Four Lessons on Remote Learning: Los Angeles Community College District Faculty Share Strategies for Student Engagement in Distance Education Courses
By Elise Swanson and Rachel Worsham
“I had one person in the room and everyone else was a sea of black boxes. It was the most demoralizing instructional experience of my life.” – Social sciences professor.
As community colleges have shifted instruction from in-person to distance education—such as hybrid, HyFlex, and synchronous and asynchronous online modalities—faculty like the one quoted above are wrestling with the challenge of spurring authentic engagement between students and both teaching staff and their peers.
Researchers from the Leveraging Technology and Engaging Students (LTES) study in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) conducted 10 focus groups with 26 LACCD faculty members across campuses, departments, and tenure statuses in spring 2023 to explore their experiences with and perceptions of distance education following large and lasting investments in the modality in the wake of the pandemic. Through these focus groups, we saw the breadth of faculty’s ability to adapt and innovate in working with the technology required for distance education, modifying their course policies and assessments, or, crucially, changing their instructional practices to foster student engagement.
Four key strategies to increase student engagement in distance education courses arose in these discussions:
1. Use icebreakers and discussion boards to foster community.
To encourage peer connections, faculty leveraged Canvas discussion boards, with some asking students to post videos introducing themselves to their classmates and others having students respond to a “get-to-know-you” prompt. One faculty member in chemistry emphasized the importance of peer-to-peer connections, remarking, “I require them [to] use discussions […] and meet [their] classmates. Because in the future you may need a recommendation letter; you may also—someday you go airport you find, oh this guy is my classmate—so they can help you. So it’s very important that you have that connection for your field.”
Faculty also used course announcements to alert students to community events and campus resources. These efforts aimed to encourage students to connect with each other, while also alerting them to resources that they may have been unaware of due to less peer interaction.
2. Offer in-person gatherings.
Optional in-person meet-ups helped forge connections and solidify student learning. Some faculty organized in-person gatherings in the beginning of the semester so students and faculty could get to know each other prior to engaging online, while others offered in-person opportunities later in the semester.
For example, one faculty member offered optional in-person days to visit the livestock they’d studied in class, which turned out to be “a big draw” for students. Other faculty members offered in-person office hours both on campus and at area coffee shops. Some faculty struggled with attendance at these gatherings but were encouraged by others to keep providing these spaces for students because of their potential impact.
3. Tailor assignments to ensure engagement.
Faculty leveraged their assignments to prompt students to engage with faculty and their peers. One faculty member gave in-class, discussion-based assignments at random to encourage students to be present even behind black screens. The faculty member remarked that these real-time dialogues “definitely for that moment increased engagement.”
Other faculty used feedback on assignments to build relationships with their students. One faculty member required students to respond to feedback and submit corrections on important assignments, which often prompted discussion and connection between the faculty member and their students.
4. Encourage students to turn their cameras on during class.
Overwhelmingly, faculty felt their efforts to engage students were hampered when students did not have their videos on while attending class synchronously online. Faculty felt disconnected from their students and struggled to identify when a student was falling behind and needed support. While faculty found the “sea of black boxes” demoralizing, they were aware of student privacy concerns—especially if the student was tuning into class from their home.
As a way to help mitigate these concerns, faculty provided students with virtual backgrounds or a video blurring option, as well as guidance on how to use them, so students could protect their privacy and feel more comfortable turning their cameras on during class.
Student engagement remains a challenge in distance education courses. In LTES faculty focus groups, we are uncovering and sharing strategies for building and sustaining a sense of connection that in turn supports student learning, peer connections, and access to needed resources. It is critical that faculty have space to share their strategies, develop ideas, and problem-solve collaboratively as the work to provide effective distance education opportunities to students continues.
LTES is an ongoing research partnership between the Los Angeles Community College District, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, and the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California. To learn more about our work, visit our website at https://cepr.harvard.edu/leveraging-technology-and-engaging-students-ltes. To learn more about the faculty focus groups and analysis, see our accompanying brief.
