RACHEL-Pi custom build project

In draft | Still working on it.

Central Students Community Awareness to Kupiano Secondary School:  RACHEL trial

From the 14 to 15 November, the Central Students Association of DWU conducted a community awareness project at Kupiano Secondary School. Approximately 180km away from Port Moresby taking around 4-5 hours’ drive, the school is just within the vicinity of the Kupiano station in the Rigo-Abau district of Central Province.

The objective was to disseminate information about DWU and other tertiary institutions in Madang Province. Give talks on social issues our communities face and how these issues could be addressed. Furthermore, they planned as part of this community awareness to give something to the school. The idea was to begin with Kupiano this year 2018, and then do the same for other secondary schools around Central province.

The main problem however was funding to carry out this project. Despite a proposal and letter seeking funding from the Central provincial government, no funding was forthcoming. The students organized themselves and started to raise funds with the support from staff, students and families within DWU and the Madang community. This presented an opportunity for RACHEL to be trialed. In fact, RACHEL came about as an option because there wasn’t enough donated books received. The students than planned to introduce RACHEL and then give the few donated reading books to add to their existing library.

The next challenge was choosing the RACHEL server. For this project, we decided to trial the RACHEL-Pi. Funding was our biggest drawback so we had to choose between two options; purchasing the pre-built device from the WorldPossible online store or purchase the raspberry pi device online with accessories and do a custom-build. We chose the latter as it was an inexpensive option. This was going to be a pilot project.

 

What equipment/software is contained in this custom-built Rachel Pi server?

We decided to custom build the RACHEL-Pi (as it was an inexpensive option) using the following components.

Item	Qty	Cost
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Rev 1.1 5v power adapter included.	1	K120.00 (A$48.99) Bought here on Ebay
Wi-Pi USB Wireless adapter	1	K40.00 (A$19.95)
64GB Micro-SD Card	1	K155.00 Bought at the local shop (Papindo)
Raspberry Pi clear case	1	K20.00 ($7.99)
58GB of educational resources[1]	N/A	Free

---

[1] Downloaded from here (http://rachelfriends.org/downloads/public_ftp/rachelpi_64EN/) with the help of DWU ICT. (Staff and students have download limits thus we asked ICT to help us).

Figure 4. The custom-built RACHEL-Pi components: Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with the Wi-Pi, 5v power adapter and 64GB microSD card.

Raspberry Pi hardware specifications: Raspberry Pi 3 B+: 1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core processor, dual-band w/LAN, Bluetooth 4.2/BLE, FastEthernet, PoE support (with separate PoE HAT)

The cost of purchasing the pre-built RACHEL-Pi is $169.00 (USD) which when converted to PGK amounts to K550.77 plus shipping totaled to around K800.

With our custom build RACHEL-Pi, it only cost less than K500 for this device with the accessories. The opportunity cost to this option is that given the limited processing power of the raspberry pi (to act as a server) used it has the capacity to allow at least between ten (10) to fifteen users to connect to it at any single time with either their own smartphone, tablet or laptop so. More users than this would result in slower response time from the device. Steps showing how to write the RACHEL-Pi image to the microSD card are in Appendix 1.

This is an inexpensive option if compared to the cost of purchasing at least ten secondhand desktop computers with monitor, mouse and keyboard. It is energy efficient and cost effective. An alternative and future plan is to purchase the RACHEL-Plus for the next school project.

 

 

Robert G. Lee on 'Academic'

What does this mean to you as a recent graduate wanting to get employed?

The huge gap between graduation and declining employment in PNG according to a recent news article. What does this mean to you as a DWU Graduate?

A photo of a news article publish in the Post Courier on Friday Nov, 30 2018. (Check out the original post on FB here)

In PNG particularly, job prospects for recent graduates are very thin according to this article. On one hand, you could take the advice of Tiri Kuimbakul and others to start your own business. Nothing wrong with these and perhaps the best advise to be self-employed.

On the other hand, if you do decide to get employed you need to seriously ask yourself some questions. Soul searching questions they can be. Here I give some tips on questions I asked myself (I still keep asking myself this questions). At least to help you prepare for a job application or the interview.

1. What sets you apart from the rest?

You are definitely not the only one vying for this job or position. There are other graduates who may have better GPA's than you or excellent recommendations from their lecturers. You need to stand out as best as you can. Being a DWU graduate means more than you know it. What values and standards where you taught? Use them. That is what sets you apart. What makes the university that taught you different from the others. You have to stand out!  

2. Why should this company employ you? What will you bring to the organization that is going to contribute meaningfully to its vision and mission. 

What is it that you have or can bring to the table that will add value to the company? What skills do you have or were taught that will help you contribute positively? Identify them and use them to leverage your proposition to be employed. Don't forget you just graduated, you may or may not have that much experience. 

3. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

The Bible tell us that people without vision perish. What is your vision about your personal life, your career development? Employers are interested in people who have a plan and vision. They too get excited to be part of that plan to develop you.

4. How is the company going to add value too for your own personal/professional development?

This question goes in line with the one before it. You must at least have a plan about your career and where you intend to be in future. The organization is happy to know too that they will add value to your professional development. Its a give and take. Your career plan may not be very clear at the moment but show that you are not just floating around waiting for an opportunity to come by.

 

Remember you are not just bringing your college degree to the organization, you are bringing your entire being with you. Your values, character, personality, religion, and family too. These various aspects of your life will have a great impact on your contribution to the organization you work for or even the company you own.

Colleagues working in the HRM area can add to this list.

Education: the future for Central Province

I feel for Central Province. Where has the Provincial Government's priorities gone to? I see less and less number of Central Students entering Uni each year and perhaps any tertiary institutions for that matter. If not university, are we even going to provide any alternative pathways for them to access vocational training perhaps under the TVET programs.

We do not have any major natural resource/commodity that we can bank our future upon. Developments in NCD have pushed us right to the corner and they are not stopping. Are we strategically preparing our future generation to take on the challenges of modernization and transformation from subsistence to cash economy? Are we equipping our future generation with the knowledge and skill set to compete in what will become (or has become) a very challenging market in the near future?

Just take a look at Kwikila, Kupiano, Mainohana, Sogeri, Iarowari, Mt. Diamond and Laloki Secondary schools (the only names I know of out of the 12 listed in the National Education Plan 2015-2019 statistics as of 2014). Need I mention the 188 primary and 304 elementary schools.What state are they in? Are they adequately resourced and supported? Are these schools being given any thought to? This is 2018 the numbers have risen for sure.

According to the 2015-2019 NEP, as of 2014 Central province has 70,656 student enrollment with more than 50% male. Again this is 2018 the numbers have risen for sure. Projected rates suggest more because of the TFF. Of this 70,000+ how many make it to University or other tertiary and vocational training? I am assuming perhaps 10-15%. Might be wrong.

Go ahead and build stadiums and hospitals and many other infrastructure projects but guess what someone else will come and run them for us. We will be spectators in our own land.
Give them the opportunity to learn how to catch fish rather than feeding them a fish. They will starve when you run out of fish.

Nelson Mandela quoted "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." If not the world, at least change your province.
Your likes and reactions to this post don't matter, what matters is please do your part as a leader, parent, and as a student yourself reading this.
We are not alone, we are standing on the shoulders of giants who have gone before us, let's change the mindset of our young people!