If your institution doesn’t have a meaningful online science lab component, you’re already at a disadvantage.

I’ve been teaching science courses and labs for 30+ years, in traditional classrooms (in the US), on overseas military bases, and online. I was there when online education was just getting started. Back then, there were only a handful of programs. It was new. It was exotic. It really was the wild west.

That’s no longer the case.

Today, students expect flexibility. If you don’t offer online options, they’ll find them elsewhere (and transfer those credits back in). Those are enrollments you’re losing. And for many students, flexibility isn’t just a preference, it’s the only viable path. Working adults, in particular, often can’t make a fixed, in-person schedule work. As the number of traditional-age college students declines, these learners are becoming an increasingly important part of the enrollment mix.

Then there’s the issue of space. Institutions want to grow. They want new programs, new certificates, and new degrees. But physical lab space is limited, and expanding it is expensive. Online options allow schools to scale programs and enrollment without adding more classrooms or labs. So, the pressure is coming from multiple directions at once. That said, I understand the hesitation when it comes to online science labs. I was skeptical myself.

I’m a theoretical physicist by training, but as an undergraduate I was the “lab czar” that prepared chemistry solutions, set up physics experiments, and organized supplies and setups for biology and health labs. I saw firsthand what worked, what didn’t, and how much the lab experience matters. So, when I started teaching online, one question kept coming up:

How do we provide science labs in an online environment and retain the same level of academic rigor and academic integrity as in-person labs?

I’ve seen and used three approaches:

1. Require in-person labs (onsite or through partner institutions)

This makes sense for science majors, engineers, and students who need hands-on experience with equipment. But for most students completing general education requirements, it’s often more than what’s necessary for this student cohort.

2. Physical lab kits

This can work, but it introduces trade-offs. Shipping delays (due to late student orders or a student’s location) and challenges with repeating experiments can impact student success. Assessment and academic integrity also become far more complex, especially if students are working with identical materials and identical expected experimental outcomes.

3. Online virtual labs

This is a viable option for many general education science courses. However, not all virtual labs are created equal. The virtual labs you choose should have academic rigor, proven outcomes, include built-in academic integrity safeguards, varied experimental outcomes, and be at the appropriate level for your course or program.

Here’s the key point:

Not every lab needs to serve the same purpose.

• Are you teaching non-science majors how to think scientifically?
• Or are you training students to use specialized equipment and perform technical procedures?