For years, education professionals have discussed the future of eLearning. Then, almost overnight, it was here.   With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading, modifications were required, and most school systems in the United States went to a fully virtual setup.   Some districts were set up well for success, while others are still struggling to catch up, even as students begin to return and we understand more about how to deter the spread of the virus in school facilities.   The most successful districts have been the ones that already had a plan for blended learning, especially those that have brought parents and guardians into the process as they’ve taken on an increased role in the learning process, said Angelica Casillas-Wortham, PD Specialist for Istation.   “It has definitely changed the lens on things. Families are now really instrumental in the learning process. They’re having to learn their role, as well,” she said. “I think they try to over-assist on occasions, and, definitely, we see the under-assist, but it’s in the over-assist when we are in the assessment process that has been, I think, a big, challenging factor for our teachers right now.”   Eventually, teachers will see when a student isn’t truly understanding the concepts and had a boost from a parent or older sibling, and those concepts eventually will have to be relearned.   Jennifer Greene Gast, Academic RTI Coordinator for Bastrop ISD, has seen parents struggle with the learning curve but is thankful to be able to rely on resources like those provided by Istation.   “One of the things that parents have learned is that teaching is difficult. One of the resources (Istation has) that I loved and used a lot is you had videos for parents on specifically how to set up a learning environment at home,” she said.   Greene Gast said she helped out with a student who rarely turned on his Zoom camera and, when she convinced him to turn it on in a breakout session, saw that he was outside – for whatever reason, that was the situation where he felt he could learn, focus and access the Internet connection.   An environment is just one of the challenges to overcome, but there are plenty of ways to make blended learning work and perhaps even become the standard going forward since, at times, it can provide the best of both worlds.

Daniel Litwin is joined by Istation bilingual professional development specialists Julie Robinson and Michele Kimball for a conversation about how to connect with English learners despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Megan Axtman shares best practices for differentiated learning in school and at home.

The way the world learns is changing. The use of video and the internet have been part of this evolution. Now the urgency is even greater. Adams Smith, founder of Ally XR, has a long history of connecting technology with learning.This journey started with creating TeacherTube with his brother, an educator. “My brother came to me with the idea of having a platform to upload teacher videos as a professional development tool. I found some open source code and reengineered it,” Smith said.That small idea caught fire. Soon, it was the YouTube for teachers. “We started getting more and more users. Schools and educators were using technology to enhance experiences. Yet, as the need for digitalization has become urgent, it seems many were unprepared. Smith added, “Infrastructure is the issue and the lack of budget to improve it.”Taking what he learned from TeacherTube, Smith began a new enterprise, incorporating augmented reality.“Ally XR was something we started in 2012 when we were working with Staples at TeacherTube. I learned augmented reality through a game builder platform. Now, it’s part of the learning model,” Smith shared.Now the product is helping many different industries. Smith commented, “With education at heart, we came up with ways to train, collect data, and assess people. It makes sense when training is in hazardous roles. Fire, EMT, and police can use it for virtual, immersive training. It’s safer and less expensive,”Next up is a project with Major League Baseball. “This was a pre-pandemic issue, but it’s escalated quickly. We’re capturing angles in 360 to provide vantage points like no other. It’s not new. It’s how you implement it,” Smith remarked.

*Why parents need professional development too*The dangers of learning loss and how to deal with it*How all edTech companies are now customer service centers

Need another negative for this forced migration to remote learning? Students become even more vulnerable to the dangers of what Advait Shinde calls the “modern Internet”. On this episode, the co-founder and CEO of GoGuardian talks about how his company is adjusting its products and services to these new scenarios and offers some hopeful insights for moving forward.Advait co-founded GoGuardian to provide K-12 schools with new technologies that enable students to engage in a better learning experience. His dedication to help unlock student potential in education is made clear through his mission of using the internet in an open, but safe way. In his role as CEO of GoGuardian, Advait brings his passion for using data and technology to solve problems in education.Based on his accomplishments in education and technology, Advait was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Education in 2016, as a finalist for Los Angeles Business Journal’s CTO of the Year in 2017, as a finalist for Ernst & Young's prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Greater Los Angeles in 2018, and for Los Angeles Business Journal’s 20 in Their 20s in 2019.Before co-founding GoGuardian, Advait worked at Google as an engineer, combining innovation with the power of scale and helping to launch key products, such as Google Pay (formerly Google Wallet). Advait holds a B.S. in Computer Science from UCLA.GoGuardian believes that education is the highest point of leverage for improving society and that digital learning can meaningfully advance educational outcomes for every student, school, and district. GoGuardian helps thousands of K-12 schools and districts maximize the learning potential of every student by providing solutions that enable more productive and safer digital learning. Its products help educators identify learning patterns, protect students from harmful and distracting content, and support mental health. To compile data on how educators can use technology to improve learning outcomes, GoGuardian has invested in a Research and Insights team, composed of psychology, advocacy, and education research specialists. Read about their study on the factors that influence student engagement in the State of Engagement 2019 Report.

Brady Colby, founder and CEO of Thirty Two EDU, joined the show to talk about the growing importance of micro-credentialing and the potential downfall of many universities.Online learning has taken a front and center role in the world of education in light of the pandemic. While some universities and higher education institutions have met the challenge with scalable hybrid programs, others are scrambling to rise to the demand of remote learning. Brady talked about how some of the most successful schools have been smaller institutions that had already offered hybrid programs, while some of the bigger schools are the ones that are suffering. “These schools that you would never expect are really the ones that are able to scale because of the opportunities provided here,” he said.Host JW asked for Brady’s thoughts about the future of education and how micro-credentialing fits into it. Brady pointed out that most employers don’t feel that people are coming out of higher education with all the necessary skills for employment, which is where the opportunity for micro-credentialing really came from. “It’s really about understanding the local and national employment situation and what skills are necessary for employment and moving up the ladder,” said Brady. With micro-credentialing, workers can obtain hyper-focused skills at a much faster, and more affordable, rate than taking full courses at a university, and those skills can be more immediately relevant to their role.Brady talked about how the current curriculum lengths for degrees are possibly outdated. “There’s some underlying assumptions about how things have to work in higher education that we have to challenge and we have to talk through before we come out on the other side with a real clear idea of the mission. I think the hand has kind of been forced on that now,” he said, musing on the seemingly unspoken, and maybe unnecessary, agreement on a 120 credit-hour bachelor’s degree.One thing is for sure. With the rise of micro-credentialing, JW said it best: “Colleges aren’t the only game in town anymore.”

What is the difference between remote learning and online learning? Carol Ribeiro, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VHS Learning, can tell you. She has over 20 years of experience in online education management and systems development. In this episode, Carol addresses the big picture issues schools need to contemplate during this mass disruption.Prior to becoming President in 2015, Carol served as the Chief Operating Officer of VHS Learning and was responsible for overall management of operations, including school services, finance and accounting, technology services and support, and human resources. She has designed and delivered online courses and has been with VHS Learning since its inception. Prior to her work in online education, she managed systems development for UNUM. Carol holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and an MBA from Clark University. She is also a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI) and a licensed MA educator.The Virtual High School is an online learning pioneer. Since 1995, the nonprofit organization has been setting the standard for quality online education. VHS provides courses taught in global online classrooms for secondary school students and online professional development in 21st century teaching for educators. The organization also meets the unique educational needs of schools through custom course development, individualized course offerings, and support for blended learning initiatives.VHS' design and delivery standards was the model used by the National Education Association in their recommended standards for online learning. The organization has won numerous awards, including the Stockholm Challenge Award for Global Excellence in Information Technology and is a three-time winner of the United States Distance Learning Association's (USDLA) award for Excellence in Programming and Excellence in Best Practices.

Voices of eLearning host, JW Marshall, spoke with Harris Goodman, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Achieve 3000, a 20 year old education software provider focused on K-12 literacy and other edTech products and services.Marshall kicked off the conversation with the topic of data interoperability. “There’s a lot of data being generated by teachers and students,” said Goodman. Connecting information from different sources and syncing them together is a significant challenge. Being able analyze data on the whole can help determine where the student is coming from and where the student is going. Goodman also spoke of his work to promote open API platforms to improve data collection and analysis.The discussion then moved into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has changed the mindset of eLearning companies and their willingness to work together to solve problems. Goodman spoke about companies being more open to interoperability as well as other challenges such as student authentication, authenticity, and creating a culture of anti-cheating in a home learning environment.When asked about other challenges that have arisen from the pandemic, Goodman noted, “One thing we all need to think about is the social and emotional welfare of our students.” The lack of regular play, interactions with friends, and other social activities can have adverse impacts on a child's learning and development as well.“What has been your experience as far as helping facilitate that parent involvement in a brand new way?” asked Marshall, as parents are now more involved with a child's learning from home. Harris describes the challenges for parents and the importance of reaching the parents in a meaningful way. “The research has shown this for years. The more involved the family is in the child’s education, the better off that child will be.”The pair also touched on a number of other topics such as adult learning, career opportunities from eLearning, value of higher education opportunities, roles of universities in preparing students for the workforce, advice for entrepreneurs in the eLearning and technology space, startup mentorship, and insights into leadership.

Dr. Christina Counts has her eyes on the prize—more flexible, collaborative learning spaces. In this episode VP of Strategy and Development for MiEN Environments shares her ideas on how to make that happen this fall while at the same time keeping both students and teachers safe. Plus: Rethinking learning spaces at home.Dr. Counts has worked in education for over 17 years with experience as a classroom teacher, district instructional leader, school administrator, and digital and innovative learning designer. In her most recent position, Christina leads a team of professionals that support schools making the transition to a flexible, collaborative, & student-centered learning space.  She holds a doctorate in K-12 Educational Leadership, National Board certified, and Google & Apple certified. Dr. Counts envisions a learning space in which educators are empowered to transform education through design, technology and innovative instructional pedagogy to create learners ready for any future.Topics include:The importance of surface materials in cleaning and disinfecting learning spaces in schools during COVID-19Designing for healthy and functional learning spaces - really the idea around the 6 foot classroom and tips for district and school leaders that must be adopted as they shift learning space design related to learning in the time of a global pandemic-And of course schools are opening - so what are some things districts can do to maximize learning in all areas of a school - from the cafeteria to makerspaces to media centers.