Lernstick

What is Lernstick?

Lernstick is a mobile and secure learning and working environment for school and home that is usually installed on removable media (USB sticks, USB hard disks, SD cards, etc.) so that (almost*) any computer can be booted from these storage media. A hard drive with an installed operation system is no longer necessary. (But optionally, the system can also be installed on internal hard drives.)

This way the Lernstick system is the ideal platform for "Bring your own device (BYOD)" scenarios, where students use their private computers also for school purposes.

In addition to that there is a special Lernstick version, the "Lernstick exam environment", where access to Ethernet, WLAN, Bluetooth and local storage media (internal hard drive, other USB storage media) is prohibited per default. Certain network connections (e.g. to network printers or websites) can be allowed in a whitelist. The software choice in the exam environment is limited to exam relevant programs.

The Kantonsschule Sursee has documented an exam with an offline version of the Lernstick exam environment on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPDJ_19uHIc

* an Intel compatibel computer (standard or Apple computer) with at least 250 MB RAM is needed

Why Lernstick?

Using a Lernstick system incurs less costs because the maintenance effort can be reduced significantly. The software used in the Lernstick distribution is royalty-free, so no licensing fees have to be paid. Data synchronization between several computers is no longer necessary because they are always stored on the personal Lernstick storage media.

What is on a Lernstick?

The Lernstick distribution contains educational programs, multimedia software, a complete office package, games, programs for digital picture editing, Internet applications and has space for personal data.
All programs used in the Lernstick distribution have been tested by us and were classified to several categories and fields of application. A current list can be found here.

Manual

In our manual you can find further information about installation and handling of a Lernstick:
Lernstick-Online-Handbuch (German)

Download

You can download the Lernstick image from: Download

Forum

Do you have questions, hints or comments regarding Lernstick or do you want to be kept up-to-date with the current Lernstick developments? Then please use our forum:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lernstick

Map

We have created a map that shows who is already using the Lernstick distribution:
http://u.osmfr.org/m/10898/

If you are using a Lernstick we would be pleased if we could add you to this map. Just send us an email: ronny.standtke@fhnw.ch

Purchasing recommedations

Because not every hardware works equally well with a lernstick we have created a list of purchasing recommendations for Lernstick users: Purchasing recommendations