In many disciplines, the growth of online courses was propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this trend moderated as health concerns receded. Before the pandemic, computer science-related disciplines were less keen on online labs because of their inherently hands-on nature. This study presents a comparative analysis of students’ and faculty’s perceptions towards online labs in three computing-related disciplines, a year after the pandemic. Through a survey with 769 students and 20 faculty responses, we found students were overwhelmingly positive about their online lab experience – as were faculty. However, disparities emerged in views on teamwork efficacy in online lab activities and assignments, and modal preferences for lab sessions. A mutual concern among both students and faculty was the occasional lack of technical reliability. Additionally, faculty members expressed concerns about the increased effort needed to design and facilitate high-quality online labs. The implications of these findings are further discussed.
Yunfei Hou California State University, San Bernardino, Miranda McIntyre California State University, San Bernardino, Jesus Herrera California State University, San Bernardino, Joyce Fu University of California, Riverside, Hani Aldirawi California State University, San Bernardino