African hospitals, schools and community centers will have computers thanks to Wadena-area students fixing computers for college credit.
Dan Carters Minnesota State Community and Technical College students are fixing computers in their personal computer maintenance class. Once repaired, the computers will be brought to Quantum Connections International to be sent to Africa.
Through the project, students are learning more about how computers work because they are working with older computers.
The students have to download more drivers on the Windows 98, so they have more practice than they would with new computers, Carter said.
Mike Koolmo, a student in the maintenance class, said that since they are working with older computers, they are learning the settings more than they would on newer computers where more is automatic.
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The project involves many steps. The steps include loading Windows 98, loading device drivers via the Internet, testing all devices, loading all Windows updates, disabling unwanted startup items and cleaning cookies and temporary Internet files.
These machines got every bug out there, said Ryan Andrews, who helps the class as part of his work study.
Christopher Ehresmann, a student in the personal computer maintenance class, said he learned trouble shooting hardware problems.
Ive been having fun, he said. It teaches students how to fix computers the right way.
Ehresmann hopes to become a system administrator. They work with the computer network and make sure all users have what they need and keep all things on the network.
B.J. Fink said the class has helped him feel more comfortable about working with computers.
He said he was scared of fixing computers, but now hes not.
Hell be surrounded by computers the rest of his life, so he will need knowledge about computers, he said.
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Fink hopes to pursue a career in electronics as a test technician.
Along with working on the old computers, the students in the class work with new computers.
They build a brand new computer from scratch. After they produce a computer, their instructor adds bugs to it, and the students need to fix the bugs. The new computers, when fixed, are used in the Minnesota State Community and Technical College lab.
