At-Home STEM Lab Kits in Higher Education - Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic and Recommendations for Future Success

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah

A report examines how at-home STEM lab kits fit into higher education during and after COVID-19, distinguishing emergency remote teaching from quality online learning. It synthesizes key findings on learning quality, opportunities for innovation, accreditation and feedback, and major access barriers such as the digital divide, prohibitive costs, and uneven institutional support. It then outlines practical recommendations for future success including HyFlex delivery and more flexible accreditation pathways, plus limits and directions for further study.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Table of Contents

About Our Organizations

The Carolina-OLC Partnership

Introduction

Key Findings

Quality

Opportunities for Innovation

Learning Outcomes and Accreditation

Academic Feedback and Integrity

Access

Increased Access to Higher Education

Cost as Prohibitive

The Digital Divide was a Barrier

Institutional Support and Challenges

Support is Critical but Varied Widely

Administrative and Legal Barriers

Recommendations for Future Success

HyFlex—offering both to increase access

Absorbing costs like in-person lab

Emergency online vs. planned

More flexible state boards for accreditation

Limitations and Future Study

At-Home STEM Lab Kitsin Higher Education LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SUCCESS AUTHORS Andrew Swindell, Ph. D. Educational Researcher and Publishing Coordinator, Online Learning Consortium Shannon McGurk, M.S., M. Ed. Director of Distance Learning, Carolina Biological Supply Company Abby McGuire, Ed.D. Director of Research, Online Learning Consortium Recommended citation: Swindell, A., McGurk, S., and McGuire, A. (2022) . At-Home STEM Lab Kitsin Higher Education: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic and Recommendations for Future Success. The Online Learning Consortium. [https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/at-home-stem-lab-kits/](https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/at-home-stem-lab-kits/) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons, Creative Commons—AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International—CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. At-Home STEM Lab Kits in Higher Education 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATIONS4 THE CAROLINA-OLC PARTNERSHIP 4 INTRODUCTION 5 KEY FINDINGS 7 Quality 7 Opportunities for Innovation 7 Learning Outcomes and Accreditation 8 Academic Feedback and Integrity 9 Access 10 Increased Access to Higher Education 10 Cost as Prohibitive 10 The Digital Divide was a Barrier 11 Institutional Support and Challenges 12 Support is Critical but Varied Widely 12 Administrative and Legal Barriers 13 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SUCCESS 15 HyFlex—offering both to increase access 15 Absorbing costs like in-person lab 16 Emergency online vs. planned 16 More flexible state boards for accreditation 16 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE STUDY 16 ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATIONS The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is a collaborative community of education leaders and innovators dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences designed to reach and engage the modern learner—anyone, anywhere, anytime. OLC inspires innovation and quality through an extensive set of resources, including best-practice publications, quality benchmarking, leading-edge instruction, community-driven conferences, practitioner-based and empirical research, and expert guidance. The growing OLC community includes faculty, administrators, trainers, instructional designers, and other learning professionals as well as educational institutions, professional societies, and corporate enterprises. Learn more [at](at onlinelearningconsortium.org)[ ](at onlinelearningconsortium.org)[onlinelearningconsortium.org](at onlinelearningconsortium.org). Carolina Distance Learning® offers campus-quality science lab kits for online students that provide the same rigor, relevance, and results that traditional labs provide. It has leveraged 90+ years of expertise tobe able to offer hands-on labs in nine subject areas that can be completed at home safely. Carolina also provides free course design, the flexibility to customize, and shipping schedules to match your timeline so you can plan and facilitate labs with ease and confidence (and without aggravation and stress) . In addition to serving schools, Carolina’s products have also been used by the scientific and health communities. It has a 24-hour order hotline for a special program to supply medicinal leeches to doctors and hospitalsand has also supplied NASA scientists with various products for their important work. Learn more at [carolinadistancelearning.com](carolinadistancelearning.com) or take a look at this video. The Carolina-OLC Partnership With Carolina Distance Learning’s dedication to providing quality at-home lab programs for college-level distance education and the Online Learning Consortium’s (OLC’s) dedication to creating community and knowledge around quality online, blended, and digital learning while driving innovation, a mutually beneficial opportunity has arisen to explore the evolving needs of science educators in higher education as they create qual

FAQs

What is the report’s main focus on at-home STEM labs in higher education?

It focuses on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides recommendations for improving future success with at-home STEM lab kits in higher education, including their role in quality digital and blended learning.

What key access barriers are identified for adopting at-home lab resources?

The report highlights prohibitive costs, the digital divide, and challenges in institutional support, including administrative and legal barriers that affect adoption.

Which recommendations are proposed to improve future implementation?

Recommendations include using HyFlex to increase access, planning versus relying on emergency online transitions, absorbing costs similarly to in-person labs, and enabling more flexible accreditation approaches.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah