Student Perspectives on Remote Hardware Labs and Equitable Access in a Post-Pandemic Era

This Research Full Paper builds on a prior study that compared overall student performance between in-hand versus remotely accessible hardware in digital design courses. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a global educational shift to emergency online learning that led to rethinking the delivery of engineering labs. The prior study showed that, amidst pandemic-necessitated online learning, student understanding was not impeded by the incorporation of remotely accessible hardware into the course curriculum; rather, using remote hardware resulted in similar or better learning outcomes. In this paper, we analyze the remotely accessible hardware lab through the lens of equity, investigating the student perspective on equitable access and the remote lab experience. The study accomplishes this goal by surveying students of a junior-level digital design course who use a remotely accessible hardware lab for completing their assignments. The survey aims to determine the factors deemed important by today’s learners – those who have experienced remote learning for approximately two years of their educational careers – when considering equitable access and remote labs. Survey questions utilized the multiple-choice, semantic differential scale, and Likert scale formats for quantitative analysis as well as inductive coding of freeform responses for qualitative analysis. Initial findings from the survey are the key considerations of the surveyed students which include Factors of the Remote Experience (FREs) and Factors of Equitable Access (FEAs). FREs and FEAs specifically relate to the Student’s Access to Electronic Devices, the Student’s Environment Outside of Class, the Student’s Schedule, the Student’s Internet Quality, the lab’s Learnability, the lab’s Web Interface Design, the lab’s Convenience, the lab’s Overall Positive Experience, the lab’s Ease of Use, the lab’s Internet Quality, and the lab’s Affordability. Rooted in the online learner’s experience, these results contribute to an improved understanding of how students perceive equitable access to engineering education which shall guide better-informed advancements in the field in a post-pandemic world.