Like many other professors, Ruth Groff never anticipated teaching without a classroom until the COVID-19 outbreak forced her to go remote in 2020. Unlike other professors, however, Groff continues to teach all her classes from home. Sidelined for medical reasons, she strives to replicate the sense of community typically present in in-person classes online.
As a professor of political science and affiliated professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University since 2008, Groff teaches courses on foundational works in political and social philosophy, offered to a diverse group of students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I teach a lot of courses on the history of Western political thought,” Groff said. “Even though Plato and Aristotle seem like the most boring things, I don’t think they’re boring at all. I think they really give people a way to think critically about the world.”
Groff began regularly teaching online in fall 2021. Her classroom transformed into a Canvas page that integrates recorded lecture videos, weekly readings and reflective discussion boards. During the spring semester of 2024, Groff began incorporating a required synchronous component into her senior seminars that mirrors in-class discussions over Zoom.
While these online assignments maintain many similarities to her in-person classes, the virtual classroom will always look different. Debra Lohe, associate provost for teaching and learning and chief online learning officer at SLU, developed the “Essential Features of a Jesuit Distance Education” with SLU’s Distance Education Office. She said that a “present-feeling” demonstrates one of the key objectives of the Distance Office’s initiative.
Using guidelines from national and institutional accrediting bodies, SLU created standards specific to online classes that include preparation in an online space and a faculty peer review process.
“When a faculty member is going to teach an online class for the first time, they have to design it a certain way in Canvas,” Lohe said. “Then, a team of faculty members assesses it against a rubric to say, ‘Does it meet our expectations?’ If it doesn’t, then the faculty members have to make changes to the course.”
According to the Distance office, a high-quality Jesuit distance education prioritizes presence, interaction and community. Those who follow these recommendations and emphasize consistent contact with students disprove assumptions that virtual classrooms are a self-paced, hands-off experience.
“Dr. Groff really gives her students all the necessary resources to make it feel like an in-person class,” said RJ Davis, a junior political science and American studies student currently enrolled in Groff’s Renaissance and Modern Political Theories class.
Groff holds biweekly Zoom “hangout” sessions and makes herself available for individual meetings to accommodate students’ schedules in an effort to build community, even meeting on nights or weekends. Davis said he cannot attend either of the sessions due to work conflicts. Instead, Groff meets with him every Tuesday afternoon.
Groff characterized her experience with Davis in light of the very material she has taught for nearly two decades. She said that the many students who meet with her engage in an activity described by Aristotle as central to a good life: engagement with others to clarify knowledge and understanding.
Groff’s personal teaching philosophy encourages growth and knowledge centered around diverse engagement with the material itself, rather than grades through traditional exams or long-form essays. She said that her vision of success for a student lies in their ability to express an informed position on the material that balances conceptual accuracy and original thinking.
“It’s not just your opinion, though,” Groff said. “It’s your informed view, and I want you to figure out what you actually think. Then, tell me why. What I really care about is that you get better at thinking.”
Before Groff began teaching solely from home, around midterms she assigned students a benchmark essay — an exercise not for a formal grade, but to check in with students on their progression and knowledge before moving forward with more material. She met individually with each of her students to explain the “grade” that they would have received for their work.
Given her lifelong commitment to honest and original philosophical engagement, Groff has expressed concerns about the many questions generative AI has opened in the world of academics. Groff said while she understands that AI presents a tempting solution for students looking for answers to assignments they do not understand, she hopes that students recognize that it cannot produce the highest quality work because it lacks human depth.
“Grades take care of themselves if the student throws themself into the material,” Groff said. “Students are responsive to that invitation to intellectual sincerity. I think AI is making it harder, but that’s one of the things I’ve always really liked about our students.”
Lohe said research from the Reinert Center supports the idea that students feel most connected to their classwork when professors are transparent about the purpose of each assignment.
“The more authentic the assignment, the less likely a student is to reach for a tool that is going to supplant their learning,” Lohe said.
When teaching online seminars, Lowe noticed that students who never talked in class were more likely to contribute to discussion boards. She said that because of the need for consistent interaction, online learning should be treated differently from in-person learning.
“Online classes might actually favor introverts who want to take a little time to think about that question before they share their response,” Lohe said. “They just tap into different strengths from different groups.”
Groff only requires synchronous meetings for her upper-level courses, but she recently made the case that the synchronous component should be required in all classes, down to the introductory level. She said that while the change is still awaiting formal implementation, her course development advisors agreed.
