Implementation of an online course that necessitates garnering hands-on expertise is significantly challenging. This is particularly crucial in engineering disciplines, especially for courses like applied electronics or measurement and instrumentation. While simulation-based platforms provide a basic understanding of working principles, these do not reveal real-world nonlinearities, variabilities, or even pathways to failure. Here, we provide an account of the use of Raspberry PIs (RPis) along with open-source materials to deliver a 3-credit “online-hardware” Measurement and Instrumentation lab course during the COVID lockdown period. This included the design of a set of experiments that could be controlled using the RPi, which were remotely accessed by our students located in all over India. The focus was on using real-world hardware, e.g. oscilloscopes, LEDs, temperature and differential pressure sensors, so that their real-world idiosyncrasies could also be captured. The experiments were supported with synchronized taught online lectures, along with provision of relevant scaffolding materials. The course was delivered to 67 students broken into small 4–5 member teams. Real-time feedback on performance and progress was provided to the students via a well-structured evaluation pattern and an intra-team blind peer-review mechanism. During the rejoining phase, the hybrid mode ensured a seamless mode of operation as the students could access the lab in-person or online based on their individual on-site availability. In all, the overall experience indicates the feasibility, cost-effectiveness and scalability of the RPi platform for implementing online-hardware teaching modalities. All the teaching materials, including relevant codes and experiment designs have been made available as open-source.