#4: Learning Well in the Virtual Environment – Pete Marra

We are undergoing a virtual learning revolution, as the COVID pandemic and the prevalence of technology intersect, leading universities to move most or all of their classes online. This presents new challenges, as well as new opportunities, for students. My guest helps us understand the implications of this new reality, and how students can flourish in this digital learning environment. 

Pete Marra has nearly twenty years of experience helping students learn well in the online context in primary, secondary, and tertiary education. He has been involved in building online learning platforms and started his own technology company focused on digital learning. He is especially interested in how people learn, and how they learn differently, in the online environment.

In this podcast we discuss: 

• Various learning styles that must be understood to maximize online learning
• New opportunities for those with various learning styles
• How to leverage these new opportunities to your advantage
• How students can excel academically in online classes  
• Ways students can compensate if the online learning environment is challenging for them
• The challenges of distractions, procrastination, and fatigue in distance learning
• Two wrong and harmful assumptions students make as they take online classes
• The expectations professors have of students in online classes
• How students can best interact with their professors in the digital environment
• How students can best collaborate with other students in their online classes
• Ways to develop habits, systems, or processes to succeed in online classes
• Dealing with the isolation and depression online learning may cause
• Challenges and opportunities unique to Christian students learning online

The resources mentioned during our conversation:

• Hope Always: How to be a Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide by Matthew Sleeth, MD
• 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life by Matthew Sleeth, MD
• Technology: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman
• Pete Marra on Linked In 
• Search online for “learning styles” to access free resources and tests
• Harvard Education Publishing Group
• MIT’s online courses
• TED Talks on learning styles:
  • Learning styles and the importance of critical self-reflection, Tesia Marshik
  • Learning via your style, D.J. Cunningham
  • Misconceptions of learning styles, Anita Acai
  • …and many more
• Search online for “digital pedagogy” for additional resources