Two courses. Three certifications.
Tech+ in the first credit. Both A+ exams in the second.
Muggs
Tech
Computer Science and Technology education for the rest of us.
Taught the way a shop runs: at a workbench, with real machines. Not from a slide deck.
The sequence
Tech Foundations
How computers, networks, software and data actually work, taught at a workbench. Students write code, build a small database and lock down an account, and finish ready to sit the Tech+ exam. It is also the on-ramp to Course 2.
CompTIA Tech+ FC0-U71 Course 2 · Second credit in the sequence; prerequisite Course 1IT Support Technician
The working technician's course. Students build, break and fix real machines, configure networks and operating systems, and run a help desk. They finish prepared for both A+ exams, with a portfolio of tickets for the job hunt.
CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202)How a day runs
- 01
Board question
Two short, concrete asks students answer in a notebook before any teaching. They come back to the same question at the end of class.
- 02
Hands-on lab
Every day is built around real hardware or real data: open a tower, reseat memory, fix a machine that was broken on purpose.
- 03
Exit ticket
The board question again, plus items written in the style of the certification exam, so test prep happens every day, not just in May.
Every sample day comes in two timings: a 90-minute block and a 50-minute period. The 50-minute plan says exactly what moves to the next day, so nothing gets dropped.
Try the bench
Four computers, broken on purpose. Ask the user questions, drag cables between ports, reseat memory and fix the boot order, while the six steps of the CompTIA troubleshooting method check off as you go. It is the practice round before students work on the real machines, and it plays like the hands-on questions on the A+ exam.
Sample days
Days 1 and 2 of each course, plus a Security unit day whose reading is a comic. Each has a full lesson plan in both timings and the printable lab sheet students work from.
-
Course 1 · Day 1
What's in the Box?
Computing basics: input, processing, output and storage
Students open a retired desktop, label every part they can find as input, processing, output or storage, and trace the path a single keypress takes to the screen.
CompTIA Tech+ -
Course 1 · Day 2
Counting Like a Computer
Notational systems and units of measure
Students count in binary with cards they can hold, read a hex color as three bytes, and use real spec sheets to work out how long a game takes to download on two internet plans.
CompTIA Tech+ -
Course 2 · Day 1
The Bench
Safety, static and tools; reseating memory
Students set up an ESD-safe workstation, match each tool in a technician's kit to its job, read a safety data sheet, and pull and reseat RAM with a partner checklist. Passing all four stations earns a Bench License for the rest of the course.
CompTIA A+ -
Course 2 · Day 2
Broken on Purpose
The CompTIA troubleshooting method
The teacher breaks four computers before class. Students take a help-desk ticket written in a user's plain words, work the six-step troubleshooting method, fix the fault, and write the ticket notes a supervisor would read.
CompTIA A+ -
Course 2 · Security unit
Nobody Hacked Anything
Social engineering: phishing, vishing, tailgating, and how to stop them
The reading is a comic. Students follow Dee, a student IT intern, through one morning and three attempted cons: a fake IT phone call, a phishing email and a stranger at the back door. Then they sort a real-looking inbox, run phone calls against a verification checklist, and write the incident report.
CompTIA A+
Who built it
Sean Muggivan teaches computer science in New Orleans public schools. To see a course he runs right now, built the same way (board questions, attempt first, exam-style exit tickets), visit MuggsOfCompSci.net.