Back in 2020, when all of our nation’s students were forced to stay at home and pivot to online school, people scrambled to get their kids headphones and headsets to help channel their focus, minimize distractions and background noise, and help them communicate easily with teachers and fellow students.

Now that K-12 students are back in person, does this mean there’s no longer a need for distance learning headphones? Actually, a number of teachers have discovered that continuing to use headphones and headsets in the classroom can have untold benefits. The use of headphones in a classroom setting not only can help students stay on task but can also cut down on classroom noise levels and even may improve retention of knowledge! It’s safe to say that distance learning headphones are now a major part of the learning process, with or without the distance.

In addition to the benefits students may receive from wearing headphones and headsets in the class to watch a video presentation on their Chromebooks, play an educational trivia game, or take a standardized test, they can also use distance learning headphones to connect with students in other classrooms within the school, in another district or even in a different country! Teachers are using their newly acquired classroom technology to team-teach lessons via Zoom. Co-teaching, one of the more interesting innovations in remote learning, gave educators the ability to pair up with another teacher to team-teach a lesson, taking turns to share the screen and share various talking points before handing the lesson back and forth. This not only alleviates the stress of having to plan each lesson alone but also adds a sense of variety to what might otherwise be a commonplace, even boring class.

Now that students are back to in-person learning, it doesn’t mean teachers have to abandon the co-teaching concept. Teachers and students can log into a Zoom call, with each student logging in on their own Chromebook or tablet, and be joined with another class as nearby as down the hall or as far away as a whole different country! A classroom in Denver, Colorado recently joined a classroom in Dublin, Ireland via the magic of technology, bringing two classes of fourth graders together to share in a learning experience. The children were not only given the opportunity to meet kids they might never have met in real life but also got to see the similarities and differences between their classrooms, teachers and selves, an experience that they will never forget. The use of distance learning headsets during this collaboration was essential, as it allowed the students to hear the interactions with clarity and precision.

Now that things are back to normal in our classrooms, it’s easy to think that there’s no longer a need for distance learning headphones and headsets, but in fact they can still go a long way toward enhancing lessons, adding a “wow” factor, increasing focus, minimizing background noise and distractions and so much more!