How do you know if your virtual program is actually high quality—without reducing it to a checklist?

Dr. Chris Harrington returns to the podcast to share how he’s building the Virtual Learning Accelerator: a human-centered system that helps leaders assess program quality, translate results into priorities, and support teachers over time—without outsourcing professional judgment to AI.

What you’ll get from this episode

• A clear way to think about quality as a system, not a tool or a single role
• How standards-aligned self-assessment becomes useful instead of performative
• Practical guardrails for using AI to speed up improvement without distorting it
• A sustainable model for improving virtual programs year over year

Key moments

• 00:01–02:05 — Why the quality question matters now
• 02:20–07:30 — The Virtual Learning Accelerator: coaching, assessment, and PD as one system
• 09:46–14:45 — How the needs assessment works (14 standards, ~45–60 minutes, instant report)
• 15:45–18:45 — Why the AI launch was delayed: tightening rubrics and recommendations
• 21:03–26:40 — Turning scores into action: why coaching is the translation layer
• 28:30–36:10 — Supporting teachers at scale: micro-courses aligned to online teaching standards
• 37:00–40:10 — Revisiting “Why Distance Learning?”: the shift from access to quality

Links

• Virtual Learning Accelerator: digitallearningworks.org
• EmpowerED Research Institute: empoweredresearch.org
• National Standards for Quality Online Learning: nsqol.org

Host Links

1. Discover more virtual learning opportunities at CILC.org with hosts Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell.
2. Seth Fleischauer’s Banyan Global Learning combines live virtual field trips with international student collaborations for a unique K12 global learning experience. See https://banyangloballearning.com/global-learning-live/