Computer Department
Staffing:
We have three members on the teaching staff:
Mrs. Margaret Mbalule – Ag/HOD BA. Ed, M.A 7 lessons a week
Mrs. Solome Ssenkubuge Dip. Ed 8 lessons a week
Mr. Denis Kakuru BSc. Ed 9 lessons per week
We have also received two teachers this year( from Norway on a teachers’ exchange program to help us in the department. The second one, Mr. J.Kjell Strue Jorsuik arrived in October and will be teaching this year.
Mrs. Irene Ssali is the computer lab attendant.
Computer Lab
• The lab is mainly used for lessons and computer club activities.
• At the moment, it houses 34 computers in working condition. There are some other computers, monitors which do not function and need repairing.
• The computers are all connected to a local area network. (LAN)
Student’s numbers
• All S.1s have had computer lessons this year, this is a new development. They have one double lesson a week. (80 minutes)
• S. 2s haven’t had computer lessons but will do this year as a continuation from S.1.
• All S.3s as usual have attended computer lessons. One double lesson a week. There is also a class which we refer to as the UNEB class, these are students who are going to continue and sit Computer Skills UNEB exam next year. These ones have five lessons a week. They are 34 in number.
• Computer lessons at S.4 level are only offered to the UNEB class. This year, we sat 23 candidates. They were 19 in 2006. Next year will be 34. There is a very big demand for this class, we, however, cannot take on many, due to the constraints of equipment. Over 100 have applied to join this class for next year’s S.3, as we normally do, we shall give a test do disqualify and reduce numbers.
Internet:
• Our service providers are Afsat(U) Ltd. Dues are paid quarterly. The speeds keep on fluctuating. We use an HP Axxess server. This server accesses the internet through a VSAT(very small aperture terminal, which was supplied and installed by Afsat Communications (Uganda) Ltd. This VSAT is a Ku-band measuring 1.2 metres in diameter.
• The school website is hosted by Computer Frontiers International (CFI).
• Due to the laying of the fibre optic, several departments are now accessing the Internet from their departments especially in the science labs.
Computer Club
• The computer club has been patroned by Mrs. Ssenkubuge under the presidency of an S.6. student, Kisitu Victor. Kisitu has been very helpful in the lab especially with trouble shooting. A new executive for the year 2008 was elected. Apart from the usual president, Vice, Secretary, P.R.O. and Auditor, this executive includes an Activities coordinator, a Projects manager, Research and Education Team and a Maintenance Team. This is to encourage more involvement of students at the administrative level and distribution of duties. The chairman is often overwhelmed by the amount of work.
• Students’ activities include reading and sending mail, surfing and working on projects
• We have tried to filter sites against pornography, students have also been strictly warned since some filters aren’t strong enough to block it.
Challenges and way forward.
• The 1,000,000/= departmental vote for the lab is not enough at all.
Our biggest challenge is the ratio of computers to students and space in the computer lab. The S.1 and next year’s S.2 class average is 80 students. Due to limited space between some workstations, we have a computer being shared by four students and another one by two. It takes time before each of the four gets round to touching the keyboard.
We cannot take as many students as those who want to join the UNEB class, because computers are not shared at that level.
Way forward: We request that another room is furnished and more computers are acquired for it due to the increasing demand for the subject. Sources of new computers include Schoolnet(U), Uconnect and dealers in the city.
• We need to periodically service the machines, they were last serviced in 2006! If we serviced at least once every term, we would reduce on loss of computers to overuse without service.
• The problem of pornography needs to be addressed by the entire staff. Children from very respectable parents have been caught at it and it looks like it is a peer problem. There is no software that is good enough to beat it all, we just reduce.
• Viruses are a menace in the lab. We keep installing anti virus, but stronger viruses still get through to us. An antivirus was installed on the server to further reduce or the threat of viruses.
• The teachers’ laptop is being used in the office by the deputy. There is need for teachers to have a laptop to be able to plan for lessons effectively.
• The fibre optic has not been effectively used to reduce on demand for the computer lab and resource room.
Mrs.Margaret N Mbalule
Ag. Dept Head
Computer |
