I'm very happy that I've been able to participate in a new style of workshop with 4-H; dissecting computers -- tearing them apart and learning about what parts they consist of, how they're put together, and how they might be refurbished.

Admittedly, there's a few things that I'll need to improve for the next cycle of the workshop, but there was a lot of learning, enjoyment, and fun had by most of the participants. That's right, I said most, not all. That's because there was some feedback that the exercise was boring, or that it wasn't really what the youth were interested in doing. Fair is fair! There's always room to grow.

What Worked Well

Everybody's got old, half-dead computers. Right? Unless you're a hoarder like me... then you've got LOTS of old, half-dead computers in varying states of repair (or disrepair). We were able to secure PLENTY of computers that the youth could tear apart. Several wonderfully gracious community members were able to provide a collection of great computers for us to tear down. Everything from laptops, to towers, to an all-in-one! I'm an avid believer that this is a win-win for us and the community. We were able to acquire old computers, ready for destruction; and the community was able to do a little spring-cleaning, getting rid of some of their clutter. Beyond that, we're able to take those old machines and recycle their waste parts. Very nice!

I was able to amass a small arsenal of inexpensive SSDs for the activity, which meant when some computer's needed their drives replaced, it was an easy matter. That also meant that systems could see a nice little upgrade.

We were also able to use a very cool little software tool called ClassQuiz to evaluate some of the results. Unfortunately due to some networking issues on my side, this was a bit "clunky." Still, it was successful and fun! I've really enjoyed working with ClassQuiz. It's a tool unto my own desires. As it mentions on the website, it's self-hostable, doesn't have tracking of any kind, and the developer has been very pleasant to work with. I had some trouble getting the software running on a Raspberry Pi, but we got to the bottom of it, and the developer was able to encourage me to use an x86 platform for my weekend activities.

Where the Exercise Needs Some Improvement

Like I mentioned, there were some youth who did not enjoy the activity as much as others. I don't want this to overshadow how much some of the youth enjoyed the activity -- it was still very well received, but clearly there's some work that can be done. The crux of this, I feel was a lack of opportunity for the older youth to take on more of a leadership role. I think that this is something that I can improve with more time to prepare, and more time working through the exercise. With every "run" of this event, it'll become more polished, and hopefully more fun! Also, I think that with more time to prepare with the youth before the event, I'll be able to give "training" to the older members to prepare them to help with the activities. Hopefully, that will empower them to take charge in the event, and help their younger peers; and after all, there's no better way to learn than to teach!

Another key point I think that could use some refining is the distinction of parts in the event. We tried to do two disparate things in one exercise. Perhaps not the best choice on my part. It wasn't a complete disaster, but it was a bit chaotic, and could use some refining. We tried to both dismantle the computers and then install new operating systems on them.

Yeah, in retrospect that does seem like a bad order-of-operations, and a bit prone to disaster. Luckily, pretty much everyone had a good time with it, still. I think what we can do to improve this is just breaking out two separate workshop activities; the first of which can be attempting to upgrade computers and load a new operating system on those machines (effectively refurbishing those old computers), and the second activity can be tearing apart the computers that were really dead and couldn't take a new operating system. Hindsight is 20/20, right? Well, I think I'll be able to improve it vastly for the second go-around.

Lastly, the networking was a bit tricky. That's my fault -- full stop. It's not that it can't, or shouldn't be done; it's that I didn't prepare well enough in advance. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash myself too much, I'm just trying to point out that more could have been done in this area to make this part smooth and useful. We weren't able to connect any of the computers to a network, and that's mostly because I didn't have the systems well-enough-prepared in advance. And that's ok! It's something to learn from, and honestly, I don't think any of the youth really noticed. So it wasn't really a "problem."

Closing Thoughts

Altogether, I think it was a very successful event. 5/7 youth were very appreciative of the exercise, and said that it was lots of fun and they would attend again if given the chance. We were able to identify some computer hardware that could still be used, and we were able to prepare a good chunk of e-waste for recycling.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to take the activity to other counties soon, and continue to bring the event to others!

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