Kids pulling keys off keyboards!

[DWakely]

Hi All,

 

We seem to have a large problem here with the kids pulling keys off of our keyboards. We use Logitech K120's is there a better "child proof" keyboard that anyone can recommend?

 

Thanks

[synaesthesia]

They will *all* get pulled off, there's no such thing as child proof. Wait until they start re-arranging them to say naughty things.

Classroom managment, CCTV. Make an example of someone by billing them for damage, whether that's the department that used the facility last or the parent of the child involved. Word will get around.

[woody]

I know this is not very helpful but the answer is no!

 

How about making teachers do their job properly and control the class? We had a maths teacher once who had the same set of calculators for many many years. How did she keep them in working condition? She handed them out and collected them in - herself. Students knew that if there was any damage there would be trouble.

 

Why oh why can't teachers do that at the start and end of lessons with IT equipment?

[unixman_again]

I once saw a script, which ran at login, which asked "Is this computer OK?" and if the user ticked the "Yes" box, they were logged on and their user id and time logged. If the next person, ticked the "No" box, they couldn't logon. Action could they be taken as the previous user said the box was OK when they logged on, so clearly they had vandalised it. Harsh but fair. Most schools I think, just accept it as a fact of life. Working in a college, I have yet to see a keyboard vandalised. If you want to stop them swapping keys around to make swear words on the top row, try Daskeyboard 4 Ultimate - I haven't seen them in schools, but it was always my dream to install them.

 

I guess another option now that all machines have usb ports is to issue each student with a mouse and keyboard and they must take it with them to use the computer. if they don't bring their keyboard = no computer use. When they return them at the end of the year, don't return their deposit if there is more than fair wear and tear. I haven't seen this system in operation; be the first school to do so.

[3s-gtech]

We're getting it a fair bit at the moment, especially on laptops but they're breaking the scissor clips when doing it, which is a real headache. I've become pretty good at fixing them, but we have a finite stock of replacements and I charge the departments when I have to.

 

They also love punching the fascia plates in and then removing them entirely - as they're near impossible to replace for the 3.5" ones, I think I'll be bulk buying black floppy drives!

[woody]

I once saw a script, which ran at login, which asked "Is this computer OK?" and if the user ticked the "Yes" box, they were logged on and their user id and time logged. If the next person, ticked the "No" box, they couldn't logon. Action could they be taken as the previous user said the box was OK when they logged on, so clearly they had vandalised it. Harsh but fair.

 

Only problem with this is when students hit Yes, because they can't be bothered to report the damage. We spent a LOT of money on lockers which logged who took a laptop out. It never worked because nobody ever reported the damage and so when you finally inspected the laptop at audit time, you had countless numbers of students who had used the laptop and no way of proving who actually caused the damage.

 

I guess another option now that all machines have usb ports is to issue each student with a mouse and keyboard and they must take it with them to use the computer. if they don't bring their keyboard = no computer use. When they return them at the end of the year, don't return their deposit if there is more than fair wear and tear. I haven't seen this system in operation; be the first school to do so.

 

I think you would see USB ports fail with all that traffic!

 

I really do think the only solution to this is Teacher intervention, which involves encouraging a climate of respect for equipment, and setting consequences for those who don't buy into that respect.

[witch]

We have some Dell keyboards which have a much lower profile key so it is more difficult for the children to get their fingers under the keys to remove them.

They were donated to the school so I can't help with a supplier but might be worth a look around?

[DWakely]

We have CCTV in all the IT rooms but teachers don't report damage to us so we never know when it happens and its hard to identify. And I totally agree the teachers should be taking care of the labs but some people book IT rooms so they don't have to teach!

[DWakely]

i do like the idea of the script system but again its open to abuse, once the kid realises if they select no then they cant use the PC they will all click yes!

[DWakely]

We have some Dell keyboards which have a much lower profile key so it is more difficult for the children to get their fingers under the keys to remove them.

They were donated to the school so I can't help with a supplier but might be worth a look around?

 

just out of interest what is the model number for these keyboards?

[JB7]

@DWakely We have the same issue, backtracking is a nightmare especially when they give you an estimated time of it happening of "sometime last week"

In the 6 weeks we will be replacing any damaged keyboard/mice from the IT budget and an email reminder will be then sent out to all teaching staff on first day back of 2014/2015 term stating that their ICT suite within their department is their responsibility to monitor and report damages immediately so we can track the culprit using CCTV and PC logs however if we are unable to find a culprit then the replacement will be paid for by the department and if departments aren't happy with paying the bill then the damaged PC's and hardware will be removed until they start to get the message

 

I try to pro-actively check the equipment but sometimes it's just impossible to check it every single day

[DWakely]

@DWakely We have the same issue, backtracking is a nightmare especially when they give you an estimated time of it happening of "sometime last week"

In the 6 weeks we will be replacing any damaged keyboard/mice from the IT budget and an email reminder will be then sent out to all teaching staff on first day back of 2014/2015 term stating that their ICT suite within their department is their responsibility to monitor and report damages immediately so we can track the culprit using CCTV and PC logs however if we are unable to find a culprit then the replacement will be paid for by the department and if departments aren't happy with paying the bill then the damaged PC's and hardware will be removed until they start to get the message

 

I try to pro-actively check the equipment but sometimes it's just impossible to check it every single day

 

I love that idea! it does all boil down to classroom management because lets be honest, you could never have a technician visit every single room after every single lesson to inspect it that's just not possible. I think the teacher should be responsible for their room. Also we have 3 IT rooms here that aren't technically anyone's responsibility. I would like to see those rooms have a teacher that looks after it.

 

I cant believe how many people are in the exact same situation across the country!

[CyberDrac]

Same situation here, we have 'breakout spaces' that are available in each faculty, one has decided to remove the mice an keyboards and have them checked out to the students as an individual, this has dramatically reduced vandalism albeit at a increase in workload on the faculty member responsible for checking them in and out. The faculties have mechanisms in place for sanctions for damage ultimately leading up to a bill being sent home to the parents, we address the technical issue of the broken keyboard and the staff handle the disciplinary side of things. Our big issue is the targeting on a single key, the space bar which means that cannibalisation of keyboards isn't an option. Bulk, cheap keyboards has been our only answer, sub-£3 including VAT in our case. We have been seeking approaches that will encourage positive behaviour in the staff with their monitoring, and while we have toyed with the idea of billing faculties for unreported damage found by our team, we have felt the need to go to those steps yet.

[JB7]

In our old site we had 4 IT rooms, 3 with ICT/Business teachers in permanently and 1 that was bookable

The 3 rooms with permanent teachers had the occasional minimal damage and the bookable room was every week having horrendous amounts of damage, so much so that we just kept removing the PC's until eventually we shut the room down

 

We have now moved in to a new building and each department has their own average size ICT section and then there are also 2 open spaces that are bookable for larger classes

It is easier to track damages than before but the issue will unfortunately never be fully eradicated which annoys me to the hills and back

 

It really is down to classroom management but I also think on the back end of that is the layout of IT rooms due to blindspots, but for schools operating in old buildings you can't really do much about this where as when new builds are created it can be something that is taken in to consideration from Day 1

[JJonas]

Don't get so much of it now, but a number of years ago I did go into one of our labs to find a keyboard with the letters rearranged to spell "hello mr jonas how are you are you having a nice day"

[pcstru]

Don't get so much of it now, but a number of years ago I did go into one of our labs to find a keyboard with the letters rearranged to spell "hello mr jonas how are you are you having a nice day"

That must have been an unusual keyboard! I could use a few more H keys here.

[Arthur]

We have some Dell keyboards which have a much lower profile key so it is more difficult for the children to get their fingers under the keys to remove them.

Just out of interest what is the model number for these keyboards?

Dell KB4021 perhaps? The keys on these keyboards are recessed slightly more than usual.

 

 

We also have some Logitech K280e keyboards with chiclet-style keys. However, only staff use these so I'm not sure if they would be suitable for students with a tendency for removing keys.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Arthur

[Jasbo]

As others have said, there are no indestructible keyboards, mice etc.. This is what we do to try to reduce this kind of pointless stuff

 

We have a room bookings system and can track what dept was in a room and we charge things to them. Depts generally wise up and report damage found in a room when they arrive as they don't want the bill.

 

Normal IT lessons we also have on the room bookings and we charge to it teaching.

 

We have worked with teachers to charge to student/parents in the past

 

We try to buy robust kit, from keyboards to PC cases etc

 

We have combination locks on the suites and change the codes regularly - because the teachers tell the kids

 

We have a rule that students are not to be left unattended - we complain to SMT when we find this getting ignored - gets mentioned in staff briefings and we change the codes again...

 

There used to be "open access" in an it suite at lunch and break - this was stopped as teachers didn't want to take it in turns siting there at those times

 

We check all suites first thing before lessons for damage, I often do a sweep at end of day as well before I go.

 

We have CCTV cam in corridor facing suites so we can see who is going in and out, we may be using old CCTV cams for inside suites when these are upgraded - personally I would like to avoid - I wouldn't want to spend my whole day working under a camera of I was a teacher to be honest.

 

We investigate and repair damage immediately - I think this makes a big difference - if you do something it will be noticed...

 

We security mark and label everything

 

We cable tie and secure everything

 

We do get damage and vandalism but not a lot and It's all a great big PITA to have to be doing all this and not spending that time and effort on real IT

 

Edited - changed some obvious typos

Edited July 2, 2014 by Jasbo