A great number of universities worldwide are having their education interrupted, partially or fully, by the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Consequently, an increasing number of universities have taken the steps necessary to transform their teaching, including laboratory workshops into an online or blended mode of delivery. Irrespective of the measures taken, universities must continue to maintain their high academic standards and provide a high-quality student experience as required for delivery of learning outcomes associated with each degree programme. This has created a challenge across the higher education landscape, where academics had to switch to remote teaching and different approaches to achieving laboratory delivery. As a result, students have not been receiving face-to-face teaching, and access to laboratory facilities has been limited or nearly impossible. This paper reviews numerous approaches taken by universities to deliver teaching and laboratory practices remotely, in consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also considering the potential impacts on the student learning experience. This review is primarily focused on the fields of engineering, science and technology, based on published literature including books, reviewing web-based provision of selected universities, institutional and national policy documents.

Education systems and institutions, often historically considered to be resolute, slow-moving entities transformed virtually overnight during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating nimbleness in adversity. This paper describes the first-hand experiences of teaching staff and students from a UK university which pivoted to emergency remote teaching for a core second-year module in engineering, focused on entrepreneurship. A range of methods are used including self-reflection, summative, formative, and focus-group student feedback. The paper provides an insight for readers who may be interested in the practical challenges associated with moving from an academic module typically delivered in a face-to-face learning environment accommodating a large student cohort (n = 177), to one that exists entirely in the digital domain. Our results show learning outcomes were fully met despite stark differences in quality of learning environments amongst students. Students reported benefits to remote learning because it offers a blended approach of both asynchronous content and synchronous sessions, with the latter enhancing engagement and providing structure to working weeks. Issues of presence emerged amongst group work: whilst it might be easier to confront some individuals for lack of contribution, it is also easier for those individuals to disengage. There was widespread support for the Microsoft Teams platform amongst students and staff but the former group reported this lacked a social environment in which relationships amongst team members could be nurtured informally, such as was experienced via social media.

The opportunity to develop graduate attributes beyond disciplinary expertise is an essential component of any degree programme, and students should develop these during their time within higher education. Graduate attributes can be considered as high-level skills and qualities beyond technical knowledge, which enable higher education institutions to produce more employable graduates. However, there are significant challenges in developing such skills and qualities, where remote teaching and learning complicate this further. Online teaching does not wholly derail the opportunities for students to achieve existing graduate attributes—in contrast, it also creates opportunities for innovation and shapes graduates in preparation to be the next-generation workforce. In this paper, we aim to study and synthesise existing knowledge on the effect of online hybrid teaching on graduate attributes. A systematic literature survey was completed revealing that educational institutions continue using online or hybrid instructional modes, affecting graduate attributes positively and negatively. Therefore, to effectively develop graduate attributes, there is a requirement for fundamental changes in instructional strategies, teaching–learning behaviours, upgrading of facilities and curriculum adaptations. We review graduate attributes in the higher education literature, including the impacts resulting from remote teaching and learning. The paper also identifies the general challenges to developing graduate attributes, as well as more specific challenges as a result of hybrid and online teaching and learning.