to connect.

This photo is of 3 women in a zoom room. Top left is Melissa smiling wearing a patterned shirt, bottom center is Jeanne, smiling with a tan wall and window behind her. Top Right is Pat smiling with a blurred background and a brown top.

Our second guest is a long-time friend and colleague Jeanne McCarthy, the Division Director for Brandywine Virtual Academy at Chester County IU. Jeanne and I first met at a workshop about building engaging online content. Her insights about how to build engaging experiences included humans! Listen in!

Here are some of the key takeaways from our conversation:

  1. Engagement - no camera, no mike, no problem - Melissa shared an anecdote about a student who was hesitant to use a camera due to a personal issue, illustrating the need for empathy and understanding - and the potential of virtual teaching.

  2. Rethinking our Roles - Both Melissa and Jeanne have transitioned from traditional teaching roles to become leaders in online education, emphasizing the learning curve and the shift in teaching strategies needed for the virtual environment.

  3. Build for Everyone - In developing courses for struggling learners, Jeanne realized that everyone can benefit from good instructional design theory (COI) in online learning. Great design creates engaging, personalized learning experiences that cater to all students, not just those struggling or excelling.

  4. Potential for Innovation - The possibilities for innovation in online learning are vast, yet traditional educational constraints often limit this. We call for a more courageous and unapologetic approach to integrating new teaching methods and technologies that expand engagement.

  5. The Human Factor - When learning happens in Zoom or on an LMS it is best to keep class sizes small. We all believe lower student-teacher ratios and increased personalized feedback significantly enhance student engagement, learning, and success in online environments (and in brick-and-mortar schools, too).

Listen in for all the details and the fun banter as Melissa, Jeanne, and I talk about the work we love! 

Pat

Our Awesome New Section!

Quick Bites

Quick Bites
Happy New School Year!
1. Set Clear Expectations…
Read more

Family Newsletter

Link to Parent Toolbox

Calendar of Events


Some Great Learning Resources:

Podcast with Dr. Nicole Turner Lee on the Digitally Invisible

Nurturing Parental Engagement Mapping - by Edvative Learning

Adolescent Community of Engagement

Classroom Values with High School Students | Edutopia

Discussion about this podcast

World of Learning Institute Podcast and Newsletter
We Do This Everyday!
We do our best each day to be authentic, relevant and engaging in the virtual education space. This podcast will help you see that you, too, can survive and thrive in the new and evolving world of blended and hybrid platforms for learning.
For many years the WOL Institute has provided the BEST in online virtual learning for K-12 schools. We hope our experience in the virtual world will help you navigate and succeed.