full malaptop for guide for malawian schools

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Malaptop Guide for Malawian Schools

Malaptop Laptops Guide For Malawian Schools

May 2014

Malaptop is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity Number SC046321 www.malaptop.org

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.malaptop.org&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEJ8FLpno5SqPn_wyNN-mUpUQ-Rlg

Contents Chapter

1. Malaptop Laptops 2. Contents 3. When you get your laptops 4. The Teacher Account 5. The Student Account 6. The Technology

6.1. Linux 6.2. The Desktop 6.3. The Technology Libreoffice 6.4. The Technology Libreoffice Writer 6.5. The Technology Libreoffice Calc 6.6. The Technology Libreoffice Impress 6.7. The Technology GIMP

7. Health Education Resources 7.1. Description of Resources 7.2. Using the Resources 7.3. In the Classroom 7.4. In the Community

8. Using the laptops in class 9. Example lesson plan 10. Caring for the laptops

10.1. Troubleshooting 10.2. Heat 10.3. Power 10.4. Security 10.5. The internet 10.6. Reinstalling the Operating System 10.7. Installation of Malaptop OS 10.8. Running New User Account Script

11. Feedback and project evaluation 12. Meet the team


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When you get your laptops

Ensure that each laptop box contains

Laptop Charger

Plug in each of the laptops to ensure that they all switch on. The laptops are all password protected. The passwords for the Student and Teacher logins can be obtained from the Centre for Youth and Development Malawi. Once you have ensured that every laptop works, find somewhere secure to place them. The laptops may be targeted by opportunistic thieves and it is important to ensure that they are kept in a secure place. Note that laptops will not be replaced by Malaptop if they are stolen. We would strongly recommend that you buy surgeprotectors. Power surges in Malawi can destroy the units and once they have been destroyed, they cannot be replaced.


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The Teacher Account

The Teacher Account will be one of the options on the Login screen.

The Teacher Account will allow members of staff at your school to use the laptops for administrative purposes. This could include:

Keeping a register of attendance LibreOffice Calc Writing reports LibreOffice Writer Planning lessons and course syllabus LibreOffice Writer Storing and creating educational resources

By writing reports using the Teacher Account, the pupils will not be able to read them and therefore they can remain confidential. It is therefore important that the pupils do not gain access to the Teacher Account password. The Teacher Account has permission to install extra programmes, if you are able to connect to the internet.

Changing the password The password for the Teacher Account has been set by default by Malaptop. However we would recommend that the teacher password is changed to something that is memorable for the staff.

Malaptop System Accounts We have configured the laptops with 3 accounts: teacher, student and support. The support account is our fall back account in case you ever lock yourself out of the system. Teacher and Student are the accounts we will be looking at. Both accounts have been created with 'password' as the account password. We strongly advise that you change both passwords before allowing the students to use the laptop.


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We would ask that you refrain from changing the support account password. How to change an account password Ensure you have logged into the laptop as the 'Teacher' account. Click 'Start button' > 'Users and Groups' option. Select teacher account > click 'Change...' next to Password.


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Enter 'password' into the Current password field.

Enter a new password into the 'New Password' field and that same password into the 'Confirmation' Field > Click 'OK' button. Ensure you have stored the teacher password in a safe place, away from the students. Complete the above steps for the student account to change the password.


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The Student Account

The Student Account is what the students will log in to when they are using the laptops in the classroom. This account does not allow pupils to install other programmes or read the Teach Account documents. However, it does allow the students to use all the programmes and save their work.

Logging In To Log In to the Student Account you will need to select ‘Student’ from the drop down menu of the Login screen.

Creating a new folder If there are multiple classes using the laptops it will be a good idea to create a new folder for each class or pupil. This is done by opening the File Manager, selecting ‘File’ then New, then New Folder. This will create a new folder in whatever folder you have opened. You can change the name of this folder by right clicking on the folder icon and selecting ‘Rename’.

Creating a New Account You may want to create additional accounts for each student and this is very simple to do. Ensure you have logged into the laptop as the 'Teacher' account.


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Click 'Start button' > 'Users and Groups' option. Click 'Add' button.

When prompted, enter the 'teacher' password > Click 'Authenticate' button.


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Enter the student's full name and create a suitable username, then click ‘OK’ button.

Set a password for the account and Click 'OK' button.


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The student accounts will have less privileges than a teacher account. This is to ensure that they can not install programmes that could potentially damage the computer. It also allows the teacher to have control over their accounts if required. To make these alterations, select the student account that you have just created and click 'Change...' button next to Account type.

Then select ‘Advanced Settings’. At this point you will need to enter the password for the Teacher account. Select the ‘User Privileges’ tab and untick all of the boxes. You may want to tick ‘Use CDROM drives’ and ‘Access external storage devices automatically’ if the students will be using CD/DVDs or usb flash drives.


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Click the 'OK' button to save the changes. The new account is now ready and can be accessed by logging out of the Teacher account. Always ensure you log in as the new user and check that you are happy with the user privileges.


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The Technology

Linux You may have noticed that the laptops look slightly different to any machine that you have used in the past that was running the Windows operating system (95, XP, Vista or 7). This is because instead of Windows, we are using a Linux operating system called Lubuntu. Linux is the most diverse type of computing operating system in the world. This is because, unlike Windows or Apple, the Linux system is opensource. This means that anybody can legally change the operating system to suit their needs, for free. There have also been versions designed for use in schools, security companies and government and Linux is what runs most of the Internet. The Lubuntu operating system that is on the Malaptop computers has been designed to take the most popular version of Linux, called Ubuntu, and make it easier to use for people who are accustomed to the Windows operating system. We decided that this would be the best system to use after speaking with other charities that had sent computers to Malawi. At Malaptop, we believe that Malawi could benefit greatly from using open source software like Lubuntu for two reasons.

1. It is free! All the programs and distributions of Linux are free which means that old computers can be recycled for free, rather than paying US$200 for the programmes. Using free software would make it easier for ordinary Malawians to gain access to computers.

2. It is exciting! Linux is the most dynamic of the operating systems because there are so many different people working on it. Nothing is out of bounds on Linux and therefore it is used by millions of computer scientists and enthusiasts around the world. By using Linux, Malawians will be able to gain a greater understanding of computing that will increase their ability to use computing in the development of the Malawi.

One of the countries where Linux is most popular is Brazil. Brazil has a large young population and large areas of the country are affected by poverty and poor infrastructure. However, in 2008, the Government announced that it was going to be using Linux in all public schools to encourage I.T skills for development. Brazil now holds annual conferences on Linux computing that attract visitors from all over the world.

The Desktop After you have logged onto the laptops, you will be taken to the desktop. This should be familiar to people who have used a Microsoft Windows computer before. Icons and shortcuts can be saved there so they can be accessed quickly. The current shortcuts on the desktop are for the Malaptop Documents and a link to the Malaptop website.


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The majority of the programmes can be accessed by clicking on the start icon in the bottom left of the screen. This is the blue icon with the light blue circle. Clicking on this link will open up a menu bar that will give you a number of options. All programmes can be accessed from this point.

All the files that are saved can be accessed by clicking on the Folder Icon. This is next to the

start icon and looks like . Once this icone has been selected the file manager will open.


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this will allow you to navigate through your files using the arrows on the top left and move files by dragging them.

The Technology - Libreoffice LibreOffice is one of the most popular Open Source office suites in the world. The version that has been installed on the laptops is LibreOffice 4.0 which was released in 2013. There are six different programmes as part of the LibreOffice and the six programmes are:

LibreOffice Writer LibreOffice Calc LibreOffice Impress LibreOffice Draw LibreOffice Math LibreOffice Base

When you open up LibreOffice you will be presented with the option to open a new document in any of these programmes. Alternatively you can select ‘Open...’ which will enable you to open files that have been saved previously. This guide will give a brief introduction into LibreOffice Writer, Calc and Impress. It will also show where more information can be found for each of the programmes.


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The Technology - Libreoffice Writer LibreOffice Writer is the most popular programme in the LibreOffice suite and is similar to Microsoft Office’s Word programme. The features that are part of LibreOffice Writer include:

Templates and styles; Spelling Check; Thesaurus; Autocorrect; Find and replace; Mail merge; and Others.

In all of the LibreOffice programmes when you select one of the menus from the top row, a submenu will drop down to show further options. This is the easiest way to navigate around the different features of the programme. For example:

Executable commands, such as Close, Save and Open can be found under the File menu;

Commands to alter large amounts of text, such as Copy and Paste can be found under the Edit menu; and

Commands to add nontext elements into your document, such as Insert Picture or Table, can be found under the Insert menu.


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There are many different features and operations that you can do using LibreOffice Writer. For a more detailed guide you can open up the inbuilt guide, either by selecting ‘Help’ from the top

menu bar then selecting ‘LibreOffice Help’ or by pressing ‘F1’ at any time. The Help Operation will give you an indepth understanding of the programme and also contains a guide for the other LibreOffice programmes. To change between programmes select between the dropdown menu from top left.

The Technology - Libreoffice Calc LibreOffice Calc is the programme that can be used for creating spreadsheets and performing calculations. The equivalent programme in Microsoft Office is Excel. Like Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc allows you to put text, formulas and numbers into different cells.


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Each Cell is denoted by its cell reference, this combines the letter of the column with the number of the row. For example, if the cell is in the fourth row in column B then the cell would be B4. In the above example spreadsheet, the value of cell C5 is “9” and the value of cell B2 is “Justice”. If you wanted to include everything between two cells then this is denoted by using a colon (:). For example if you wanted to refer to all the names in the above spreadsheet this would be B2:B5, this looks at all cells between B2 down to B5. One of the most useful operations of Calc is its ability to carry out different functions on the values. This is particularly useful if you want to perform any operations on the data that you have in your spreadsheet. More details on all the different functions can be found by selecting the ‘fx’ icon from the toolbar. The table below gives some of the more details about some of the most commonly used functions. Teaching these functions early on will allow the students to undertake other tasks in the future a lot quicker.


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Function Formula Example

Adding two numbers or cells ‘+’ =D4+5

Multiplying two numbers or cells ‘’ =D46

Dividing two cells ‘/’ =D4/3

Adding lots of numbers or cells SUM(value1,value2,…) =sum(5,C1,D4:D10)

Multiplying lots of numbers or cells PRODUCT(value1,value2,..) =product(A5,F3,32)

Finding the average or cells AVERAGE(value1,value2,...) =average(7,9,11)

Just like with LibreOffice Writer, a detailed guide to the programme can be found by selecting ‘Help’ from the top menu bar then selecting ‘LibreOffice Help’ or by pressing ‘F1’ at any time.

The Technology - Libreoffice Impress LibreOffice Impress is the programme that can be used for making presentations. The equivalent programme in Microsoft Office is Powerpoint. The LibreOffice Impress programme contains all of the internal features of the other LibreOffice programmes. Impress allows you and the students to create dynamic and interesting presentations by inserting image, videos and graphs.


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All the text in a presentation is written in a text box and the text can be moved by selecting the edge of this text box. As with the other programmes in the LibreOffice Suite, a lot more information about the different features can be found by pressing F1 or selecting ‘Help’ then ‘LibreOffice Help’.

The Technology - GIMP GIMP is an image editing programme that allows you to edit pictures and create your own images. The editing and creation of images is not currently a part of the curriculum, however it is useful skill to have and can be good fun for the students. The GIMP programme can be found by selecting the ‘Graphics’ option from the start icon. The pupils can create a new image by selecting File → New or the can edit an existing image by selecting File→ Open and then selecting the appropriate image from the file browser. The layout of the GIMP programme is different to the LibreOffice programmes. The Toolbox is a separate window to where the image is edited, the editing pane, and contains all the different features used to edit the images. The image below shows an image being edited with the Toolbox window to the right of the editing pane. The icon that is selected is ‘Fill’ which will fill any enclosed space with one colour.


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GIMP is a very powerful editor and there are hundreds of features. Like the LibreOffice programmes there is a much more detailed guide built in. To access this guide press ‘F1’.


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Health Education Resources

Description of Resources There are resources that have been loaded onto the computers that can be used for public health education. These have been provided by the Wellcome Trust, which is one of the biggest funders of medical research in the world. The resources can be found by going to the Directory → Documents The resources include :

A comic about malaria Colouring sheets about parasites Fact Sheet Preventing impairment and disability Presentation Recognising impairment at birth Handbook Recognising impairment at birth Presentation How to improve the health and development of your child Handbook Facts for life Presentation The Scottish Encounter with Tropical Disease

Using the Resources Some of the resources have been designed to use with adults and others have been designed to use with children. However, all ages can benefit from all of the resources.

In the Classroom The colouring sheets are an excellent resource for the pupils to learn about the parasites that cause common diseases. Each of the colouring sheets gives more information about the parasites and how they are spread. The pictures can be printed out if you have a printer and the pupils can colour in different


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sections of the picture. However, the pupils can also colour the pictures in using a programme that is installed on the laptops called GIMP. To open up one of the colouring in sheets in GIMP you will first need to open GIMP, which can be found in the ‘Graphic’ section of the start screen. Once GIMP has been opened Click ‘File’ the ‘Open’ and select the colouring in sheet that you would like to edit. You will then be asked to select the part of the comic that you would like to use. Select the page you want then click ‘Import’. Once the Colouring In Sheet has been opened you can edit it by selecting the ‘Bucket Fill’ option from the Toolbar or by using the paint brushes. When the pupils are editing it they can change the colour of each section and save it in their own folder. This would be a useful way of labelling the different parts of the parasite. For example in the image below the wings and legs are being coloured in in blue and the abdomen is being coloured in in green.


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The Malaria Comic is also a very good resource to use within the classroom with your pupils. It is a very colourful and detailed account of how the disease is spread and what is being done to tackle it.

In the Community The Wellcome Trust resources have been designed so that they can be used by the school and the wider community. If you have a relationship with a local health centre they might be interested in running classes with the community, particularly with mothers. These classes would be able to use the following resource with adults:

Fact Sheet Preventing impairment and disability

Presentation Recognising impairment at birth Handbook Recognising impairment at birth Presentation How to improve the health and

development of your child Handbook Facts for life

The Facts for Life handbook is very good and covers a very wide range of topics from immunisation and HIV to timing births and breastfeeding. The handbook is designed to be a teacher’s guide and has the key message from each section extracted at the top and highlighted in bold.


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If you do work with a local Health Centre to deliver public health programmes to your community, let us know and we will work with the Wellcome trust to provide you with further educational resources if required.


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Using the laptops in class

The laptops are being donated to the school on the understanding that they will be used extensively in the classroom and the pupils will have as much contact time with them as possible. We would recommend that you create a folder for each pupil so that they can save their work. Malaptop are aiming to have two pupils in per laptop. If the laptops are shared between two this will allow the pupils to get enough hands on experience to learn the skills necessary. Some pupils are likely to want to have a more active role however the teacher needs to ensure that both pupils get equal opportunity to complete the work given. Each pupil should save their own work in their own folder, so both pupils will need to complete their task.


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Example lesson plan

Malaptop is aware that the syllabus for MSCE in Computing Studies has been designed to minimise the need for use of a computer. However the pupils can also use the laptops for some exercises that are designed for pen and paper. This will allow the pupils to put their theoretical computing knowledge into practice. An example lesson plan is given below which shows how a discussion topic can also utilise the laptops.

St Peters CDSS Science Department

Topic

Advantages and Disadvantages of Computers

Learning Objectives

To know:

Computers can store a lot of information and can allow many people to access this information

They can connect people across the world and allow people to create professional documents

However computers are also expensive, they need electricity and new skills need to be learned before they can be used.

To practice the skill of:

Typing and use of tables in a word processor

Learning Intentions

Create:

A Writer document with a table containing the a list of the advantages and disadvantages of computers

Lesson Structure

Discussion with class of the increasing role that computers are playing for lifein Malawi

Split the class into groups, so there is one group per computer. Giving examples of one advantage and one disadvantage of computers and

then getting the groups to discuss and write down other advantages and disadvantages.

Once the groups all have their own ideas, collect them on the board as a


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class

Practical Activity

The laptops will be used here, as this will give the students hands on experience of the computers. The program that will be used is LibreOffice Writer and the pupils will input their ideas into a table. After the pupils have written down in their groups some of the advantages and disadvantages of computers they will show you their lists. Then they will go onto thelaptops and open the LibreOffice Writer.

Click on ‘Insert’ Click on ‘Table’ Change the title to ‘Computers’ Rows = 2 and Columns = 2 In the top row of type ‘Advantages’ in one column and ‘Disadvantages’ in

the other Type group ideas under each heading

Encourage each pupil to take a turn to type in one idea each.

Assessment Do all the groups have a document that looks similar. Can the groups spot what is different between each others work?

Reflection (Success)

Review (development)


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Caring for the laptops

The laptops can not be replaced by Malaptop. Therefore to ensure that they are useful for as long as possible it is important that the following precautions are taken.

Troubleshooting

Heat Storing the laptops in hot environments or indirect sunlight is likely to cause hardware problems. Try to store and use them in shaded areas. When the laptops are in use, the underside of the laptops will get warm. The majority of laptops will have an internal fan that will attempt to keep the internal parts cool. However, in a warm environment like Malawi, the internal parts are more likely to overheat. One simple method of keeping them cool is to raise the back with a textbook or jotter so that there can be some airflow underneath the laptops while they are in use.

Power The power connection is one of the components of a laptop that can break and stop the laptop from working. These problems are commonly caused by two things.

1. Damaged connector within the laptop. The pin that is in the laptop that the cable plugs into can snap if the laptop is moved too much while it is plugged in or if people are too forceful when plugging in the cable. To avoid this problem be very careful when moving a plugged in laptop and when plugging in the power cable.

2. damaged power units due to electrical surges. If there is a problem with electrical surges on the power network, Malaptop would strongly advise the school to purchase surge protectors to plug in the laptops too. The damage cause by surges can make a laptop useless and they will not be replaced by Malaptop.

Security Laptops can be a very tempting target for thieves. It is essential that the laptops are stored securely when they are not in use and all reasonable measures are put in place to deter thieves. Also, laptops must not be taken home by members of staff. If CYD Malawi visit the school and find that there are laptops unaccounted for, no further support will be given to that school. However, security should not come before education.. The laptops should be used as much as possible with the pupils and for school business.


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The internet All of the laptops are able to be connected to the internet via either an ethernet cable or via wifi. If a connection is made via an internet dongle the drivers may not be installed. There are very low risks from viruses on linux computers so there is no need to install antivirus. However, some programmes that you can download will slow down the computers considerably because of their size.

Reinstalling the Operating System It may be the case that one of the computers in your batch develops a problem that can not be repaired. In this case, it will be necessary to reinstall the operating system from the Backup DVD. Before you do this, get in touch with James Gondwe at CYD Malawi. There are two stages of this process, the first is to install Malaptop OS. The second stage is to run a short script that creates the other user accounts.

Installation of Malaptop OS Power on laptop. Continually press F12 until the boot menu appears. Boot from DVD/USB Device. Select Install – Start the installer directly


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Select English and click Continue button.

Tick Install this thirdparty software and click Continue button. The option for ‘is connected to the Internet may not be ticked, if so select Continue.


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Select Erase disk and install Malaptop and click Install Now button.

Select Blantyre and click Continue button.


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Select English (UK) and click Continue button.

On the next screen, you are asked to set up some of the details to create the first user account. In the spaces, type in what has written in bold. Who are you? Your name: teacher Your computer's name: enter laptop name from list issued by Simon Pick a username: teacher Choose a password: password Confirm your password: password Tick the Require my password to log in


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Click Continue button. The installer will install the relevant applications, hardware and files required. Click Restart Now button.

When prompted, remove DVD/USB from machine and Press Enter button. The laptop will reboot and load Lubuntu. Log into the laptop using Username: teacher Password: password


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Click Login button.

Click the Cross at top right hand side on Information available message box to close. The Malaptop OS system is now installed. Please follow the Running New User Script section to setup additional user accounts.

Running New User Account Script Click Start button. Select Run option from menu.

Type: pcmanfm into the run command and press OK button.


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Type: /usr/share/malaptop/scripts/newusers into the address bar and press Enter button.

Press F4 button to open current folder in a terminal window. In the Terminal window type: sudo ./userscript.sh then press Enter button.

Type the default user password and press Enter button (This is the password for the current logged in user).

The script will run with no errors and show the bash prompt.


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If you try running the script again you will be prompted that each of the accounts already exist. The laptop is now fully setup.


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Feedback and project evaluation

The laptops are provided under the assumption that the schools will provide feedback to Malaptop and the Centre for Youth and Development Malawi. There are feedback forms provided with each of the donations. Providing feedback will enable Malaptop and Centre for Youth and Development Malawi to provide support for any issues that you are having with the machines. The first form will need to be completed in the first three months of receiving the laptop donations. This covers the number of pupils who will be accessing the machines and any problems that the school has running them. There are also evaluation forms to be completed at the end of each academic year. This covers information about those sitting the computing exams and how the laptops are being used outwith the classroom environment.


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Meet the team

Name: James Gondwe Phone: +265 8849 70215 +265 9999 40260 Email: [email protected] Position: Director of CYD Malawi Role: James will be the first port of call for any issues with the laptops. He will then decide which member of the CYD Malawi team will be best placed to deal with your query.

Name: Simon Cleary Email: [email protected] Position: Director of Malaptop Role: Simon is responsible for Malaptop’s operations in Scotland. The Malaptop team in Scotland will also provide technical support to James Gondwe and CYD Malawi.


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!

!

!Malaptop is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity Number SC046321

[email protected]

www.malaptop.org

full malaptop for guide for malawian schools

Documents

teacher logins

malaptop guide

extra programmes

members of staff

opportunistic thieves

power surges