Why do we teach lab classes and do they have a place in a world with AI?
Presenter
Professor Andrew Garrard MEng(hons) PhD CEng FIMechE PFHEA
University of Sheffield
Venue
University of Edinburgh
2nd July 2026
Introduction
10 Years of the Diamond
Left — The Diamond building in Sheffield · Right — 10 year Diamond celebration.
Wow, is that the speech?
Father Dougal McGuire
No, these are just the notes, really. See here, for example, this is a list of people who've really fecked me over down the years.
Father Ted Crilly
The current landscape for engineering labs
Three Disappointments over the past 10 years
The Diamond
Practical teaching sector
Covid response
How you would design and deliver a practical experiment to 1st year undergraduate students that would teach pressure loss and flow rate down straight pipes.
Please cover how you would go about engaging the students and giving them a deeper understanding of this subject. Can you also address how you would effectively and efficiently assess a large number (200) of student reports from this experiment.
Diamond Job Advert, 2015
The current landscape for engineering labs
My Application
Ideas presented in my application for Diamond Job.
The current landscape for engineering labs
My job
The job of teaching in the Fluids Engineering Lab.
Feisel, L.D. and Rosa, A.J. (2005) ‘The role of the laboratory in undergraduate engineering education’, Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), pp. 121–130.
The current landscape for engineering labs
Quintessentially laboratory learning
Case A
Case B
The current landscape for engineering labs
Covid response
Justification for the continued delivery of the contemporary engineering lab class.
The current landscape for engineering labs
Why revert?
Advantages
Cheap
Scalable
Convenient
Inclusive
Why revert to traditional approach?
Resistance to change?
“if it ain't broke, don't fix it”?
Lazy academics?
The current landscape for engineering labs
Why revert?
Advantages
Cheap
Scalable
Convenient
Inclusive
Why revert to traditional approach?
Resistance to change?
“if it ain't broke, don't fix it”?
Lazy academics?
The current landscape for engineering labs
Labs do a lot of unseen heavy lifting
High level learning
Experience concepts and apply theory
Problem solving and using empirical methods
Lab skills
Experimental design and risk assessment
Lab book technique and writing lab reports
Error and uncertainty
Transferable skills
Teamwork, Time management
Quintessential lab learning
What will be...
The future of the sector
Why do we teach lab classes and do they have a place in a world with AI?
A world with AI
My relationship with AI
Despite the potential danger, I would probably still accept this offer.
A world with AI
In the world of AI.
Compared to the human teacher, AI is or will become
Better informed
More accessible
Infinitely patient
Significantly cheaper
At the same time:
Big data reduces the need for engineers to understand the nature of complex systems.
A higher education sector with contracting resources.
Is there still a place for labs in a world with AI?
We need the plumbing - the infrastructure to support large-scale practical learning, such as that developed during Covid.
Advocacy
Understanding of the hidden learning leaning of quintessential lab experiences and the density of heavy lifting provided during practical classes. And strong leadership to implement these changes.
Take aways and call to action
Current landscape
Practical teaching haven't been revolutionised, except with how lab teaching occurs.
The sector hasn't capatured and agreed the full extent of what learning occurs in labs.
Provide quintessential lab experiences
Do heavy lifting to deliver high-density learning experiences
Learning in parallel and by osmosis
A bright future?
Utilize the innovations in scale to do more with practical learning.
When AI replaces lectures, tutorials, seminars - practical classes are king.
This won't happen by accident - it will take collective leadership and advocacy.
The Diamond
Practical teaching sector
Covid response
Case A
Case B
