Hands-on Hardware: A Journey of Branching Out

By the end of my junior year time with the Innovation Lab, I encountered various, sometimes difficult situations with the physical components of devices. Even though I was given the opportunity to observe the resolution process, I was unable to reach my learning target set for accomplishing these tasks myself, making an aspiration of my senior year to push forward on this. Working with software has always been a comfort zone of mine, however, I am ready to start breaking out of it!

Below, each photo corresponds to a different month and a single, hands-on project that I took on during my block time. My energy is directed towards pursuing more difficult issues as time goes on, slowly but surely developing my skills in this area.

October 2017

Although the image on the left was taken at the start of my junior year, this was the first time I was given an opportunity to take apart a computer and explore each of its internal parts. From this experience, I learned about the extent of complexity that devices have and the names of many common components!

September 2018

Throughout this month, I was able to complete a series of basic setups, and pictured on the left are the speakers I worked on for the school's new resource officer. Having a refresher on which sound ports and settings to go into was quite nice, especially since a good amount of troubleshooting scenarios are related to this subject. Additionally, I was able to assemble a document camera for one of the English teachers, which involved a connection to a USB port and construction of its components.

October 2018

In this month, I was able to direct my focus towards device-cable interaction, starting this process with my participation in this year's Google Summit. Setting up areas that were used for presentations, I refreshed myself on the connection of an HDMI cord to an external computer with corresponding ports. In addition to this, while working with these cables, I was able to learn about a VGA-HDMI adapter, which was intriguing in that it allows a video source to travel through different cords. Lastly, I was able to figure out how to tighten and loosen the screws on VGA cables, which was a milestone for me since this task was an ongoing weakness of mine from last year.

November 2018

Throughout this month, although I was not able to encounter many issues regarding cable connection, I began to pursue understanding physical repairs on Chromebooks. When encountering an issue on one of these devices with WiFi connection, my instructor and I first attempted normal methods for resolution. After discovering that the problem was still persisting, we proceeded to open up the back of the Chromebook, where I was able to observe the most prominent cables and internal accessories. Ultimately unplugging and plugging the power source to the battery in order to cause a reset, a network connection was able to be established, providing a useful earning experience for me! From seeing this internal component organization, I hope to begin carrying out simple repairs in future months.

December 2018

In this month, in addition to marking Wednesday as our once-a-week Chromebook repair training day, I have now been able to assist in completing basic fixes. Earlier in the month, one of my instructors and I encountered a device that had a non-functioning screen, and upon further inspection, it turned out that both the screen and display cable needed to be replaced. Learning the basics of these parts, I was able to fix it with some guidance, which was a major step in my hands-on goals. A couple of weeks later, I was able to do yet another screen replacement, where I was also exposed to physical issues with a Chromebook's battery cable and motherboard. Overall, although I have only done a total of three repairs, I am currently immersed in the fixing process. In the upcoming semester, I am hoping to diagnose and work with more difficult issues with complete independence.

January 2019

Throughout this month, I have been familiarized with the basics of how 3-D printers function, all due to my enrollment in the district's Ambassadors program. Working with my placement teacher in a STEM and robotics classroom for middle school students, I was instructed on not only how to unload and reload filaments, but also begin a print via the use of software connected to the device. Since I had not learned anything about 3-D printers prior to beginning this new semester, I was really excited to become involved with these trending machines. After selecting what model that would be created on this particular day, I was able to see the printing process in action, learning about the different print techniques for stability and quality. Being at the middle school on a daily basis for the rest of this school year, I am hopeful to keep learning about 3-D printing, perhaps assisting students while they begin related projects.

February 2019

Throughout February, I was able to take part in building a competition robot as help for my Ambassadors placement teacher. Although I had no previous knowledge of robotics concepts, I was exposed to the basic parts for building, along with some of the common mechanisms that are used for carrying out tasks (i.e., picking up an object, throwing an object). While participating in the building session, I was instructed on how to use tools for either tightening or loosening nuts and bolts. Despite being a difficult concept at first, I ended up getting the hang of it, ultimately assembling an entire piece for attachment. Moving over to device repairs, in the later part of this month, I was able to take part in the salvaging of parts from a badly damaged Chromebook. Using one of the retrieved screens, I carried out the replacement of this part on another device, this time without any assistance. Overall, I now feel as if I have developed the skills to physically apply what I have learned, which inches me closer to completing my learning target!

March 2019

For the month of March, even though I was not able to find any opportunity to complete Chromebook repairs, I was able to continue my endeavors in learning how to work with both robots and 3-D printers. In the process of assisting my Ambassadors teacher with the cleanup of student build projects (tool kits pictured on the left), I received instruction on disassembling. Despite taking me a full hour to disassemble a student's robot, I was happy to reinforce what I learned from the previous months. Additionally, I picked up more tips and tricks for building tasks, which will perhaps help me become more efficient in the future. In the late part of this month, since the rescheduled version of the district-wide State of Schools event took place, I was able to help one of my peers with wiring a 3-D printer used for the Leaders in Technology display. Since this device was different component-wise compared to those I worked with before (MakerBots), it was a little bit of a learning process, however, by the end, I was successful in getting the printer up and running.

April 2019

For April, I was able to take on a challenge that corresponds to a significant weakness from my first semester in the Innovation Lab. On one of my days at Loveland Middle School, I received the news that a section of the building had new projectors implemented to each of the classrooms, causing multiple connectivity issues between these devices and room desktops. Encountering a teacher who was in need of a new monitor to fix this issue, I ended up completing a desktop setup from scratch, applying all that I knew about different cable types and their ports. After spending around an hour with the entire process, it was discovered that an inherent issue with the projector was causing the lack of video source transfer, which also affected the desktop-to-speaker sounds. Although I had to report this situation to one of my advisors to notify the company's (Epson) troubleshooting staff, I was glad to have been presented with a complex task, as I was able to exercise a majority of the skills I have picked up since beginning the "Hands-on Hardware" process.

May 2019

For the final month in my "Hands-on Hardware" journey, I was able to work with an instructor of mine to troubleshoot yet another projector connectivity issue, this instance occurring at the high school. Encountering a lack of video source from the monitor's HDMI cable, we ended up testing a variety of common solutions, such as switching out the cord and overriding the monitor's inherent sourcing method through the use of a circular HDMI output hub. Ultimately using a longer HDMI cable to connect the projector directly to the desktop, we were still unable to establish a connection, leading us to switch the display port in which the cables were being placed (from HDMI1 to HDMI2). After having success with the second HDMI port, we concluded that the first port was becoming degraded, likely due to the head shape of the cords (slight oversize causing internal damage). From this scenario, not only did I learn the extent of variables within the projector-to-desktop connection, but also exclusion-based techniques to rule out what may be contributing to the issue at hand. As one of the last major troubleshoots I completed for the Innovation Lab, I am thankful to have exercised the problem-solving mindset I have adopted throughout this school year.

Hands-on Hardware: Goals to Growth (May 2019)

As my senior year time with the Leaders in Technology draws to a close, I can strongly say that the targets I set for myself in the "Hands-on Hardware" journey have allowed me to reach my aspirations regarding various troubleshooting types. Looking at the beginning of this school year (September 2018), I only possessed the skills to complete basic tasks, however, at this current moment, I am now able to independently repair Chromebooks, do monitor setups, and figure out a device's issue and needs with more accuracy. Each one of these concepts include things I never imagined myself doing, and below, you are able to view a comprehensive timeline of my growing process.

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