Thursday, January 04, 2007

Laptop Classroom Maintenance Notes: Please Read

All--

Eight quick laptop classroom maintenance notes for the start of the semester.  Pesky but important.  

Pranks:

1.  Desk pranks.  The nice desks we have in the laptop rooms have one serious flaw, and that's that idle-handed students can pop off the metal covers on the legs.  These pop right back on, though.  Please, if you notice those weird triangular-shaped pieces coming loose, try to pop them back on.  It's a pain, I know.  I'm working on getting the custodial staff to help us out with this, too.  I'll let you know.  (If you can't get it done, just place the pieces neatly out of the way, as you've been doing.  If you discover that you're a wily and talented leg-fixer, please feel free to pop as many of them back on as you'd like.)

2.  Ethernet pranks.  In RB 107 and LA 20S, some clever students sitting against the wall in one of the "islands" spent a class period or two disconnecting the Ethernet cables from the wall.  Watch out for that.  It may be the reason why the Ethernet (Internet) ports at the desks suddenly don't work right . . .

Day-to-Day:

3.  Be sure to shut down the projectors when you leave.  The bulbs seem a little prone to burning out, but part of the problem is that they sometimes get left on overnight, or, worse, over the weekend.  (For that reason, if you notice the blue light of a left-on projector in ANY deserted departmental computer room, please pop in and shut it down.)

4.  Also please be sure to shut down the document cameras ("ELMOs") in RB 106 and 107, if you use them.  I've found them running several times over the last semester, and they don't like it.  

5.  There are hooks on the wall in LA where you can hang up the cables after you're done teaching.  Please do that; when they're on the floor, they're always in greater danger of being damaged, or of tripping somebody.  If things go as I hope they'll go, we should also have hooks in the RB classrooms by Monday.  Use 'em.    

Breakdowns:

6.  Equipment Breakdowns: If projectors, document cameras, VCRs, touchscreen control panels, or any other piece of equipment in the laptop rooms malfunctions, please call VIS right away.  285-3999.  (I'd appreciate it, also, if you could drop me a line/email when you call in the VIS cavalry, so I have a sense of what's breaking, and how often.)  

7.  For problems with your laptop (or with desktop computers in the regular classrooms), contact Chris Elliot, the English Dept. Computer Specialist.  285-8528,  celliott@bsu.edu.  

8.  Last one . . .  If you have a laptop breakdown during the semester, Sharon has two spares she can check out to you for a limited time.  So long as no more than two of you break down at once, we should be able to keep everybody "in business."  

Thanks for reading to the end, everyone.  I'll see you next week . . .

Fred

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