Remote labs let students remotely control real physical laboratory equipment at a university. Reported benefits include accessibility, lower costs, opportunities to collaborate with peers abroad, a greater sense of student autonomy, and the ability for a teacher to supervise several groups at once. Research on learning outcomes finds that students learn well from essentially any type of lab, with motivational and social factors strongly shaping results; remote labs appear about as effective as hands-on labs even though students tend to rate them as less effective. Advocates of in-person labs emphasize the value of learning to reconcile and explain differences between expected and experimental results, while advocates of remote labs emphasize that easy repeatability can foster deeper learning.

Remote lab learning outcomes in higher education

- Remote lab learning outcomes in higher education 

Smith College

The college/university settings pose unique challenges to the management of students and faculty/staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dense populations and close-quarters of residential environments on most college campuses create high risks for viral transmission. On the other hand, college students may be more willing to follow proper safety protocol instituted by a college and may be more able to handle remote learning when necessary. 

Reopening Colleges/Universities for Fall 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic

- Colleges/ universities receive increased revenue from student residential and meal plans
- In-person learning provides a superior educational experience for students

Benefits to Re-opening Colleges/Universities during Fall 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

- Implementing pre-emptive NAT testing before the start of the semester 
- Screening student population every two days with a low sensitivity, high specificity test
- Living arrangements for isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts
- Appointing administration and health care task forces for COVID-19 prevention and management 
- Extensive contact tracing of all infected individuals on campus and their contacts 
- Dedensification of residential arrangements, classrooms, and events 
- Enforcing personal hygiene protocol like mask-wearing and enforcing frequent disinfecting of any shared spaces
- Requiring students to quarantine for at least 14 days before the start of classes

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