A Successful Start for Remote Academy

With 43 local and international students enrolled, Masters Remote Academy is in full swing and running very smoothly, according to program director Robert Fish. 

“Students in the fully remote sections are responding very positively as they can have an academic experience that caters to their needs and their time zones,” Fish explained.  

A recent class project about creating a world history textbook entry for the year 2020 proved to be quite the triumph. “The depth of analysis in the reflections regarding how and why students presented their understanding of the year in different ways was amongst the highest quality historiography analysis I have seen from tenth-graders in my 20+ years of teaching,” he said.  

Students participating in the science research coursework have been managing well too. “With a group of five very intelligent students we have been able to maintain an incredibly active research core. Projects range from computational fluid dynamics to special relativity and orbit analysis,” added Fish.

One of the biggest challenges has been keeping everyone connected to Masters. “There is no way to fully replace the sense of community that our boarders and residential faculty create through an online school. Working with the student leaders in the Remote Academy, we will continue to create opportunities for community building, while not overburdening students with additional screen time,” he said.

Another necessary consideration was the adjustment of make up classes to better serve the sleep schedules of students who are overseas. “The make up session is really helpful, since it gives me extra time to ask questions,” said Lisa Yao ’24.  

All the hard work that goes into coordinating academic schedules and running a virtual school across multiple time zones does not go unnoticed. “Teachers seem to care about remote students a lot,” said Jasmine Zhou ‘24.

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