Abstract

Engineering education cannot be performed without practicing in laboratories, as the prime objective of engineering education is to gear students up for practicing engineering. A traditional teaching laboratory is a place where engineering instructions and hands-on practice take place. However, since the early spring of 2020, the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak has hindered face-to-face teaching as well as traditional hands-on laboratories. This pandemic forces universities to migrate from the traditional way of education to an online approach. Despite some concerns about the quality of substitutional approaches compared to conventional hands-on Labs, studies show that these types of laborites simulate critical thinking and lead to higher learning outcomes. This work reviews the important role of experimental laboratories in engineering education. It highlights the innovations in lab teaching, and how remote and virtual labs influence engineering education and mitigate the impact of pandemic COVID-19 on higher education outcomes.

Keywords: Traditional labs;Online labs;Virtual labs;Remote labs; COVID-19 influence on learning outcome