Spashtop–A Deep Dive Into Remote Learning

IT is always seeking new ways to enhance the learning and teaching experience at UMass Boston, and when the Fall 2022 semester began both students and faculty discovered that IT had done it yet again. Making a big splash on this occasion was a new remote learning service called Remote Labs from Splashtop, which allows students to use software programs they may need in some of their classes but don’t have access to on their personal devices. Splashtop also allows faculty to teach remotely in a computer lab by giving them the access they need to that lab.

Managed Services Supervisor Ananta Sinha describes it this way. “Remote Labs is basically a bunch of physical computers that are set up somewhere secure. They are not accessed physically by students, but they are accessible remotely, so they can remote into these computers using their own personal devices.” But what makes this service more valuable than the already existing Cloud PC remote access service is that Remote Labs, via Splashtop, gives students access to highly specialized software programs that certain classes require. Students simply install the Splashtop app on their personal computers and then they can see a list of computers that Remote Labs offers. They find the one which has the software needed for their class and can start using it right away.

These aren’t typical academic software programs either, as Sinha explains, “These are programs like SPSS, Stata, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project, that students would have to buy the license for, and they are expensive.” So, by using Remote Labs students are saving money, taking classes they may not otherwise be able to, and can remotely access the software that they need to be successful. How’s that for a big splash?