Digital Lab Logs: Ready for the Lab of Tomorrow—A Project of the DLL Fund

A report by Dr. Irena Senkovska, Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I

Anyone who has ever worked in a lab knows the routine: preparing experiments, recording measurements, documenting observations, analyzing results—and everything must be neatly documented in the lab journal. So far, in many lab courses, this is still done the traditional way—on paper. While this approach has proven effective over many years, it also presents some challenges in day-to-day lab work: entries aren’t always easy to find later on, photos or measurement data can only be included with extra effort, and archiving requires space and good organization.

This is precisely where the project “E-Journals as the Key to Digitizing Chemistry Studies” comes in. It was funded by the Digital Learning and Teaching Fund and led by Dr. Irena Senkovska at the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I at TU Dresden.

The goal was to introduce electronic lab notebooks ( ELNs) into chemistry education and thereby modernize documentation during lab sessions. With a digital lab notebook, work in the lab can be recorded electronically in real time—from experiment preparation through execution to evaluation. In addition to traditional notes, measurement data, photos, or videos can also be incorporated. Lab manuals, safety information, and specialized literature can also be linked. This makes the e-journal not just a digital notebook, but a central hub for everything related to the experiment. This offers several advantages: Students’ entries are better structured, easier to find, and simpler to revise. At the same time, students become familiar with a tool that will become increasingly important in their future professional careers. In research institutions, laboratories, and companies, electronic lab journals are increasingly part of everyday work. Those who work with ELNs while still in school are therefore better prepared for future careers in industry, analytics, development, or scientific research. Another advantage: Digital lab journals can help save paper and improve the long-term archiving of documentation.

In the future, e-journals are to be permanently integrated into teaching and, eventually, used in master’s programs and research projects.

In short: greater clarity, better organization, and readiness for the laboratory of tomorrow.

You can learn more about electronic lab journals in the research data management section of the intranet.

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Ms Dr. rer. nat Irena Senkovska

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Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I

Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I

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