Free Software Case Studies/Activities/Set Up a Computer Lab

Customise this activity to the kind of lab. or computer room you are setting up (e.g. school, LIMS, ...).

Set Up a Computer Lab
Student group activity:

Maximum of 5 people per group

For each group: using whatever equipment is at your disposal (e.g. student laptops), set up a small computer lab using free software. If possible, include use of LTSP. Include virtual machines if necessary (using libre software).

Be sure to plan the activities carefully and share tasks among team members.


 * 1) As you go along, develop a manual on how to set up lab with the available hardware.
 * 2) Write up a report including:
 * 3) * a description of the analysis, design, implementation and testing stages
 * 4) * what software was used during the process by the team (e.g. for planning and progress monitoring, communication, reporting, ...)
 * 5) * self-evaluation.

Tip: write the manual and report on a wiki as you go along. Assign one team member to be editor of the manual and another to be editor of the report (everyone contributes to both).

All groups together:


 * 1) each group to present their report (10 minutes per group)
 * 2) question time/ discussion (10 minutes).

Depending on the number of groups, and the amount of time available, adjust the length of each report-back and how many to do successively. For example, if there are 4 groups and one hour available, do two report-backs followed by a 10 minute discussion, followed by the next two report-backs and a 10 minute discussion.

Collectively write up an overall report which summarises key insights which would help anyone thinking of establishing a school computer lab.

Resources

 * FLOSS4Edu Tools etc. - ideas for educational tools etc.
 * Edubuntu and LTSP - this will lead you to the Linux Terminal Server Project.