Leveraging Remote Classes to Meet Students Where They Are

February 27, 2025

Institutions of higher education exist to elevate students and prepare them to be enlightened, engaged, and productive citizens. But there is an increasing perception that higher ed costs too much and delivers too little, leaving behind our most vulnerable and needy students. The question is how effectively we can accomplish our mission in face of budget pressures, hiring constraints, and limited resources.

During the pandemic, I developed an online introductory physics laboratory class that continues to be offered in the Physics department due to its high demand and the benefits it provides to our most at-risk students. Most recently, in my role as director of Student Awards, Initiatives and Research (STAIR), I led the development of an Online Research Training Course in partnership with the Instructional Designers Team from JMU Libraries. This course was deployed to students participating in the First-Year/Transfer student Research Experience program (FYRE) and STAIR plans to make it available more broadly in the near future. These experiences convinced me that remote instruction is an underestimated tool that can be effectively employed to help us achieve our mission in at least three different ways: bridging the proficiency gap, enhancing progression toward graduation, and broadening participation in the educational enterprise.

Bridging the proficiency gap

If your department is like mine, hallway conversations occasionally turn to the lack of preparedness among our incoming students, which leads many to take remedial classes to reach minimal qualifications to move on. Solving this problem is not easy, but I believe that well-designed remote classes, featuring engaging modules that students could complete at their own pace, could be an alternative for departments struggling with limited personnel and resources to meet this need. The Online Research Training Course STAIR developed helps students catch up with their research skills.

Remote instruction has the additional benefit of being easy to adapt to fluctuating demand without the limitations of physical space or scheduling constraints—a constant concern when planning offerings of remedial classes.

If we aim to create new pathways to help students lacking the background needed for their programs, we should seriously consider online instruction, to effectively bridge the proficiency gap without burdensome commitments of money or physical space.

Enhancing progression toward graduation

One of the reasons the online lab I developed continues to be offered long after the pandemic is its consistent high demand. This class usually fills up quickly and, on some occasions, we have added more sessions to meet demand.

Why does this online class attract so many students? Nearly 1,000 students need to take an intro physics lab each year to complete their program requirements. For many, taking the online course is convenient because it frees up their schedules for other classes they need to take. Other students, who are under pressure to complete their degree requirements, enroll because none of the available in-person sessions fit their schedules. I often was able to admit desperate students beyond the “enrollment limit” because the class was offered online. Taking the class online allows students to advance toward graduation instead of being held back because of scheduling conflict.

If we care about enhancing students’ progression and conclusion we must consider offering a few classes online, particularly high-enrollment service classes.

Broadening participation

The flexibility of online classes is a big bonus as well. To participate in the online class students don’t need to quit their job, drop another class they want to take, or commute to campus. This can be a lifesaver for transfer students needing to quickly catch up, and non-traditional students juggling the demands of family life and a day job.

In addition, the digital environment of online classes can seamlessly integrate cutting-edge educational resources, such as interactive videos, immersive simulations, virtual reality, and even AI-powered tutoring, to meet a wide range of educational needs. Most importantly, students with disabilities can benefit from built-in tools that significantly enhance accessibility.

If we are truly committed to providing equal opportunities for students, we must consider how remote instruction can help us achieve this goal.

Engagement tools for remote classes

In the remote classes I have developed, I have incorporated several tools to enhance the educational experience and promote student engagement. Here is a sample of these tools:

• Telegram – Communication with students in an online class can be challenging. Telegram allows me to communicate instantly with my students. I encourage them not only to ask and answer questions in the group chat, but also to send screenshots of their plots or experimental setups for immediate feedback.
• Phyphox – This app transforms a smartphone into a scientific instrument by using the phone’s sensors to measure various physical quantities. The data can be easily exported in different formats, making it a versatile tool for remote experiments.
• Microsoft Forms – I use Forms to create engagement questions that provide instant feedback to students. These questions can be directly embedded into the Canvas course, serving as checkpoints throughout the text.
• OneDrive – Supervising group work in a remote class is difficult. By creating group folders in OneDrive, I found a way to transparently and easily monitor students’ contributions throughout the project history. Unlike tools available on Canvas, OneDrive supports a wide range of document types, including Word files, spreadsheets, and slide presentations, while preserving the formatting. Since OneDrive is part of JMU’s software services, it is widely accessible to both students and faculty and easier for instructors to manage than similar Google products.
• Canvas Studio – With the help of instructional designers from the JMU Libraries, my team created videos with embedded quiz questions to enhance student engagement in the Online Research Training class. The quiz responses are automatically integrated to the gradebook on Canvas.

For those interested in taking the plunge, I would be happy to discuss further how I have used these tools in my online classes. Additionally, I highly recommend scheduling a consultation with the team of Instructional Designers from JMU Libraries. They can make your ideas come to life!

In summary, remote instruction should be embraced for its potential to bridge proficiency gaps, enhance student progression, broaden participation, and help advance our mission in higher education.