In this episode of Why Distance Learning, Seth and Allyson speak with Bobbie Sandberg — an educational researcher who recently completed her PhD in instructional psychology and technology at BYU — about what's actually happening in the household when a K-12 student learns online, and why most programs aren't designed for the answer. Bobbie's research, grounded in Jered Borup's Academic Communities of Engagement framework, reframes engagement as a three-dimensional challenge — cognitive, behavioral, and affective — that K-12 students can't sustain alone. When the school is online, the support system shifts to whoever is home. And most programs haven't reckoned with what that means.

Together, Seth, Allyson, and Bobbie explore how parents naturally divide the labor of support, why more involvement isn't the same as better involvement, and what happens when families arrive at virtual school not by choice but because nothing else worked. Bobbie also shares what she's learned about the critical first weeks of enrollment, why explicit role invitations from programs make a surprisingly big difference, and the underrated power of affective engagement — including a story about refugee mothers whose aspirational storytelling did what tutoring couldn't.

Key topics discussed:
- the three dimensions of student engagement and who owns each one
- why cognitive support from parents can actually backfire
- mooring factors and why families don't always "choose" online school
- the fire hose problem in onboarding; designing for autonomy instead of dependence
- why affective engagement might be the most underestimated variable in online learning.

Links & Resources:

• Bobbie's parent guide website: https://www.supportonlinelearning.com/parentguide.html
• Bobbie's parent assessment - HOPE survey: https://byu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7WdzYJPDpXve16K
• "Behind the Screen: Exploring Parental Roles in K-12 Online Education" (Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 2024) - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15391523.2024.2447729
• "Parental Support Challenges for K-12 Student Online Engagement" (Distance Education, 2024) - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01587919.2024.2397481
• "Choosing Virtual: Understanding the Forces that Drive Parents Toward Online K-12 Education" (Journal of School Choice, 2025) - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2025.2534005

Guest Bio:
Bobbie Sandberg is an educational researcher who recently completed her PhD in instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University. Her work focuses on parental roles in K-12 online education, with published research on how families navigate school choice, how parents construct their support roles, and where programs most commonly fail to design for the home environment. She holds a BA in linguistics and a TESOL master's certification from BYU.

About the Hosts:
Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of Why Distance Learning. Through Banyan, he designs live virtual programs that connect K-12 classrooms to global peers and expert facilitators — building the kind of structured, human-centered distance learning the podcast explores. See https://banyangloballearning.com/global-learning-live/

Tami Moehring and Allyson Mitchell work with CILC, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, to help educators implement high-quality live virtual learning experiences across grade levels. Discover more at CILC.org.