2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Exploring the Impact of Virtual Labs on Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes in Biological and Agricultural Engineering: A Scoping Review
This scoping review explores existing literature on the impact of using virtual labs on student engagement and learning outcomes in Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) education. Virtual labs, which provide remote, simulation-based learning experiences, allow students to conduct experiments without the typical constraints of time, space, or access to physical resources. Virtual labs can foster self-paced learning, allow for repeated practice, and incorporate immediate feedback, thereby enhancing students' grasp of theoretical and practical concepts. They may be especially advantageous for instances of BAE education where access to traditional labs is limited.
Virtual labs are increasingly being adopted for BAE, and many studies have explored their utility and effectiveness. However, there is a lack of comprehensive review of these studies. Such a review could synthesize the literature to identify key factors for fostering effective integration of virtual labs to facilitate laboratory pedagogies that enhance the curricular experiences of engineering students. Such a review could inform BAE researchers and educators about the different uses of virtual labs and the learning outcomes they support.
Our review addresses this gap by systematically identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing research on these enhanced teaching practices in BAE education. The primary objectives include assessing the potential scope of existing research and identifying the nature and extent of the evidence available. The review is based on studies selected after an extensive search of academic databases using relevant search terms and strategies. The articles retrieved were filtered using inclusion and exclusion criteria that will help us identify peer-reviewed articles and published virtual labs learning outcomes within the last two decades (2005- 2025).
Initial findings indicate that these virtual labs can significantly improve academic performance, boost student engagement, and positively impact learning outcomes in BAE courses. We anticipate that this review will be useful for BAE educators to maximize the affordances of virtual labs in improving learners’ conceptual understanding of abstract concepts.