Craig Duffy - Bristol UWE

Ten things to do with a Dead PC in Bristol: Using Linux in Undergraduate Teaching

We have been teaching operating systems, networking and system/network administration using Linux as our main platform for over 10 year at Bristol UWE.

This, somewhat anecdotal, paper will look at how these courses have developed from a minority interest to a major part of 2nd year undergraduate teaching. Along the way there will be an exploration of whether and how the use of open source software affects the style and delivery of the curriculum. Using the teaching of systems administration as a vehicle for the communication of the main principles and problems of operating systems and networking will be explored.

The role of screwdrivers and pliers in software laboratory teaching practice will be examined and ways of removing them from disaffected students will be proposed.