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Ask Slashdot: Hands-On Activity For IT Career Fair
First time accepted submitter MConnolly writes "I participate in an annual career fair for High School Sophomores. I have groups of 10 — 20 students for 40 minutes a piece. In previous years, we've brought a bunch of retired PCs and challenged the groups to disassemble (down to the motherboard) and reassemble them in working order. Many processors and motherboards died, but everyone had fun. Most students today only have laptops and tablets. As a result, this knowledge doesn't translate into the real world anymore (perhaps you disagree). I'm looking for suggestions for an activity that will give the students some hands-on, real world experience that will benefit them immediately."
but the collgle system has pulled down the tech / trades schools a lot.
Come up with a few simple programming projects that students can run through. There's something magical about writing code and seeing the computer execute exactly what you told it to do. Write a Ruby Sinatra or Python Flask app and show how to access it from the command line. This will teach them what a web server is and how to write simple code at the same time.
"I either want less corruption, or more chance
to participate in it." -- Ashleigh Brilliant
Get an old wireless router, reset to factory defaults, have them connect to it via laptop and configure it for secure wireless, which they can then connect to with their laptop/tablet.
Have a side by side install Linux vs Windows. See who finishes faster.
There are a million web people.
If you can dig in and work your way into a position that supports and codes for these kinds of environments, you're likely to have a job for 40 years.
Yes, mobile devices are shiny.
But you need big telecom, big transaction processing and big power to make that happen. And that happens on big systems.
I know my department has a number of DBAs/developers that will be retiring over the next 5-10 years. There are no competitors for our business systems due to the regulatory framework, so it will be maintenance and upgrades. Maybe a migration from Oracle to SAP and back, depending on the management regime.
Something to throw out there.
My mom says I'm cool.
What in the lord's blazing hell does this have to do with careers?
Set up a dummy WEP-secured AP and teach them how to get on. Check out http://www.securitytube.net/groups?operation=view&groupId=9 for a good instructional video. You'll have to provide a few Alfa cards though. Have them work in teams of three or four and you won't need many.
Seriously. They will learn not to run WEP on their own APs nor to trust WEP APs in the wild. And since most people don't run WEP anymore, you aren't really setting them up for a life of criminal hacking. But it is just devious enough to entertain kids (and some adults).
Why not do the same with laptops and tablets?
Why not do it with a server (you know, the kind you put on those racks)?
Why not do it with a robot arm?
You've got teams, right? Make it a pictionary type of game with each team broken into halves. One half of the team is given a task to complete (build a tower out of wooden blocks, move a pile of color balls into color-coded piles, sort numbered cards, etc) and must write simple code (perhaps limit their operations to a fixed list) that the other half of the team must execute in programming order to complete. Take turns writing and executing, with points for success.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
You could bring in a computer with vsphere or hyperV... then build some kind of IT infrastructure before their eyes. Then tell them that the same kind of software runs the xbox one.
Walk an offshore admin who speaks maybe 500 words of english and has had only hours of training, through creating a Windows Server 2008 VM and configuring an ASP application under IIS. For extra credit, repeat using SUSE and JSP/Tomcat. Simulate an accurate communications channel by having the person playing the offshore admin stand outside by the freeway using an analog cell phone, doing the work on a 1990's era laptop balanced on an ironing board connected to the net by an old Telebit modem that drops often.
Arrange so the student can see the actions being taken, but has no control over the process. The student fails the test if he touches the keyboard.
If the student decides to forego a career in IT and takes up bartending instead, he's passed the test.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Is this IT as in "desktop support", or "IT" as in managing PB-scale Oracle RAC data warehouses?
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Let them dis-assemble and re-assemble iPads.
It's much fun and many will die too.
Except:
Don't tell them what the data represents, make the two databases completely incompatible in data types, cripple their access to anything remotely useful in the way of tools, give them 15 minutes while somebody with pointy hair stands right behind them making stupid suggestions and then when they can't do it, fire them.
Have them root their devices. It's not necessarily an easy thing to do, and in some cases requires CLI. It will show them a high level view of the different thing a person needs to even be able to root a device (vulnerability, code, communicating with the device etc). Talk about the ethics involved in rooting the device (yours vs theirs mentality). Flash a custom "ROM."
Success can be measured by those who successfully flash a ROM without bricking the device. This will give valuable real world experience that can at the least, teach them the perils of bricking a device. Better yet, could help them save big bucks by not bricking one of their own devices. Might even get some of them interested in computer security, vulnerability discovery/patching, and some may even start a business to root devices for customers!
But don't underestimate the ability to assemble and understand a PC down to its memory and CPU. Maybe you can have different teams cooperate to be part of a work place environment. PC building, network building, and "support" getting devices imaged and/or up and running on said network.
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
Teach them how to say "Would you like fries with that, Sir/Madam?" in your choice of any language other than English. They'll learn more...
The demise of desktop computers is greatly exaggerated. However, demonstrating virtualization, pushing policy and installations might be a little more modern activity.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Have them:
Dismantle a desktop PC.
Take apart a video monitor (CRT or LCD).
Tear down a hard drive.
Congratulations -- they're qualified to be a computer recycler.
Hands-on, real world experience is a contradiction. In the real world, filing worthless TPS reports is a career.
Show them the Cisco Packet Tracer and explain how the internet really works fundamentally. If you need more show them Wireshark. That should fill up 40 minutes nicely and could be made hands-on easily in a moderately equipped computer lab.
... but here's an exercise that will translate into the real world... Separate them into two groups, the "M" group, and the "E" group.
The Ms ties the Es group's hands up behind their backs. Then the Ms set themselves on fire, and have to coerce the Es to put the fire out with their hands tied up. If the Ms survive, they get more Es and go again. If the don't, they're replaced with a new M, preferably one from outside who has no idea what just happened.
If you can get your employer to help pay for it, you could have the students work with Raspberry Pis or Arduino boards, and then they can take it home afterwards. Students love free stuff and being able to continue to tinker around with it after the workshop would enable this to be an invaluable learning experience.
Setup two boxes. One standard box with internet access and another one on the same LAN with driftnet.
Encryption will be the singular most important aspect of their future computing lives.
Get some computers with Notepad++ installed on them and a file that has some various lines of text. Teach them about pattern matching and regular expressions. It doesn't really require any previous knowledge, and it makes you kind of think like a programmer. It's very useful even if you only have a basic knowledge of it, especially when tearing through log files with grep. Some of the students might not find it interesting at all, but I think you'll find that regardless of what you do.
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1. hands-on: spark plug....basic auto mechanics. 2. real world: 40 y.o. married female with 2 children and 1 dog. 3. benefit: cars, cash, MILF's....the list goes on and on.
Have them a few 60 hour weeks; tell them they're the company's most valuable asset; reduce their raises/benefits, because the company is being "competitive" (while the company is posting good/record profits and paying shareholder dividends); lay them off because the company is "right-sizing" and/or "moving in a new direction" (while the company is hiring junior people); hand them some unemployment forms; escort them from the building.
Did I miss anything?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Go down to basic HTML. Build a functioning website.
Figure out what gives you the biggest visual impact in the smallest time. Short sweet simple HTML code.
A page, make copies of it and modify to be separate pages, with basic menu.
Then put it on a web server and surf that new corner of the web.
Can be as short/long as needed.
Oh...and color, lots of color on the page.
Those who can, do.
Identify a Business Problem, Gather the Requirements, and then identify the appropriate Cloud Service.
... as you said students today have laptops and tablets which are completely self enclosed and not-user-serviceable at all, fostering the idea that a computer is kind of a 'magic box'.
Having a complete teardown/reassembly with some explanation will show the kids that computers are not these black boxes, you can point out what/where the RAM is, the CPU, storage, NICs, port controllers, network cards (if the PCs are older especially) etc. etc. etc.
Everybody can do virtualization stuff at home already, try to let them do something that they would not be able to do on their own. Configuring an AP sounds 'cool' but really it's just a matter of again staring at a screen and changing some checkboxes, doing something hands on with hardware is a lot more fun IMHO.
-- the cake is a lie
Just show up with a wifi router and a laptop, assume the students will have their own iphones, androids, or laptops. Via the wifi router, have them do networking exercises involving connecting to the network, scanning the network for devices, and performing a basic vulnerability assessment (i.e. after IDing the device and OS, google for publicly known vulnerabilities against it). This quick and dirty exercise will demonstrate networking principles and basic network security tasks.
Morlocks would never trust Eloi to save them from immolation.
I'd also consider adding a disassembled laptop, phone and tablet. You can then relate the components of the disassembled desktops to the components of the disassembled devices.
Have them debug a z/OS StandAlone dump with IPCS. That'll get their juices flowing.
CS knowledge does not translate into the real word ...
How is that? I find the opposite to be true. I think the serious bugs that I've seen over the years tended to be at the data structures and algorithms level, i.e. core CS topics. Keep in mind that those job listings may not explicitly list CS topics but there is an implicit requirement for them if a CS degree or equivalent is listed.
I understand your sentiment. I recall the disparity between what I was learning in a CS program and the skills listed in job offerings. However 20 years later I appreciate what our dean told us at a meeting where he was soliciting suggestions from the majors. Many of the student requests were for classes that were commercially oriented. The dean explained that there is core knowledge that persists and there are languages, operating systems and platforms that are just implementation details. University classes should be about the persistent core knowledge. Self study, Junior Colleges and vocational schools are the appropriate venue for the implementation details of the day.
A common request was for a Microsoft Windows programming class, this was the early 90s. The dean pointed out that the CS department only gave us very basic instruction in C programming and the Unix operating system, and that we were expected to further develop our knowledge in these areas on our own time as necessary for future classes. Similarly, if you care to, MS Windows is something for you to learn on your own time. Windows based PCs are available and with an instructor's consent you may do some assignments/projects under Windows if you want to get some experience for your resume. You may use these systems for personal projects when they are unused, students with coursework related projects have priority. Again, this was the early 90s, not every student had a personal system.
Tangle a bunch of old parallel port and VGA cables with CAT5, CAT5e, and CAT6 cables, plus SATA and some DVI. Time them to get you the SATA cables and 3 CAT6 cables.
If the crowd is STEM-ey, let them compete to see who can finish the most Project Euler problems in a set time limit using their own language of choice.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
As a result, this knowledge doesn't translate into the real world anymore
I thought teamwork still applied in the real world?
Have them open a browser and navigate to Slashdot with just a keyboard. That will vex the average user but is simple enough in reality and they'll leave having learned something useful.
It's a perfect time for being wasted.
A perfect time to watch the stars.
- Burden Brothers, "Beautiful Night"
How is that? I find the opposite to be true. I think the serious bugs that I've seen over the years tended to be at the data structures and algorithms level, i.e. core CS topics.
Those are all important CS topics, but they're not IT topics. IT isn't about finding and patching bugs, it's abut setting up and administering LANSand server farms, setting up and updating desktops for users and other practical skills. (Not that finding bugs isn't practical, it is, but it's a job for your developers and program maintenance staff, not for IT.) The skills you learn studying CS rarely if ever translate into what you're going to be doing in IT.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Ctrl+Shift+T. It's kind of like the Ctrl+Z of the Internet. This will increase their knowledge base, and then train them in its use. After that, maybe have them lookup new keyboard shortcuts or even *gasp* create new ones!
The G
You could set up hands on troubleshooting exercises that focus on issues that the students are likely to encounter in real life. This could include troubleshooting a network connection when "the internet is broken." This could also include troubleshooting a printer that won't print. You could start with the basic questions such as: "Is the cable plugged in at both ends." You could form teams where the problem is the same but the root cause of the problem is different. This type of troubleshooting will teach the students how to fix the problems that they might encounter while using computers.
Have them Configure outlook for an exchange account. Then share contacts calendar and specified mail folders with one another.
Familiarize them with the VI editor.
I still don't know it and it screws me over on boxes without nano or a package manager to apt-get install nano or yum install nano or w/e.
Some kind of simulation, Data Center Tycoon, which gives the students the ability to experience relevant problems ("Developer Group H running out of disk space again") and address them in accellerated real time. This would allow them to particpate without the learning curve of a programming language or router configuration. The simulation doesn't have to be computer based, it could be a tabletop excercise, or even something like a board game.
Another interesting project, teach them to build something from source, how to manually fetch extract and satisfy dependencies, and use compiler flags.
If it's on Windows, have them do it using the cli compiler; have them setup their library $PATHs appropriately using both the GUI and CLI.
Preferably have a second session where it's done on the other OS/environment so that they can get a feel for similiaraties and differences between them (and gain an appreciation for the File Hierarchy Standard and Unix way of mapping/mounting partitions "OMG no drive letter!").
1 ) It does not require any hardware
2) make it so that it feels like a Game/Competition.
3) Instant gratigfication !!!
Have a bank of phones that people can sit at and try and deal with a nightmare user at the other end.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Set up a lan. Takes some thought, but hardly impossible, even for neophytes. For extra credit have them set it up with dhcp, smtp, and named servers.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
...and his job will be to convince the others in 40 minutes that the "Strategic Partnership Initiative" is not outsourcing, and they shouldn't be alarmed.
... but here's an exercise that will translate into the real world... Separate them into two groups, the "M" group, and the "E" group.
The Ms ties the Es group's hands up behind their backs. Then the Ms set themselves on fire, and have to coerce the Es to put the fire out with their hands tied up. If the Ms survive, they get more Es and go again. If the don't, they're replaced with a new M, preferably one from outside who has no idea what just happened.
If I had mod points today, I'd change this from "funny" to "insightful".
It pretty much describes the miserable conditions of the company I just quit.
I won't give any names, but the filthy rich CEO has a thing for sailboats.
That experience left such a bad taste in my mouth wrt IT, that I am looking into going back to college for an entirely different career.
We just hired a fresh out-of-college CS graduate who knows nothing about programming, and I've been mentoring him, so I think the experience here can relate.
There's not enough details in the post about what kind of environment you have, or the amount of time you have with each group, but consider: what's a favorite pastime of teen males? Yep, gaming. So what I did for our college hire is give him programming assignments that were fun. One was to build a game where Superheroes were assigned abilities based on ability type (to teach inheritance), were assigned to battle via implementing an interface. Abilities had partial implementations (to teach abstract classes) setting certain types to have no damage, for instance, or to offer no protection. I wrote all the test cases and the implementation(s) had to pass all tests without modifications.
It was a lot of fun for me to write, and a lot of fun for him to implement because the idea was practical, concrete, and relevant to both our interests.
That's a lot to cover for a high school sophomore, but the key takeaway is to cater to their interests, not yours.
How is that? I find the opposite to be true. I think the serious bugs that I've seen over the years tended to be at the data structures and algorithms level, i.e. core CS topics. Those are all important CS topics, but they're not IT topics. IT isn't about finding and patching bugs, it's abut setting up and administering LANSand server farms, setting up and updating desktops for users and other practical skills. (Not that finding bugs isn't practical, it is, but it's a job for your developers and program maintenance staff, not for IT.) The skills you learn studying CS rarely if ever translate into what you're going to be doing in IT.
If you are interested in doing end user support and certain infrastructure work then yes a CS degree is unnecessary. However IT is a little broader than that. For example I know system administrators who do a little server side development as part of their job. Also some IT organizations may have a small development group for in-house apps and such. For larger organizations their business process or product manufacturing process may involve some custom equipment and involve some in-house development/maintenance. Its not unheard of to find software developers in an IT department, it depends on the company and the nature of its business.
I would caution any high school student thinking about studying computer science at university. I would, however, advise them to study some computer science (introductory programming, programming language concepts, algorithms and optionally data base theory, and artificial intelligence) as part of their university degree in another science (anthropology, astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, forensic science, mathematics, medicine, physics, zoology) or engineering (civil, electrical, mechanical). Realistically, I would advise these students to learn a trade and enjoy can stable career which cannot be outsourced and which encourages entrepreneurship. They can always earn a university degree on a part-time basis while gainfully employed and save lots of money and stress over student loan debt.
Why not have them set up a LAN and a Q3 Arena server.
I just recently was responsible for a piece of a math and science night at my son's school and by far the biggest hit was the model of Hawai`i Island in Minecraft that I built from a digital elevation model from ISS data. The kids loved it, the parents didn't hate it, and I had a helluva good time with my son building it. With the age group you're working with, you can walk them through identifying data needs and data sources, moving data amongst different tools and formats, and then doing something fun and visual with it at the end of the day. Your hometown might not have active volcanoes in the backyard like mine, but you get the point.
Chance 'em.
"In previous years, we've brought a bunch of retired PCs and challenged the groups to disassemble (down to the motherboard) and reassemble them in working order .. Most students today only have laptops and tablets. As a result, this knowledge doesn't translate into the real world anymore"
That's because the manufacturers design them that way, making them ununrecoverable in the process, all the while preaching their 'green` credentials, fifty dollars to change a battery, come off it. I see students who expereience of electronics being reduced to wiping a touch screen as the equivalent of that 'Doctor` whose entire knowledge consisted of consultant colored slides in some magic little black bag.
AccountKiller
"I'm looking for suggestions for an activity that will give the students some hands-on, real world experience that will benefit them immediately".
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"The following Top 10 community backed Linux boards are listed in alphabetical order, with links, price, project, and processor. They are described in more detail in the slide show below (click on View Gallery)."
AccountKiller
CS knowledge absolutely drives the real world. Sure, big data or HTML might not be sexy things for an IT booth, but there's plenty of real-world ideas:
- Make 2 groups: one to write real-world instructions, the other to enact them. Have them write down how to tie shoelaces, that's always fun and eye-opening. :)
- Programmable robots. Lego Mindstorms isn't expensive, and you've probably been waiting for an excuse to buy this yourself for years
- Any math or logic games. You've heard of the water buckets to fill X with Y water using what's on hand.
And that's only the software side. You're right that most hardware isn't easily modified these days, but if PC towers are boring there's always home and personal electronics. Taking apart, cleaning, and reassembling everything from laptops to your old xbox still needs IT experience. It might not make you more employable, but it'll give your kids a chance to think twice about what they can do to prolong the life of their digital stuff before it gets tossed.
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I originally wasn't going to post this because I thought it would sound too preachy, but, based on some other responses here, I think it could be appropriate.
There is a digital civil war coming as we transition out of the industrial age and into the digital revolution. Giving the next generation a solid fundamental understanding of digital technology is critical to ensuring the future belongs to them. They should learn that computers exist to serve the user and that any attempt to subvert this is oppressive and tyrannical: DRM, encryption that hides the keys from you, locked bootloaders, aggressive warranty voiding policies that presume user user liability, etc.
How this translates into fun IT fair stuff ... programming is a good start. Web programming languages give a pretty good bang for the buck for instant results a long you've setup the server environment before-hand. Although, really, if you've got a Linux box setup, getting Apache and PHP running can be done in a single apt-get command and 10 minutes of configuring.
That said, any interpreted programming language with a nicely readable syntax is probably a good choice.
How would taking apart old laptops or cheap knock-off tablets not be relevant? Maybe compare and contrast PC-style systems and SOCs to demonstrate the sliding scale between compactness, capability and performance. See if you can find a way to contrast the generally crippled suckiness of mobile platforms with the endless capabily and vast software ecosystem of a real desktop system. Show them why all their base shouldn't belong to Apple and Google.
Maybe come up with some sort of creative blockade to mimic DRM that they have to tweak around with the system to bypass.
Just get them interested enough to see that computers should do what they say, when they say. Addict them to that incredible feeling of control over a machine whose only job is to say, "yes, master," and not, "I can't let you do that, Dave."
Agreed. I'd mod up both parent and grandparent if I could.
+ Give them a hands-on demonstration of setting up a webserver in Linux.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
There is a digital civil war coming
"Vahjinya, by god, sir, is gonna be programmed by Vajhinyins. In COBOL."
"General Lee, I have no partition."
Get them to turn it off and on again.
It gripped her hand gently. 'Regret is for humans,' it said.
a box of teensys or arduinos with bright LEDs doing something.
There is too much of a range for a SINGLE activity to please all students. High schoolers can range from barely able to use a mouse or directories (Thanks IPAD), to the few ones who have complete and unknown access to the entire school's network and servers. Having a range of challenges would allow students to pick the one they feel they will have a chance at completing, without bringing extreme boredom to the more skilled ones.
and have them teach her how to use her Windows 8 convertible. Please.
poor baby... welcome to the real world, where puppies die and kitties get hit by cars
Control-Z as in "suspend job" (UNIX) or as in "end-of-file" (CP/M)? You want to suspend the internet or end it? [[ confused ]]
Have them masturbate to some furry porn. It's a realistic goal for them to aspire as an IT professional, and is most definitely hands-on.
Exactly. I studied CS and ended up managing desktop support. A neighbour a couple of years younger than me studied astrophysics and is now coding spacecraft landing routines for the European Space Agency. Pure CS is great -- I love it. But as was predicted decades ago, as computers have grown more common, it's no longer just your knowledge of CS that matters -- you need more and more domain knowledge too.
We really need to start teaching everyone proper computing....
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
You could simulate an office move with a couple of banks of desks. Kids race in teams to move their alloted PC to the next desk, cable it up, boot it, and print out a test print (I recommend a "chequered flag" as the print job. Although the risk assessment may go against you. Also, you might not have any working PCs by the end of the day....
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Give them Surfaces and make them dance like the commercial. If they can pull it off in 40 minutes, they can keep the tablets.
At a conference I was at last year, they had set up a lego mindstorm to roll over a printed color grid (this can be easily done in excel by setting the cells to be a squre inch or so, and then filling in the cells with the color you want), and it would do different actions based on what color it stopped on.
For example, if there are 4 colors, red, blue, green, yellow,
If it goes over red, it moves forward 2 squares,
if it goes over green it turns 90 degrees to the right, and moves 1 square,
if it goes over yellow, it moves back 1 square, and turns 90 degrees to the left,
if it goes over a second yellow imediately after, it does something differnet,
if it goes over blue, it stops.
Doesn't really matter what it does, as long as each action is different.
Have a large printed samples that they can use to find out what it does (for example, just 1 really large yellow, then a different page with multiple colors in a grid).
Then have them design their own tests, (they can use the excle grid you've already created, and just fill in the colors) and print out their own patterns to try to figure out the underlying algorithms for each color.
Then have a final challenge, where you tell them which square to start on, and specify a square they must stop on. It's up to them to design the pattern in the middle to get them from the start to the stop square. Maybe rank people by the number of operations required to get the to final square.
This is a good way to teach them about testing, and debugging as they try to understand what the basic patterns are.
Then they need to do their own "programming" be designing the path that will be required to get to the finish.
Give them some real world activities ... filling out TPS reports, doing your timesheets, entering change requests, patching Windows, listening to quarterly calls when the company releases the numbers, trying to scrounge together machines for QA, listening to a client tell you how it's your fault that there's no power on the 3rd floor ...
That'll learn 'em.
Oh, did you want to encourage them to get into the field?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Have them build patch cables.
Taking computers apart is always fun. Even though they are desktops, they have the same basic components as a laptop.
Or, I used to enjoy simple BASIC programming back in the day (though I had no idea what I was doing). I remember having a ton of fun coding out the Lemonaid Stand game.
Basic web design. Could be fun to make their own web pages from scratch.
Or, hire an executive and have him/her ask them inane questions that are way out in left field, just like real life! Wait, no. Bad idea, might turn them off to IT :)
Let them crimp some RJ45's onto cat5.
I had a sucky sig.
Get some dead laptops off of ebay and have them disassemble those completely and give a reward (something like a free pocket screwdriver) for those that can successfully re-assemble them without any leftover screws. One of my colleagues just walked up to me this morning and asked if I knew how to replace the LCD on a laptop since she has never done it before. It surprises me that people get jobs in IT not knowing how to do such a simple thing and even worse that they have a fear of doing it. I disassembled my first laptop in 1997 while working as an upgrade tech at Computer City, all it took was one experience disassembling a laptop to remove all fear and mystery.
Even if the machine is old, the knowledge of how it is assembled and the components involved is still extremely valuable. Also, in the real world we don't work with tablets and shiny new MacBook Airs, etc..., i've got 2 desktops sitting on my desk, one running XP and the other Win7, a 2 year old laptop running Win7, and a 3 year old netbook running Linux Mint 15. The only modern device is my personal iPhone. The cellphone provided by work is a Blackberry 9900 running version 7.x of their mobile OS. Real world = old crap, with tech support basically amounting to providing life support to dead or dying equipment.
A career as an M??
Thanks to everyone who responded! The current exercise (tearing down desktops, reassembling them, and testing) has been very well received by the students. It keeps them busy and challenged the entire time we have them. Every session has a few students who are convinced that these computers will never work again, and they are all smiles when it is successful. We usually time each team, and the fastest ones get some sort of prize (like an iPod shuffle). We encourage them to try and figure out mistakes on their own (by adding time penalties for help provided by the presenters) A secondary reason for changing this approach is that we have started leasing our equipment instead of buying it outright. So, our supply of computers to use is shrinking quickly. I've gotten a couple very promising suggestions here and I will be sure to report what we ended up doing and the results in this thread in November if anyone is interested.
Hire somebody old and computer illiterate to yell at them demanding they log into the internet and re-send the email he just deleted. For some variance, these other scenarios will work:
Grant a C-level's executive assistant full rights to the C-level's mailbox. Have the students watch while the executive assistant deletes an appointment. Have the C-level scream at the students demanding that they look through the logs to find out why the appointment dissapeared.
Have a "manager" send out an organization-wide email (300+ adresses). Have the manager yell at the students demanding verification that the email reached all 300 mailboxes.
Other fun activities, "I need you to restore the file I just deleted, no I don't remember what file it was", "My folder disappeared", and "I need my spreadsheet restored from an arbitrary time three months ago."