Cheap, difficult to vandalise mouses

[Garacesh]

'sactly what it says on the tin, really. One of our ICT suites suffers persistent vandalism with the mouses, including (but not limited to)

 

• Sheared cables (Granted there's no real defence against this one)
  
• Pulling the buttons back and breaking or bending the bit underneath so the mouse no longer clicks
  
• Stabbing/cutting away at the mousewheel
  
• Wires being tugged out
  
• General structural damage
  
• General circuitboard damage (WHY WON'T IT WORK? SMASH SMASH SMASH!)
  

 

 

Anybody got a supplier for something that isn't too costly, but might be a bit sturdier? Can be PS/2 or USB, doesn't matter.

[Oaktech]

Logitech B110.

 

They aren't particularly difficult to vandalise, the buttons sometimes get levered up and broken. I've never had any circuit board damage or sheared cables that haven't been deliberately cut, and there isn't much we can do about that. They have very few features that get peoples attention unlike the MS and V7 mice they have no shiny panels or bright lights...

 

And they cost about £4 if you buy them a box at a time.

[SteveT]

Proper Supervision?

[Gibbo]

Doesn't matter how robust the equipment is, the problem needs dealing with from the other side - supervision and duty of care, cite H&S if you need to (exposed wires, sharp edges etc. )

 

Although it took a little time and effort on our part we narrowed damage down to one class and one teacher and they were warned that if the teacher didn't do more their department would be billed for the damage, with possible loss of access to the IT rooms if it persisted, not to mention lesson observations into his classroom management skills.

 

I had an advantage though, I was an IT teacher in the past with my own classroom, so teachers couldn't give it the old "you're not a teacher so you don't know what its like".

[Oaktech]

Ok, so not cheap, but I seriously looked into some of these once upon a time...

 

https://www.keyboardspecialists.co.uk/shop-shopbytypevandalproofkeyboards/

 

Or this... which you would never have to replace ever, there could be a nuclear explosion and you would just find these in the rubble!

 

https://www.keyboardspecialists.co.uk/3998-kbs-tb-25-panel-mount-stainless-steel-trackball

Edited January 29, 2015 by Oaktech

[3s-gtech]

We also use Logitech B110s - they get trashed but not often as they're dull looking and work well. Plus cheap. Ultimately it's a classroom control issue - we identify the culprits through logon auditing (because no-one here knows how to log on without a mouse, it's pretty sure fire) and then charge the department who were using the room.

[Garacesh]

Ok, so not cheap, but I seriously looked into some of these once upon a time...

 

https://www.keyboardspecialists.co.uk/shop-shopbytypevandalproofkeyboards/

lmao, little bit out of our price range I think

 

Proper Supervision?

Completely agree! But with 30 kids/workstations to 1 member of staff, that doesn't happen very often. Plus the actual member of staff is off right now so it's supply staff, which just makes it worse.

 

Those Logitech's don't look like they'd work, though.. Because the buttons and the rest of the mouse (palm rest?) are all one sheet of plastic, you could bend back the buttons just like they're doing with the Microsoft ones we use at the moment.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Garacesh

[Grey-gear]

Sorry for echoing what others have said but no matter how well made something is, if student want to destroy something they will find a way, best getting the cheapest mouse possible.

[Garacesh]

Nope, I completely agree with you guys, but we don't get to say "Well how about you keep a better eye on what your kids are doing with the equipment, hm?" without getting into trouble, do we?

We're using cheap-and-cheerful mouses now, but if we can get cheaper/just as cheap ones that are harder to vandalise, it still save us money in the long run.

 

A handy diagram of what our biggest problem is at the moment..

[glen_j]

there was a stand at bett selling Virtually indestructible headphones (have the name at home) they were selling what looked like very good mice, difficult to pull buttons off and braided cable. Edited January 29, 2015 by glen_j

[mac_shinobi]

Not really helpful comment I know but the title of this says mouses, I thought the plural of mouse was mice

 

Will just stay subscribed and watch lol

[Oaktech]

there was a stand at bett selling Virtually indestructible headphones (have the name at home) they were selling what looked like a very good mice, difficult to pull buttons off and braided cable.

 

 

Do you mean these guys...

 

USB Optical Mouse Educational

 

Robust Headphone + Mic

 

I can vouch for the headphones, we have 50 of them and they've not managed to kill off a single pair yet.

[Garacesh]

Not really helpful comment I know but the title of this says mouses, I thought the plural of mouse was mice

Only when it's the animal. Computer peripherals it's mouses. I try to catch myself with it, but I end up saying mice more often than not anyway.

 

@Oaktech I wonder if those guys would send us a few eval units? lol

Edit: I also wonder how much they cost.. I can't see a price on their site. Really grinds my gears when people do that. In what world is that ever a good idea? >.<

Edited January 29, 2015 by Garacesh

[halbaradkenafin]

Nope, I completely agree with you guys, but we don't get to say "Well how about you keep a better eye on what your kids are doing with the equipment, hm?" without getting into trouble, do we?

 

How about doing a quick look round the class every break time, noting any damage and then going to the Bursar or your SLT link and saying "This classroom has repeated vandalism and it's costing X amount every half term to replace equipment. We've narrowed it down to these Y classes who are the likely suspects, we know there is a supply teacher in at the moment but is there anything you can do from a Pastoral/Behavioural role to alleviate this a little?"

 

You really need an SLT judgement that this will stop coming out of your budget and that the teachers will have more accountability for this stuff, it's worked well in the past from what I've seen but supply teachers make things harder unless it's the same person every day on long term supply.

 

Once you get SLT backing then you can start finding the exact pupils who did it or likely did it (event viewer logs for the lessons) and then report that to their Head of Year or someone else in the Pastoral structure and move on from there.

 

Edit: While it is a classroom management issue you also need to approach it in a way that makes it clear you are trying to provide a technical solution (cost of x mouses replaced per half term at current model plus these alternatives cost y but should reduce that cost) and therefore aren't just trying to pass the responsibility to someone else.

Edited January 29, 2015 by halbaradkenafin

[Arreks]

We've had similar issues in the past, turns out there's always a way to vandalize mice. We ended up getting lots of cheap mice, and then using logs and talking to students to figure out who were breaking them. It's usually only a few kids that do it.

[glen_j]

Do you mean these guys...

 

USB Optical Mouse Educational

 

Robust Headphone + Mic

 

I can vouch for the headphones, we have 50 of them and they've not managed to kill off a single pair yet.

 

yep those are the ones, pricing was pretty good

[Oaktech]

Only when it's the animal. Computer peripherals it's mouses. I try to catch myself with it, but I end up saying mice more often than not anyway.

 

@Oaktech I wonder if those guys would send us a few eval units? lol

Edit: I also wonder how much they cost.. I can't see a price on their site. Really grinds my gears when people do that. In what world is that ever a good idea? >.<

 

I'm just trying to recover my login details... They seem to be pretty obliging, when we bought 50 of the headphones we asked for spares and they sent us 10 extra sets of ear pads, 5 new cables - they plug in inside, and 5 new headbands.

 

Le Edit... @Garacesh They are £1.99 +vat and delivery (5.50 on orders under £50, free over) minimum order 2. they go down to 1.50 if you order 20 or more.

[eyetea]

Plug mouse in to mains instead of usb/ps2 port?

 

Edit: Our ICT Dept have those headphones and I haven't heard a complaint about them in a few months!

Edited January 29, 2015 by eyetea

[Oaktech]

Plug mouse in to mains instead of usb/ps2 port?

 

Edit: Our ICT Dept have those headphones and I haven't heard a complaint about them in a few months!

 

I think that may be counter-productive. I would be concerned that the inevitable thrashing around during electrocution may cause more damage to the mice.

[Garacesh]

Plug mouse in to mains instead of usb/ps2 port?

 

Edit: Our ICT Dept have those headphones and I haven't heard a complaint about them in a few months!

 

Thought about that one.. The first guy to start cutting away at the cables would probably be the last, I'd bet

 

at £2 a pop, I think that might be worth looking into.. Sent a link to the IT manager, we'll see what comes of it.

[mthomas08]

Equipment that gives them an electrical shock every time they attempt to break it, each time one is slammed down hard because the table isn't built for mice it will randomly spray water in the childs face...

 

Too much?

 

As others have said no matter how strong the equipment is - it's down to the Staff member using the room. We all deal with it and it's always the same departments.

 

Add up how much you spend a year on replacing mice/keyboards and let SLT know. There's always those Staff who look after them and those that don't.

[Oaktech]

Equipment that gives them an electrical shock every time they attempt to break it, each time one is slammed down hard because the table isn't built for mice it will randomly spray water in the childs face...

 

According to my wife it's not ethical to use dog training techniques on children... Whatevs!

[Garacesh]

According to my wife it's not ethical to use dog training techniques on children... Whatevs!

 

So choker leads attached to the mouse is a no-go, then?

 

Think.. Every time they yanked the mouse, or slammed it down, it would constrict. That'd teach 'em.

We're all on some kind of register now, I'm sure of it..

[mac_shinobi]

So choker leads attached to the mouse is a no-go, then?

 

Think.. Every time they yanked the mouse, or slammed it down, it would constrict. That'd teach 'em.

We're all on some kind of register now, I'm sure of it..

 

A collar around there neck that induces a strong electric shock whenever they do anything with the mouses / keyboards etc that they shouldn't be lol

[Oaktech]

So choker leads attached to the mouse is a no-go, then?

 

Think.. Every time they yanked the mouse, or slammed it down, it would constrict. That'd teach 'em.

We're all on some kind of register now, I'm sure of it..

 

Apparently not...

 

No electric shocks, no water spray, no choke collars, no corporal punishment, no clicker training, no operant conditioning, no negative reinforcement, hell, you can't even tap them sharply on the nose any more...

 

It's no wonder you've got a vandalism problem.