A day in the life of a school's computer lab
By Tony Craven
Following his article describing a cheap "network"
for the BBC Micro in last month's The Micro User, many readers
have expressed an interest in hearing more about Tony Craven's
computer lab. Well, we're always willing to oblige ...
THE other day I found myself explaining to a colleague just
what it was we did with all our "expensive" computers.
He was moaning about not being able to afford books and inquiring,
none too gently, how we could justify ourselves.
I told him about a typical day in our computer room, and I think
I got somewhere. At least he muttered something about dropping
in some time.
Now I know that Micro users need no justification as to the
whys and wherefores of the new technology, but you might be interested
to hear what we do. So here goes ... 8.30am: Members of staff
who borrowed equipment overnight stagger in to return their "homework".
Some teachers prefer to work in the quiet of their homes, presumably
where no student can peep over their shoulder and crib the answers
to next week's test.
Actually it is important that the teachers do preview thoroughly
the Computer Assisted Learning programs so that the class can
get straight to the point, possibly with a printed worksheet to
guide them.
9.15am: The doors open and a class of 22 third form geographers
streams in. They are to work on a simulation program written by
their teacher which allows them to "live out" a life
as a farmer in India.
This teacher is familiar with the network downloading system
we described in the March issue of The Micro User and he soon
has all 10 BBCs, nine of them Tape Filing Systems, loaded with
his 20k program.
He will have picked out the disc containing the program he wants
from the college software library held in the computer room.
Over the last 18 months we have been able to acquire a wide
range of educational programs from all sorts of sources. Some
we've begged, some borrowed, and some ... no, we haven't stolen
any knowingly. 10.15am: Out go the third formers and in comes
a sixth form Computer Studies class. This is a project development
session and so each student downloads his or her program saved
from the last session through the RS423 port linked to the disc
machine
The teacher can move from micro to micro helping and suggesting
on a variety of programs being developed, from simple databases
to airline booking simulations.
At the end of the class the programs are saved back through
the network onto the same disc, using the same filename for ready
access next time.
Using the same filename writes over the previous version and
keeps the file updated.
1 lam: After break the room is normally free, but an A level
physics group wanders in. Can the BBC Micro help? They think they
know the relationship between a Geiger counter reading and the
amount of radioactive sample, but would like to see this mathematical
function displayed as a graph.
We have a very useful program for this purpose which will plot
any graph if you tell it the functional relationship. They depart
satisfied. 12.30pm: Lunch time, but the BBC Micros keep going.
Some lunch times we have an open house, but today it's a beginners'
programming course open to all comers in the sixth form.
About 20 students are booked in on this and they all work in
pairs, following a self instruction booklet written by a member
of staff.
Some will go on to write their own programs. Others will be
happy just to understand a little bit more about the power and
limitations of a computer. 1.15pm: A science technician spirits
a micro away. It's going to be used in a chemistry lab, monitoring
the pH of a solution as acid is titrated in, and then plotting
the appropriate graph.
For this application an analogue to digital converter interface
is plugged in and a pH probe connected.
The software for this was also written in-house, and is one
of several applications of the computer in monitoring and controlling
science experiments.
1.30pm: A group of students in the college following a 21 hour
course in community drama now arrives for a weekly session on
information technology awareness.
They explore the uses of the micro in some of its many aspects
- word processing, database creation, data retrieval, simulation
programs, etc. 2.15pm: Ten sixth form O level French students
take their places for a lesson. A technician has quickly loaded
up a program called Gangsters into 10 micros (what would we do
without the RS 423 port?).
This program, also written by a member of staff, is a simple
database containing the descriptions of several gangsters.
The students must look at descriptions obtained from witnesses
to a crime and interrogate the computer to identify the criminal.
The twist to the plot is that all questions, instructions and
answers are in French.
3.30pm: The bell for the end of the day rings, but the micros
hum on. It's open house again and even a few games are now allowed.
One student is using Wordwise to correct a draft of her project
essay in A level art - simple Wordwise files can be easily pushed
in through the port from a disc machine.
A teacher is using the Notts, database to update his department
records, held on disc, with the latest test scores -students,
not cricket.
Several students are continuing their computer studies projects,
and one is using a graphics design program containing a printer
screen dump to draw the title page for his project report. 4.30pm:
By threatening to cut off their power mid-program, everyone is
persuaded to stop, SAVE, and go home.
The room is quiet and dark, except for one micro in the corner
which has a thermocouple thermometer attached to its A to D interface,
hanging out of the window ready to monitor the air temperature
overnight for the following day's geography lesson.
