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The role of teachers is an important element of online project-based learning courses. Based on the Community of Inquiry framework, this study examined how students' perceptions of teaching presence, through social presence and cognitive presence, were related to their evaluations of online project-based learning. A 16-week online project-based legal education course was implemented. During the course, students engaged in two small group activities and created two final products. Survey data were collected twice from 38 and 41 students in two course phases. Results from partial least squares analyses revealed that teaching presence was directly related to students' evaluations in the early stage of the course and indirectly related to students' evaluations, through the effects of social presence, in the entire course. Practical implications for teachers and suggestions for further studies are provided.

One promising way to cope with changing requirements from the labor market in the domain of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), but also to keep the field up to date, to start innovations and to advance the STEM domain as such is the use of student labs. In these labs, students work together in small groups imitating professional practice of design and technology workers. More insights are needed in what competences student labs in the STEM domain address and what the implications would be for the design of student labs. A review of empirical studies on student labs and additional literature indicate that five generic competences are addressed in most student labs: Collaboration, communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. In order to effectively enhanced these competences, student labs should be designed as authentic productive learning environments based on three design principles: (1) Realistic, complex task situations, (2) Multidisciplinarity, and (3) Social interaction. IoT Rapid Proto Labs are examples of such a student labs, in which cross-border multidisciplinary teams of students, teachers (coaches), and practitioners jointly develop solutions to challenging IoT applications (Internet-connected objects), add value for enterprises, and strengthen the employability, creativity and career prospects of students.

Project-based learning (PjBL) engages students in knowledge acquisition, application, and construction through artefact development. Based on the Community of Inquiry framework, this study characterized college students' social and cognitive presences in online PjBL and examined how presence was related to their academic performance. Twenty-four groups of students participated in a 3-week project via WeChat discussion groups and created a final product. Transcripts of students' online discourse were collected and analysed by a coding scheme. The quality of students' artefacts was evaluated by a grading rubric. Descriptive results showed that the component of affectiveness and the level of exploration accounted for the majority of students' social and cognitive presences, respectively. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that certain components and sub-components of students' social presence, and levels and sub-levels of their cognitive presence were positively associated with their academic performance. Practical implications for teachers and suggestions for further research are provided.

• Affective outcomes were mostly studied. • Self-reported measures were mostly applied. • Producing artifacts is an essential characteristic of project-based learning. • Artifacts were less used in the evaluation of project-based learning. Project-based learning (PjBL) is understood to be a promising approach that improves student learning in higher education. Empirical studies on project-based learning have been reviewed with a focus on student outcomes. Affective outcomes (i.e. perceptions of the benefits of PjBL and perceptions of the experience of PjBL) were most applied, which were measured by questionnaires, interviews, observation, and self-reflection journals. Cognitive outcomes (i.e. knowledge and cognitive strategies) and behavioral outcomes (i.e. skills and engagement) were measured by questionnaires, rubrics, tests, interviews, observation, self-reflection journals, artifacts, and log data. The outcome of artifact performance was assessed by rubrics. Future research should investigate more about students' learning processes and final products. Measurement instruments and data analyses should also be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This literature review on remote labs in higher education examined the empirical research on learning benefits of such labs. The aim of this study was to investigate what kinds of learning outcomes were examined, how these effects were examined, and which findings these studies provided. Effects that were examined in the reviewed articles (k = 23) concerned cognitive, behavioral, and affective learning outcomes. Overall, results showed positive findings with respect to all three types of learning outcomes: students gained conceptual knowledge, were engaged in the lab, and were satisfied with learning in a remote lab context. However, evaluation approaches of the learning outcomes were quite superficial, because examining the educational benefits of the remote labs was not the main focus of most articles. Future research should address this issue to provide more rigorous evidence about possible benefits of remote labs on student learning in higher education. • Positive learning outcomes of remote labs in higher education. • Examining educational benefits of remote labs was rarely the focus of research. • Evaluation approaches of the learning outcomes were quite superficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]