$@school
Contents
Learning at the prompt
At school I teach students in 8th grade the basics of Linux and networking. For these classes I have collected around 30 redundant laptops of 10 to 12 years old.
Kids work with these devices in 6 ict classes, that is 9 clock hours every week. Maintenance is a challenge but also keeping these machines alive part of the learning experience. Ideally, after one trimester, students can identify failures with the hardware themselves and repair them.
I created this document to study to what technical level students can repair old laptops and put them into use as Linux devices.
I started with a simple table to get an idea of the data and actions involved. I have chosen for a wiki format as this way of representing knowledge fits the needs of a dynamic learning environment that can be found in my classes. Although a database approach to this subject would be technically more sound in terms of redundancy, understanding the workings of the Wikipedia will lead to more relevant learning experience of students.
The goal is to install a local media wiki server in the classroom which can be maintained by students themselves.
Education and Techinc
$@School being a educational project, there are several benefits in doing this project within an hackers community, the Techinc foundation.
First, the hackerspace itself, with its shared space, tools and equipment can serve as an analogy for a open workshop at a secondary school.
Shared responsibility expressed in rules are both necessary in hackers and in educational settings.
I have worked in several schools that strive for more creative freedom for there students. Makers education is now introduced as part of the formal educational curriculum. However,there is little experience in finding the right balance between the natural exploring instinct of the 'Playing Human' and rules that protect the existence of communities where these playing activities come to expression.
I will elaborate more on the similarities and differences between Techninc and the workshop at school in the future.
What is the benefit for Technic to facilitate an educational project? I think that hacker communities are essentially common grounds where cultural knowledge can be exchanged freely. A gentle introduction of newcomers in for them yet unkown domains of technical knowledge and skills is essential. This being said, Technic does not facilitate workshops on demand. Sharing experiences and skills is done only by incentive of the members themselves. The educational material for the 'network boxes' can serve within Techinc as an introduction for learn more about Linux, networking and computer hardware.
Setup of the laptop boxes
The laptops are organized in boxes, each box contains 4 laptops with adapters.
The boxes are coded with electrical color tape. On the photo, see the rim on top of the box
The laptops also carry the colors of the box they belong to.
| code | colors | date |
|---|---|---|
| RedGre | Red Green Red | 21.08.2021 |
| YelGre | Yellow Green Yellow | 21.08.2021 |
| BluWhi | Blue White Blue | 21.08.2021 |
Table of Laptops
The table of the actual laptops is published on a separate wiki page $@school_laptops.
Description of the columns:
- 'type' denotes the brand and type of the laptop and the order number of .
- 'member' - the color code of the group the device belongs to. The laptops who belong to the same group are stored in a box with the same color coding
- 'kernel' - the kernel version of the OS. SMP means a 32 bits kernel.the device
- 'state' - what is broken
- 'action' - what needs to be done.
- 'date' - entry date
| type | member | kernel | state | action | date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hp530-3 | BlaWhi-1 | 4.4.14-smp | 1G ram | insert extra ram, upgrade os | 03.09.2021 |
| hp530-8 | BlaWhi-2 | 4.4.240-smp | 1G ram | insert extra ram, upgrade os | 03.09.2021 |
| hp530-9 | BlaWhi-3 | 5.13.12-smp | - | - | 03.09.2021 |
| hp530-10 | BlaWhi-4 | 4.4.261-smp | 1G ram | insert extra ram, upgrade os | 03.09.2020 |
Note: This effort is inspired by the discussion I had with Justa about the communication of the state of Techninc tools, member projects and inventory. The idea is to use a combination of color codes and index numbers. The colors express the state of the object. The number refers to a webpage on the wiki.
