Who Needs Distance Learning?

Dean introduces a conversation on why online/virtual learning remains a vital, legitimate option in Canadian education, shaped by his early online teaching experience and accelerated by COVID. Guests Jennifer Bertsch, principal of Golden Hills Learning Academy (Alberta), and Robyn Percival, an online science teacher at Ontario’s Virtual Learning Center, compare asynchronous and synchronous models, tools like Moodle, Canvas, and Zoom, and deliberate efforts to build relationship, belonging, and integrity beyond transactional correspondence-style learning. They describe enrollment pathways, hybrid flexibility, rapid growth in participation, and student success stories tied to mental health support and inclusive participation. The discussion also addresses academic integrity in the AI era through transparent expectations, process-focused assessment, and follow-up conversations, and concludes with “queen for a day” changes emphasizing equity of access to resources and mandatory unplugged/physical-activity time for online students.00:00 Grad Day Breakthroughs01:10 Early Online Teaching Lessons02:21 Why Online Learning Matters03:49 Meet Jennifer and Robyn05:30 Tech Shifts After COVID07:54 Who Online School Serves09:32 Enrollment and Hybrid Pathways11:30 Synchronous Community Building14:46 Belonging in Asynchronous Learning18:53 Success Stories and Impact24:35 Growth Numbers and Demand26:15 Hybrid Enrollment Reality27:38 Ontario Virtual School Growth29:20 What Makes Online Teachers Thrive33:38 Autonomy and Course Creation36:08 AI Assessment in Virtual Classes40:35 Academic Integrity Over Policing45:13 Queen for a Day Fixes46:07 Equity and Screen Breaks50:08 Closing Thanks and Takeaways