Pair learning in virtual laboratories: implications for engagement, self-efficacy, and anxiety

Laboratories play a central role in engineering education. Current technology enables virtual experiences that challenge the traditional concept of teaching laboratories for undergraduate engineering students. Integrating technology, such as virtual laboratories, allows students to learn foundational experimental skills; however, it lacks interaction and collaboration among students, affecting student engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Pair learning is an approach that enhances interaction and collaboration among students, thereby improving student engagement and self-efficacy while reducing test anxiety. However, the integration of pair learning into virtual laboratories remains understudied. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of pair learning in virtual laboratories on students' levels of engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. A quasi-experimental investigation was carried out to assess the impacts of the proposed methodology. This research involved forty-seven freshman electrical engineering undergraduates. Data on student engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety were gathered using questionnaires in pre-tests and post-tests from two groups: the experimental group, which utilized virtual laboratories with pair learning, and the control group, which utilized virtual laboratories with individual learning. Quantitative analysis findings indicate a significant dissimilarity in student engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety levels among the experimental and control groups when utilizing pair learning in virtual laboratories. The findings of this investigation indicate that the implementation of pair learning in virtual laboratories has a beneficial effect on the levels of test anxiety, self-efficacy, and engagement demonstrated by students in engineering education laboratory courses.