For two days, digital laboratories took center stage at TU Dortmund University, as the German community around online and virtual labs welcomed colleagues from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, and Australia. The event CrossLab meets Friends continued a growing tradition of open exchange, collaboration, and community building in the field of digital laboratory education.
Building on the success of the inaugural event in 2024 with around 50 participants, this year’s edition expanded both in scope and participation. The program featured 13 talks, three interactive workshops, an extensive demo session, and a range of evening networking activities, all designed to foster dialogue on the design, implementation, and educational impact of digital laboratories.
The contributions reflected the breadth and maturity of the field. Topics ranged from the development of digital lab infrastructures and pedagogical frameworks to evaluation, usability, and accessibility, as well as the role of artificial intelligence, problem-based learning, and project-based approaches. Particular attention was given to questions of scaling and disseminating digital laboratories across institutions, highlighting both technical and organizational perspectives.
The organizers extend their sincere thanks to the international contributors Prof. Dr. Gustavo Alves, Prof. Dr. Timothy Drysdale, Dr. David Reid, Prof. Dr. Javier Garcia-Zubia, Prof. Dr. Alexander Kist, and Prof. Dr. Maggi Savin-Baden for enriching the discussions. Special appreciation also goes to the Presidents of IAOE and GOLC, Prof. Dr. Dominik May and Prof. Dr. Valérie Varney, for their participation and continued support of community-driven initiatives in digital laboratory education.
Following the strong engagement and positive feedback from the past two years, the organizers are currently exploring ways to further develop and sustain this successful format, reinforcing its role as a key meeting point for the digital labs community. The immediate next meeting will take place in conjunction with the ICL-IGIP conference in Cologne in September 2026.
CrossLab is a collaborative project funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre and jointly implemented by NORDAKADEMIE Hochschule der Wirtschaft, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, TU Dortmund University, and TU Ilmenau.
Stay in touch through the the CrossLab project homepages:
Impressions from the CrossLab meets Friends meeting 2026
