Online Laboratories in Modern Engineering Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Laboratories play a crucial role in engineering education. Compounded growth and increased acceptance and familiarity with distance learning have resulted in increased emphasis on online and hybrid learning approaches. To effectively adapt to the evolving expectations in online engineering education, it is crucial for the wider educational community to reflect on the best practices and lessons learned from the online delivery of laboratories. This systematic literature review presents an extensive overview of previous research on online laboratories in modern engineering education. Technology, research and evaluation methods, learning outcomes, instructional strategies, and equity aspects are investigated for in-house, commercial, and free/open-source solutions for simulation, virtual, and remote online engineering laboratories. PRISMA’s guidelines have been used to conduct this systematic literature review and 139 papers have been retrieved as a result. While the choice of a specific laboratory approach (in-person, simulation, virtual, remote, or hybrid) depends on the course context as well as physical/social/economic constraints at hand, aspects such as learning outcomes, instructional strategies, and equity should be more present when selecting the best approach.