Teacher Session 4: Basics

Aaron explains the internet connection

For this lesson, the teachers were surprised that we were not using the computers, rather going over the basics of the responsibilities of owning a computer, that will make the project successful.

Ground Rules:

Food and drink should not be allowed near the computers – preferably no food and drink in computer room.

Computers should be completely shut down if user leaves for more than 10 minutes.

Computers and equipment should be stored in plastic boxes.  All should be completely shut down before being stored.

Computers should not be left in the sun.

Computers should be unplugged if there is a power outage. 

Computers should not be charged overnight due to possibility of power outage.

Charging of computers should be monitored by a responsible person.

User Guide will be stored in computer lab.  It is a reference book and should never leave the computer lab.

Users are encouraged to especially read the section of the User Guide called “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQs)

All computer equipment should be inventoried and tracked.

After the ground rules, we went over the basics of troubleshooting. We presented our guide to troubleshooting:

If you have a problem:

If something does not work, try it again.
If it doesn’t work a second time, don’t be afraid to try clicking different buttons.
Read the Laptop Users Guide
If the computer will not respond, be patient, it could be acting slow.
If the computer refuses to cooperate, try shutting it down and starting it up again.
If you are unable to shut it down, hold down the power button for 7 seconds to force it to shut down. Then start it up again.
If the problem persists, try getting help by:
See the User Guide Again
Contact the local support team
Visit http://wiki.laptop.org online using the browse activity
Go to google.com and research your problem
If nothing works, consider Reflashing the computer

Finally, we went over how the computer is able to get online, and what it means to be connected to the internet. We had a very hard time explaining what bytes are, and how expensive they can be, and how to judge when your are using too many of them. Kikonde, our Kenyan partner stepped in here, and in Kiswahili, he explained that data was like the airtime on their cell phones, and was drained with use.

Because of the advancements in mobile technology, cell phones are nearly ubiquitous here in Kenya. We have repeatedly gone back to them for analogies with the computer, and to help the teachers understand that they are more familiar with computers than they perhaps thought they were.