A Comparative Study on Student and Faculty Perceptions of Online Computing Labs

In many disciplines, the growth of online courses was propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this trend moderated as health concerns receded. 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. Students and instructors both agree that 1) the perception of online lab courses has improved since the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2) it is crucial to continue investing in technology infrastructure to enhance the quality and accessibility of both online and in-person labs. However, students and instructors disagree on two issues: 1) teamwork for lab activities and assignments (i.e., faculty tended to have a more optimistic view of online collaborative activities); and 2) modality for lab sessions (i.e., student preferences were evenly split between synchronous and asynchronous labs while faculty mostly preferred synchronous online labs). In this lightning talk, we will also discuss best practices worth promoting despite the added effort for faculty.