create-lab

Create Hands-on Lab

Design the lab as a learning experience, not as documentation.

Teaching model

Use this progression where appropriate:

explain → demonstrate → guide → practice → challenge → reflect

Workflow

1. Identify audience and assumed prior knowledge.
2. Define 2-5 observable learning objectives.
3. Create a realistic scenario that gives the work a purpose.
4. Determine environment, permissions and prerequisites.
5. Add an environment check before the main exercise.
6. Break the exercise into purposeful tasks.
7. Add checkpoints after meaningful milestones.
8. Add a challenge that requires transfer, not copying.
9. Add likely troubleshooting cases.
10. Define expected end state.
11. Add cleanup when the lab creates billable, persistent or risky resources.
12. Add a short reflection/what-you-learned section.

Required structure

Lab title

Scenario

Learning objectives

Estimated time

Prerequisites

Environment check

Exercise

Task 1

• Goal
• Steps
• Checkpoint

Task 2

• Goal
• Steps
• Checkpoint

Challenge

Troubleshooting

Expected result

Cleanup

What did you learn?

Quality rules

• Do not turn the lab into a lecture.
• Prefer real actions over passive reading.
• Keep steps explicit enough to execute.
• Avoid unexplained jumps.
• Mention permissions and access requirements.
• Use realistic names and cases.
• If a step depends on a UI that may change, describe intent and expected result, not only button positions.