Sunday, September 12, 2010

LEADING LAB SESSION 5

Hi , I am Akshit Gupta of Btech 2010. I got the opportunity to lead the lab session 5 for the Group-1.The topic of the lab session that I lead was "Unix Commands".I did the lab session with Akshay Rajvanshi.
The topic that we were allotted was not only tough but also challenging enough to be taught. Besides that it was also boring as well.
Our training for the lab session that was taken by a MTech  student was not up to the mark as she herself had not prepared well. So before the day when I had to lead the lab session ,we had to refer to various sites to enhance my knowledge  as well as  clear my doubts .
On the day that I had to lead the session , I had viral fever which made the things worse for me. During the lab session as it was boring topic to be taught it was difficult to gather the interest of the students. Clearing many of their doubts as well as teaching them a difficult topic was a challenging task. However many students helped us a lot by leaving the class well before time.
But at the end of the day it was a satisfying experience after I got good reviews from my peers regarding the lab session.

Our experience of leading a LAB Session.

Well,writing a blog over your experiences can sometimes be the hardest task in the world..though in our case that isn't true..


We would first like to tell everyone what we felt about this idea of students leading Lab sessions.It was not a surprise as coming from Amarjeer sir,we do expect some interesting ideas that structure his teaching style.Though we would want to mention that he has his boundations. We all were soo happy that SM course would not have a theory exam,but then there are some college rules(and we all hate them). So,finally SM has it's theory exam.But about the part that SM is focussed about i.e. PRACTICALS , we can just say that students acting as LAB INSTRUCTORS not just gets in a sense of responsibility in us but also it gets us into the instructor's shoes and have the experience,know what an instructor has to go through before and during the session,the hardwork that is put into it. And for sure,now we actually know that it's not just about those 2 hours in the lab..it's much MORE..


And we can bet.. Once one goes through the experience,the training by Arjun bhaiya and Samy sir,feels the heat for 5-6 long hours,and then the practice and structuring of the lab session at home.., he can understand that it is not an easy job.It automatically makes you respect ur peers too when it's their chance to lead the lab session when it's their chance.


We got our chance ,finally, in the 4th lab session that was about
utilities in Linux and windows.Well,at first look,anyone would find the windows part pretty boring,because we've been doing it all these years,though the LINUX part was new to us.
Once Samy sir started,we were a little amazed,both of us never knew that a tast manager could do soo much in windows,or may how can we utilize a task scheduler,it was fun then.However,the LINUX part was much more intensely taught,most of those things that we never knew.It was too not even 2 hours that all of us got so tired that we asked sir for a pool break,we played some pool and then we were back in form.haha..3 more hours after that and we all went back,it was raining and all of us really enjoyed the trip back to our homes.

Well we had almost a week to prepare the lab session as group I used to have it's lab session a week later than every other group. So,the week just went by,and it was weekend already,we called each other up and structurised the whole lab session,we decided that I would do the LINUX part and Apoorv ,the WINDOWS part.We also decided how much time we would spend on each topic and we were done.It took us almost 2 hours to structure that and then another 4-6 hours for getting into the details of each command.Also,we just revised everything we wanted to do the next day.

Finally,It was the D day,23rd August,Lab session 4,Computer Lab -1.We had almost full strength that day and it was really funny when each of them wished us ALL THE BEST before getting into the lab.We started on a very DHAMKI-BHARA note that "Please co-operate with us and grade us whole heartedly,and remember,you will also be standing here sooner or later"..hehe..

We started and felt it was going very smooth,with I and Apoorv doing all the topics together regardless of it was of WINDOWS or LINUX because we were now thorough we all the topics and all the utilities.It was annoying to have Akshit asking funny questions but we never let our emotions let go,it was also making us nervous when Amol or Adway would ask a technical question,but then we could answer all the doubts without fail and it felt really awesome..It was a fulfilling experience to see everyone learning,enjoying and we were the instructors(The best part)..Well,this was something that the two of us would never forget as it was us,who were teaching our peer group,helping them as if we were the bonds of those utilities..

All we can do now,is thank Amarjeet Sir for giving us the opportunity,the chance to experience what he luckily experiences each day.


Thank you.
Arjun and Apoorv
Group -I

Leading Lab session 3

It all started one fine day when me and Utkarsha decided to lead the very first lab session. We figured that since it was an interesting topic which we were probably gonna put to use later on (which we did), we might as well go for it. Also we thought it would be good to get through with it early on.

I arrived late for the training sesssion but still managed to understand just enough so as to be able to understand the language in which the previous handout was written...
:P

We were nervous on D'day but still managed to get through with it somehow...

There were a few hiccups...
We didn't remember the command used in QEMU, some computers weren't working and most importantly, (and i remember this distinctly)it was a very hot day and the AC wasn't working!!!

But overall everything went well. Almost everyone was able to install Ubuntu as dual-boot and also using virtual box(we didn't get to try out vmware tough).

I'm glad we chose to do that lab session as consequent sessions seem to be getting harder and I have no idea how the other group leaders manage.

I would also like to thank everyone in group 4 for being understanding and patient.:)