About MuggsTech
The sequence
Tech Foundations
No experience needed. The course starts where students are: signing in, saving a file and finding it again, typing, getting around a browser. From there it opens up how computers, networks, software and data work, taught hands-on at the virtual bench, three students to a Linux lab rig. Programming ideas come through everyday procedures, flowcharts and pseudocode, which is what the Tech+ exam asks about. It is also the on-ramp to Course 2: students who continue arrive already knowing the troubleshooting method, the safe-bench routine and the Linux rigs.
CompTIA Tech+ FC0-U71 Course 2 · One-semester spring elective, open to students who have passed the Tech+ examIT Support Technician
The working technician's course. Students troubleshoot and fix computers on the virtual bench, configure networks and operating systems, and run a help desk. Where retired desktops are available, from the school or sourced by Sean himself, groups also open, rebuild and repair real machines; the course does not depend on it. It opens with a fast review of Course 1, which leaves room for that build and for practice exams before each A+ test. They finish prepared for both A+ exams, an advanced industry-based credential in Louisiana, with a portfolio of tickets for the job hunt. It runs in the spring when enough students qualify and sign up. A student who misses the Tech+ score can study over a semester or the summer, pass it, and join the next section.
CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202)Where this leads
After A+, a student has three lanes to choose from, and none of them requires a four-year degree.
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1
Work now
Get hired with A+.
- Help desk technician
- Desktop and field support
- Deployment technician, setting up new computers for a company or school
- Data center technician
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2
Train more
Keep stacking credentials and credit at Delgado.
- Computer Network Technician certificate
- IT Support certificate
- Cyber Security certificate
- Associate degree in Computer Networking and Cyber Security
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3
Apprentice
Get paid while you learn a trade.
- Electrical apprentice (IBEW Local 130)
- Line worker trainee
- Low-voltage and cabling installer, usually trained on the job
The Louisiana rules
Every public high school student who enters 9th grade in 2027–28 or later must complete a one-credit computer science course to graduate. High schools must offer computer science instruction starting in 2026–27.
R.S. 17:280.3(A)(1), from Act 211 of 2024, with dates set by Act 268 of 2025.
The Louisiana Department of Education approves the computer science courses that satisfy the requirement, and BESE writes the rules that carry it out.
R.S. 17:280.3(B) and (C).
For career diploma students entering 9th grade in 2027–28 or later, one of the nine Jump Start credits must be computer science, unless it is already counted as a math or science credit, which the law also allows.
R.S. 17:183.3(B)(2)(b), (c) and (f).
Computer Science I and II require a teacher certified in computer science. Other high school computer courses need a valid secondary or CTTIE certificate and the technology skills to teach them.
Bulletin 741, as summarized in the LDOE computer science FAQ (November 2025).
Course 1 is built to be that one computer science credit. It covers 11 of the 49 Louisiana 9–12 computer science standards directly and 16 more in part, centered on computing systems, networks and cybersecurity. See every standard and where it is taught. Tech+ and A+ are both capstone credentials in the state's Jump Start Information Technology pathway, so the same two courses serve the graduation credit and the Jump Start credential. Course 2 is a spring elective: students who pass the Tech+ exam earn a seat. One teacher can run the whole sequence: five sections of Course 1 a year and one spring section of Course 2, which leads to A+, an advanced credential.
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 hands-on work on the virtual bench or with real data: open a tower, reseat memory, fix a computer broken on purpose. Three students share each lab rig, a Linux workstation with a 27-inch monitor.
- 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 virtual 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
The opening days 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.
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Course 1 · Day 1
Where Did My File Go?
Files, folders and paths: saving, naming and finding your work
The course starts where students are. Every student saves, names, moves and finds files on a virtual computer, then builds the folder system they will use all year in their own Google Drive, and leaves able to say exactly where their work is.
CompTIA Tech+ -
Course 1 · Day 2
What's in the Box?
Computing basics: input, processing, output and storage
Students open a virtual desktop tower on the bench, 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 3
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 work the safe-bench routine on the virtual bench, match each tool in a technician's kit to its job, read a safety data sheet, and reseat RAM in a virtual tower without a single safety flag. 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
Four virtual computers come broken on purpose. Students take a help-desk ticket written in a user's plain words, work the six-step troubleshooting method on the virtual bench, 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. He has passed the Praxis Computer Science (5652) exam, the test Louisiana requires to teach Computer Science I and II, and the Praxis for high school mathematics. His Louisiana certification is in process. To see a course he runs right now, built the same way (board questions, attempt first, exam-style exit tickets), visit MuggsOfCompSci.net.