Lab 0: Preflight
A 3-hour hands-on lab — instructor agenda & materials
Duration: 3 hours (180 minutes) · Max 8 students per instructor
Promise: you arrive with a laptop, you leave with a working AI copilot installed, configured, and having done one real task for you — plus a logbook you'll keep forever.
This file is written so an instructor can run the entire lab from it alone. Read it once before the room fills up; after that, teach from the stations, not from memory.
(a) Session header
What: Lab 0 "Preflight" — the first hands-on lab in the flight-school series.
Length: 3 hours, run as five stations plus a close (station timings below sum to exactly 180 minutes).
Ratio: one instructor per 8 students maximum. If more than 8 show up, split the room and bring a second instructor — do not stretch one instructor across more than 8 laptops; Station 2 and Station 3 both require hands-on troubleshooting per machine.
The promise, said aloud at the start: "You arrive with a laptop, you leave with a working AI copilot installed, configured, and having done one real task for you — plus a logbook you'll keep forever."
(b) Who shows up
Students arrive from unexpected walks of life. Some have never used a laptop for anything but email and photos. Some have a work laptop locked down by IT and are here to learn on their own machine instead. Some have already tried an AI chat app once, got confused, and stopped. All of that is normal, and none of it needs fixing before the lab starts.
Step 0 is a legitimate starting point. If a student doesn't know which icon on their taskbar is a web browser, that is not embarrassing — it is simply where they are today, and naming it plainly (never joking about it) is how the room stays safe enough to ask questions. Nobody in this room is behind; the interface changed recently and nobody sent everyone a memo at the same time.
Self-sufficiency is a self-defined spectrum, not a single bar everyone clears at the same height. One student's milestone might be "I can ask it to summarize a long email." Another's might be "I can hook it up to my calendar." Both are real progress. The lab does not grade against a fixed finish line — it helps each student name their own next capability and then gets them there.
Intake question — every student answers this on arrival, in writing:
"What's one thing you wish your computer just did for you?"
Write the answer at the top of the student's logbook page or note card. This answer becomes that student's Station 5 task — the one real thing they build or attempt with instructor support at the end of the lab. Collect these as students walk in so the instructor can start grouping similar answers (calendar tasks together, email tasks together, document tasks together) before Station 5 begins.
(c) Prerequisites & room
Student brings: - Laptop + charger - Phone (for two-factor login codes and as a wifi fallback)
Instructor provides: - Printed checklists (one per student — the Preflight Inspection checklist and the take-home sheet from section (f)) - Wifi fallback hotspot (in case venue wifi is slow, congested, or requires a login page that blocks installers) - USB stick with offline installers for Claude Desktop (Windows and Mac versions), in case venue wifi can't sustain 8 simultaneous downloads
Account prep email — sent 48 hours before the lab: - Confirm the student has a working email address and can log into it from a browser - Confirm they have (or can create, for free) an account with a major provider (Google account is the most common and is enough on its own) - State plainly: no payment is required. Lab 0 uses free tiers only, for every tool, for every station. If anything in the lab ever asks for a credit card, that is a sign to stop and ask the instructor — it is not part of the plan.
(d) Five stations
Total station time: 25 + 35 + 35 + 25 + 45 = 165 minutes, plus a 15-minute close = 180 minutes (3 hours).
Every station below has the same five parts: Goal, Instructor script opener, Student actions (step by step), Stuck? table (three most common failures and their fixes), and a Checkpoint the student must reach before moving to the next station.
Station 1 — Preflight inspection (25 min)
Goal: confirm what's actually on this machine before installing anything — browser, accounts, and password situation — so nothing later in the lab breaks on a missing account.
Instructor script opener: "Before a pilot ever touches the controls, they walk around the plane and check what's already there. We're doing the same thing with your laptop — no installing yet, just looking. If you're not sure what something is, that's exactly why we're doing this step, so ask."
Student actions: 1. Open a web browser. If you don't know which icon is the browser, ask your instructor or a neighbor — pointing at icons is normal here, not a sign anything is wrong. 2. Navigate to your email provider's website and log in. 3. Confirm you can see your inbox — actual messages, not just a login screen. 4. Locate where your passwords are currently kept: a password manager app, a browser's built-in saver, a written list, or "I don't have a system yet" — all four are valid answers instructors need to know before Station 2. 5. Tell your instructor or table partner your answer to the intake question from section (b), if you haven't already, so it can be written down for Station 5.
Stuck? — Station 1
| Common failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Can't find/remember email password | Use the "forgot password" link now, while there's help in the room; recovery often needs a phone the student has with them |
| Browser is unfamiliar or a strange default (not Chrome/Edge/Safari/Firefox) | Any browser works for this lab — don't switch browsers, just get oriented in the one that's already there |
| No personal email account at all | Instructor helps create one free account (Gmail is the fastest path) using the spare minutes in this station |
Checkpoint: student can log into their email in a browser.
Station 2 — Install your copilot (35 min)
Goal: install Claude Desktop, sign in with a free account, and have a first conversation on screen.
Instructor script opener: "We're installing your copilot now — the app you'll talk to for the rest of the lab. This is the only software you'll install today, and it's free. I'll walk the Windows folks and the Mac folks through slightly different steps, so follow your side of the room."
Student actions: 1. Open your browser and search for "Claude desktop download." Confirm the result is from claude.ai / Anthropic before clicking anything — the instructor will point at the correct result on a shared screen first. 2. Windows: download the installer, open your Downloads folder, double-click the installer, and click through the install prompts (accepting defaults is fine). 3. Mac: download the installer, open it, and drag the Claude icon into the Applications folder as prompted, then open it from Applications (or Launchpad). 4. Open Claude Desktop once installed. Choose "sign up" if this is your first time, or "log in" if a student already has an account from the intake email. 5. Complete sign-in using the free tier — no payment screen should appear; if one does, stop and flag your instructor. 6. In the message box, type a real first question — something simple and personal works best, e.g., "Can you explain what you do in plain English?" — and send it. 7. Read the reply together at your table. Ask a follow-up question if there's time.
Stuck? — Station 2
| Common failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Installer blocked by venue wifi, antivirus, or a slow download | Use the instructor's USB stick offline installer or the wifi fallback hotspot |
| Sign-in loop or "verify your email" step stalls | Check the email inbox from Station 1 for the verification link; resend if needed |
| Student typed nothing or got a blank/error reply | Instructor checks internet connection first, then has the student retype a short plain question — no punctuation tricks needed |
Checkpoint: a reply is on screen from a real conversation the student typed themselves.
Station 3 — Controls & instruments (35 min)
Goal: understand the settings panel, install one connector, and understand in plain language when the copilot is and isn't allowed to act on its own.
Instructor script opener: "Every cockpit has instruments bolted to the panel — dials that give the pilot more information, and controls that let the pilot reach more systems. Your copilot works the same way: right now it can only talk to you. We're going to bolt on one instrument so it can actually check something real, like your calendar or a file."
Before this station — reprise the tradeoff cards from Lecture 1 by name (do not re-teach them, just name them so the room remembers the frame): - Hallucination — it can sound confident and still be wrong. - Your documents go to a cloud — anything you hand it may leave your machine. - An agent with your inbox — the more it's connected to, the more it can affect.
Student actions: 1. Open the settings panel in Claude Desktop. Look at what's there together as a group — don't touch anything except what's below. 2. Find the section for connectors (sometimes labeled extensions, plugins, or integrations). A connector is an instrument bolted to the panel — it lets your copilot check or use one more system on your behalf, like a calendar or a folder of files, instead of just talking. 3. Install one connector: a calendar connector or a file-access connector, whichever the instructor has staged for the room. 4. Connect only your own personal account when prompted — never a shared or work account that isn't yours to grant access to. 5. Find the setting that controls when the copilot is allowed to act without asking first (sometimes labeled "auto mode" or permissions). Read it together: this is the setting that decides who has to say yes before something happens. 6. Leave that setting on the default — it asks first, always, until you decide otherwise. Nobody in Lab 0 needs to change this default today. 7. Ask your copilot one real question that uses the new connector — "What's on my calendar this week?" or "Can you summarize this file for me?" 8. Confirm the answer is correct by checking it against the real calendar or file yourself.
Stuck? — Station 3
| Common failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Can't find the connector/settings menu | Instructor screen-shares the exact menu path; menus move between versions, so follow the live walkthrough over any printed screenshot |
| Connector installs but asks for an account the student doesn't want to use | Cancel and reconnect using the student's own personal account only — never substitute a shared or work login |
| Copilot answers a calendar/file question incorrectly or says it can't see anything | Re-check the connector actually finished connecting (a "connected" indicator should be visible); reconnect once before troubleshooting further |
Checkpoint: one connector is working — a calendar question was answered correctly, or a file was summarized correctly.
Station 4 — Start your logbook (25 min)
Goal: create a logbook, write the first entry, and understand why keeping one matters.
Instructor script opener: "Every pilot keeps a flight log — not for anyone else, for themselves. You're going to start one right now, and you're going to keep using it long after today. It takes under two minutes to write an entry, and it's the single habit that makes everything else in this school compound."
Student actions: 1. Open a plain-text notes app already on your machine (Notes on Mac, Notepad on Windows, or any notes app you already use) and create a new note titled "Logbook." 2. Write your first entry using this template:
Date:
What I tried:
What worked:
Next time:
- Fill in today's date, fill in "What I tried" with what you just did in Station 2 and Station 3 (installed Claude Desktop, connected one instrument), fill in "What worked" honestly (even "I got stuck at first but the fix worked" counts), and leave "Next time" for after Station 5.
- Save the note somewhere you'll find it again next week.
Why the logbook — read or paraphrase to the room:
Capture every session, or the loop has nothing to compound. Every session deposits into the system; the system makes the next session smarter — compound interest on context. That's the whole reason for the logbook: it's not a diary for anyone else to read, it's the raw material every later session reads from. A log you don't maintain is worse than no log — it becomes a place false confidence hides. Write short, write often, and never write anything you'd mind rereading in a year. This habit has a name in the second lecture — the Pilot's Loop — and this logbook is where yours starts.
Stuck? — Station 4
| Common failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Doesn't know where a notes app is on their machine | Any plain-text option works — instructor points to Notes/Notepad, or a blank email draft saved to self is an acceptable stand-in |
| Overthinks the entry, wants to make it long or polished | Instructor models a one-line-per-field example live; the point is speed, not prose |
| Worried about "what worked" being nothing / a failure | Reframe: getting stuck and then fixed it is exactly the kind of entry worth keeping |
Checkpoint: entry #1 exists, with all four fields filled in.
Station 5 — First solo task (45 min)
Goal: each student attempts their own intake-question task, with the instructor circulating table to table.
Instructor script opener: "Now you fly. Everyone's working on their own answer from this morning's question — what you wished your computer just did for you. I'm going to be walking around the whole time. If you get stuck, raise a hand and keep working on something else while you wait — nobody sits idle."
Student actions: 1. Retrieve your intake-question answer (written down in Station 1 / section (b)). 2. With your instructor available for support, attempt the task using your newly installed copilot and connector — for example: a calendar integration question, drafting an email, summarizing a document, or sketching a plan for something you want to build. 3. If you finish early, help a neighbor at your table — teaching it back is the fastest way to make it stick. 4. If you don't finish, that's fine: write down in your logbook exactly what's unresolved and what you'd try next. An honestly parked task is a completed checkpoint. 5. Before this station ends, write your "I can now…" line — one sentence naming what you can do today that you couldn't this morning. You'll read it aloud at the close.
Stuck? — Station 5
| Common failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Task turns out bigger than 45 minutes allows | Instructor helps the student break it into "what's doable today" plus a "next time" note in the logbook — this counts as done |
| Student picked a task their free-tier tools can't do at all | Instructor helps reframe the task to the smallest version that IS doable today, and logs the fuller version as a future goal |
| Student is frozen / doesn't know where to start | Instructor prompts with one concrete first sub-step ("let's just ask it to look at your calendar first") to get momentum going |
Checkpoint: the task is done, or honestly parked with a written next step in the logbook.
Close (15 min)
- Each student reads their "I can now…" line aloud — their self-defined milestone from Station 5. No line is too small; this is the point of a self-defined spectrum, not a fixed finish line.
- Instructor announces office-hours availability for follow-up questions and previews the next lab in the series (no date promised here — office hours and future labs are communicated separately).
- Where materials live: handsinjars.com.
(e) Facilitator notes
Pacing rules: - Never leave a student behind at Station 2 — installation is the single most likely place for a student to fall behind the room, and a student who falls behind at Station 2 stays behind for the rest of the lab unless caught here. - The room moves at checkpoint speed, not clock speed: don't advance the whole room to the next station until the slowest student still working has support in progress. - Fast students help slow ones — teaching it back to a tablemate is the best rung on the ladder for the student doing the teaching, not just a favor to the room.
No-jargon glossary — the plain-English phrase to use instead:
| Term an instructor might say | Say instead |
|---|---|
| LLM | the model |
| MCP server | a connector |
| Context window | its short-term memory |
| Prompt | what you type to it / your question |
| Plugin / extension | a connector |
| Auto mode / permissions | when may the copilot act without asking you first |
| Hallucination | when it sounds sure but is wrong |
| Token / tokens | (avoid entirely — never comes up in Lab 0) |
| API / API key | the password that lets one program talk to another |
| Cloud / the cloud | a computer somewhere else that isn't yours |
Safety rail (mandatory): - Students connect only their own accounts — nothing shared, nothing belonging to a workplace, family member, or organization they don't personally control. - The tradeoff cards from Lecture 1 are reprised by name before Station 3: Hallucination; Your documents go to a cloud; An agent with your inbox. Name them, don't re-teach them — the room has already heard the full reasoning once. - The safety default taught at Station 3 is unconditional: it asks first, always, until the student decides otherwise. No instructor should demonstrate turning that default off during Lab 0.
(f) Take-home
Preflight checklist recap (print one per student): 1. Browser open, email login confirmed. 2. Claude Desktop installed and signed in. 3. One connector installed and working (calendar or file access). 4. Logbook started, entry #1 written. 5. "I can now…" line written down.
Logbook template (keep using this one):
Date:
What I tried:
What worked:
Next time:
Three suggested "flight hours" exercises for the week: 1. Write one logbook entry after any session where you used your copilot, even a short one. 2. Ask your copilot to help with one more real task from your own week — not a test question, a real one. 3. Revisit your connector once: ask it a second question that uses the same connection, and log what happened.
Office-hours contact: ask your instructor for the current office-hours schedule; details also live at handsinjars.com.
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