SHJT

The thirty or so Pentium II 350 MHz computers ran a Chinese version of Windows 98. We had enough experience with Windows to get through without having to read the Chinese. Adobe Photoshop and Netscape Communicator were installed upon our request. For equipment, they had a digital camera, a CD writer, LCD projector, and a hand held scanner. The CD writer was nice for burning all our students' works at the end of the three weeks. The LCD was our savior for classes. We used it to provide real time examples as we lectured.

The network was very efficient, each computer could conveniently save and retrieve files from all other computers. The only real problem was the lack of internet connection. They were still working on that when we left. All they had was a 33.6 modem, which was decent for going to dmoestic sites, but not so fast when visiting other sites. A minor problem was the lack of speakers for the Lego Mindstorm software tour. But most students couldn't really understand the English, so we ended up translating it for them anyway.

We did our updates, and mail checking, through the laptop at our hotel dorm. We used an internet access number, 81890

CP

The classroom we used for the Java class consisted of eleven computers running Windows 98. These computer were also networked, but we did not take much advantage of this. The computers could connect to the internet through a modem, but we didn't need internet access for the Java class.

The classroom we used for the Lego Mindstorm class was called the Intel Computer Room. It had about fifteen Pentium III computers. They were all connected to the internet through ISDN, which wasn't as fast as connections we've seen, but very decent. Though internet access was very nice, it turned out to be more of a distraction for the students than it was useful. The Intel Computer Room also had a LCD projector, which was useful for examples. It was placed at the front of the room, so it had greater effect than it did at SHJT, where we projected onto the wall.

The one useful equipment Children's Palace had was the copy machine. We copied a lot of handouts for the Java classes. The use for a scanner was not needed in our two classes.