  Physics lab courses permanently undergo transformations, in recent times
especially to adapt to the emergence of new digital technologies and the
Covid-19 pandemic in which digital technologies facilitated distance learning.
Since these transformations often occur within individual institutions, it is
useful to get an overview of these developments by capturing the status quo of
digital technologies and the related acquisition of digital competencies in
physics lab courses. Thus, we conducted a survey among physics lab instructors
(N=79) at German, Finnish, and Croatian universities. The findings reveal that
lab instructors already use a variety of digital technologies and that the
pandemic particularly boosted the use of smartphones/tablets, simulations, and
digital tools for communication/collaboration/organization. The participants
generally showed a positive attitude toward using digital technologies in
physics lab courses, especially due to their potential for experiments and
students' competence acquisition, motivational effects, and contemporaneity.
Acquiring digital competencies is rated as less important than established
learning objectives, however, collecting and processing data with digital tools
was rated as an important competency that students should acquire. The
instructors perceived open forms of labwork and particular digital technologies
for specific learning objectives (e.g., microcontrollers for experimental
skills) as useful for reaching their learning objectives. Our survey
contributes to the reflection of what impact the emergence of digital
technologies in our society and the Covid-19 pandemic had on physics lab
courses and reveals first indications for the future transformation of hands-on
university physics education.
