Participating in a lab

Open the lab

After joining your series, choose an active lab. Your instructor may also provide a direct link or ask you to refresh the series page when the lab begins.

For a group lab, the lab page shows available conversations, current members, and capacity. Review the Who can see your conversation notice, then choose an open conversation. If you have already joined one, use Continue Conversation to return. In an individual lab, use Start Conversation; Dialog Lab creates a conversation for you.

Review the scenario briefing

Once inside your conversation, review the Scenario briefing & goal card. It contains the activity's background and goal; your instructor may also provide materials on the lab entry page.

Participate in the conversation

Use the message field to question the persona, test its assumptions, request evidence, and work toward the goal your instructor provided. Messages from everyone in your group appear in the shared conversation.

Your instructor can observe the conversation and may send guidance, pause the lab, or pause an individual participant's messaging. Participation signals in Dialog Lab serve as cues for your instructor to balance conversation dynamics, encourage quieter voices, and offer guidance—not as automatic scores or grades based on message counts. Follow any instructions shown in the conversation.

Ask for help

If your instructor enabled help requests, select Ask for Help when your conversation needs assistance. This flags the conversation as Help requested on the instructor monitor. Select Cancel when you no longer need help.

Protect your privacy

Your instructor can read your conversation. Depending on the activity's visibility setting, other participants may also be able to read it in read-only mode. Review the Who can see your conversation notice before joining, and do not enter personal, sensitive, or confidential information.

When a lab completes

Once your instructor closes or archives the lab, all interactive features are locked to preserve the historical record of your work:

• Conversations: You can no longer send new messages or trigger AI persona replies.
• Help requests: Active requests are cleared, and you cannot send new ones.

After a lab completes, participants who joined can review their conversation in read-only mode. A lab or conversation that has been archived may no longer be available to participants.