Teacher education has always faced a special challenge: Although the majority of (initial) education takes place at universities, it is at the same time oriented towards school as a field of action (Schiefner-Rohs, 2020). Looking at the current design of teaching in higher education, one can almost speak of a renaissance of laboratories (or labs) (Hofhues & Schiefner-Rohs, 2018), especially in early teacher training. Even if they are named very differently (e.g. learning lab, digital education space), they are usually set up at universities in order to create good teaching-learning conditions on the one hand and to create experiential spaces on the other hand. It is often hoped for them to establish a connection between theory and practice, which is especially important for prospective teachers. Especially under the aspect of digitality as a new structural condition of action (Stalder, 2016), more and more of these labs are taking place virtually - a phenomenon that has become even more important against the background of the reduced contacts in connection with the COVID pandemic.

What exactly is understood by a laboratory, however, is often shaped by the respective discipline - for example, experimentation in the natural sciences or the student-master principle in art and design (Knorr-Cetina, 1988). The question arises as to where commonalities can be discerned in this diverse - and increasingly digital - laboratory landscape and what potentials it offers for teacher education. Is this perhaps ultimately just another example of the seemingly unchecked "hype of analytic theater" recently described by Selwyn (2021)?  Depending on whom one asks, one will get different answers. Teacher educators represent a central and unfortunately under-researched group in this regard (European Commission, 2013; Lunenberg, 2010). For this reason, it is necessary to investigate the understanding and attitudes of teacher educators and lecturers, who play a key role in innovation and digitization and the overall design of teaching in higher education didactics.

Our paper aims to answer these questions by analyzing a (virtually conducted) group discussion with lecturers of (digital and non-digital) lab formats in early teacher education. The focus is on the understanding of labs and the potential of (digital) lab formats for the first stage of teacher education. The following research questions were addressed:

• What exactly are (digital) labs in early teacher education? What are their central features and characteristics? And how do these differ from other teaching-learning formats (in early teacher education)?
• What potential do (digital) labs offer to prospective teachers? What are the hoped-for effects?
• What are the opportunities and challenges of digital labs? And how and to what extent can digital labs be usefully employed in early teacher education even after the pandemic is over?

The analyses are based on a focus group with nine teacher educators/lecturers of (digital and non-digital) laboratory formats from different disciplines as well as metho-didactic designs in early teacher education. Due to contact restrictions as a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic, the focus group was carried out remotely via zoom and lasted ca. 90 minutes. Directly after the focus group ended, notes were prepared in the sense of a postscript, in which the framework conditions and any special features of the remote focus group were listed. The virtual focus group was recorded in mp4 format (audio and video) and subsequently transcribed using MAXQDA (version 20.2.2), which enabled a synchronous linking of audio/video and transcribed files. The focus group was then analyzed using qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz, 2018), based on categories which were developed inductively and deductively.

There are several perspectives on the design of labs in early teacher education and the opportunities and challenges of establishing digital labs. Nonetheless, among the teacher educators who participated in our group discussion, we were able to identify common characteristics, features and hoped-for effects of labs as specific teaching-learning formats in early teacher education: In addition to the opportunity to combine theory and practice, this also includes the chance for joint reflection in a protected setting. With regard to the establishment and implementation of digital labs, preliminary analyses of the group discussion indicate diverse attitudes among teacher educators. The digital design of laboratories is seen in different ways: as a mere translation of existing formats from analog to digital, as an opportunity to be able to implement teaching-learning scenarios that were previously unavailable, as a potential danger, or as an expression of an overall social transformation process. Based on these analyses and with reference to the theoretical background outlined, implications for future research as well as the future design of early teacher education are derived.

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