How the labs work

How a lab works

Every lab is a short series of pages. Finish one page and the next one unlocks. Your progress saves in your browser, so you can stop and come back later on the same device.

• HintHelp if you get stuck. Instructions tell you what to find, not every click, because menus change and every computer is a little different.
• ChallengeHands-on work you do yourself. Most challenges end with a screenshot, which becomes evidence for your lab report. A few are just "try it."
• Quick checkA question to make sure an idea clicked. Unlimited tries, and every answer explains why.

At the end of each lab you earn a badge with your name and a completion code. Add a screenshot of it to your report.

Why IT people write lab reports

In IT, the work isn't finished until it's documented. Help desk tickets, change records, incident reports, and forensic reports all answer the same questions: what was done, how, and what happened. A saying you'll hear often is "if it isn't documented, it didn't happen."

A lab report is practice for that. It shows someone else, a teacher, a coworker, or a future you, exactly what you did and what you found, with screenshots as evidence.

Taking good screenshots

• Capture what matters. Crop to the window or panel that proves your point, not your whole desktop.
• Make it readable. If someone has to squint to find the number, zoom in or crop tighter.
• Point to the key detail. A simple box or arrow around the important part saves your reader time.
• Caption every image. For example: Figure 2: Task Manager showing 16 GB of RAM.
• Name files clearly. For example, lab01-fig2-ram.png beats Screenshot 2026-10-24 141503.png.
• Protect private information. Cover passwords, account numbers, and anything about other people before sharing.
• Never edit what a screenshot shows. Cropping and arrows are fine. Changing results is not, and in IT it can cost you your job.

A lab report template

Use any tool you like: Word, Google Docs, a plain text file, or Markdown. The structure matters more than the software. Copy this outline to get started:

Lab report: [Lab number and title]
Name:
Date:

1. Objective
   What were you trying to do or learn? One or two sentences.

2. Environment
   The device, operating system, and tools you used.

3. Procedure
   Numbered steps describing what you did.
   Place each screenshot under the step it proves, with a caption.

4. Results
   What you found. Use the real numbers from your screenshots.

5. Issues and troubleshooting
   Anything that didn't work the first time, and how you fixed it.
   ("None" is fine if everything went smoothly.)

6. Conclusion
   What you learned, and how it could apply in real IT work.

7. References
   Websites, documentation, or tools you relied on, including AI tools.

What a good step looks like

Here is one step from a Lab 1 report, written well:

Notice that it says exactly what was done, how, and what was found, and every number in the text matches the screenshot.

Accuracy comes first

A plain report that's correct is worth more than a polished one that's wrong. Whatever tools you use to write, the same rules apply:

• Report what you actually saw. Every number and setting should match your own screenshots.
• Include what went wrong. A failed attempt and how you fixed it is often the most useful part of a report.
• Say when you're not sure. "I couldn't find X, so I used Y instead" is honest and professional.
• Reread before you share. Check every claim against your evidence one last time.

Using AI and other tools

IT professionals use search engines, documentation, and AI assistants every day, and these labs encourage you to do the same. AI is great for finding a setting, explaining an error message, or tightening your wording.

The rule that comes with it is simple: you are the author, so you're responsible for everything in your report. Check what any tool tells you against your own screen, never include results you didn't observe, and list the tools you relied on under References when your class or workplace asks.