Prevent Damage to IT Equipment in Classrooms/Suites

[browolf]

I find that it usually occurs worst in certain circumstances - supply teacher in any IT room and IT rooms generally booked out. Rooms "owned" by specific teachers mostly don't have the problem.

 

In our most recent room problem, a room that is owned by no one and is always booked. One PE teacher who booked the room a lot would always complain when computers/keyboards didn't work as there wouldn't be enough to go round. And the problem of kids moving keyboards and mice around if they didn't like the ones they had. Eventually his complaining got up to the deputy head who insisted we do "something".

 

What I did was make sure all the computers worked and all the keyboards had all the keys and then cable tied everything. They we made it clear to all the teachers who use the room via the head of IT, that we expect to be told if anything is not right. And that the kid at the pc would be blamed if they didn't report to the teachers at the start of the lesson. Because the main PE teacher reported anything not right and I checked it when passing, we could either pin a problem on a kid using login logs or on a teacher who hadn't reported the problem. The head of ICT is also very helpful at interrogating kids, even if the rooms involved aren't in their remit.

 

because of persistent problems, eventually the head of ICT insisted we weren't allowing the main ICT rooms out for booking and that scheduled lessons with supply teachers weren't coming in either.

 

The problem we had before this one with the Technology ICT room and no body checking, Us and the Head of Ict complained to the Head of Technology, cabled tied all the keyboards and mice, and then the HoT made sure his staff did the checking.

 

Once you've cracked down on a few kids/teachers the problems largely go away.

 

So I think there's things we can do and there's things the teachers have to do. If they do don't them, either them or the next teacher in the room looses pupil learning time having to get us to come and fix stuff or we can't then and kids have to share computers.

That's the kind of thing that SLT really don't like!

Edited January 23, 2019 by browolf

[TomHD]

@browolf good point... Wrap the issue up into a "it affects T&L" package and send off to SLT! If your SLT are worth their salt then I'm sure remedies can be discussed and implemented

[theeggmaster]

If we catch the pupil doing the damage, we charge the parents. However, we have the same issue as mentioned above where our Media Suite (30 iMacs) hasn't been 'owned' by one teacher. As there is no ownership, each keyboard has at least one key missing, with the membrane under it being ripped, so it can't be repaired.

[mikeprice]

At one school where I worked for a short time we had a problem in several rooms where the keyboards and mice would have the connectors pulled off them

 

Turned out that the kids (pretty much only boys) wanted to use the computer while leaning back on their chair and with the keyboard on their lap

BUT the computers were in a box under the desk and the wires were fed up through a hole in the desk - and wouldn't reach their lap

 

SO they just pulled on it until it came out and plugged it into the front

Job done!!

 

 

Unless - of course - the connector got tied up in the socket or around the other cables - in which case being teenage boys - they just pulled harder

At which point it broke off - and suddenly "it was like that when I came in Sir"

 

over a half term I sorted out all the computer and once the teachers were back I told them about the problem - and the kids were banned from having keyboards on their laps (cue threats of calls to Human Rights people, UN, NATA SAS etc etc)

Fortunately the room was only used by the IT teachers and one in particular - so they sorted it out

In other words - it was a clasroom control problem but we managed to help identify it and then the teacher sorted it as it was THEIR room

 

So - again - it came down to ownership

[Archipelego1]

Interesting point about keyboards on laps. We have PC's in underdesk cages in some rooms. It could be our students doing the same.

 

As an aside, had a meeting with our FD yesterday and showed them some of the damage we're experiencing. We had a screen that someone had punched, baseunits pushed out of their cages and keyboards destroyed.

 

We're arranging a meeting with SLT to showcase this. Basically, FD is going in with, this needs sorting or i'm taking the bookable IT rooms away.... which will happen.

[mavhc]

Ask them if they want a call out charge for IT Support to check before and after usage for damage, or to do it themselves and if they don't they'll be on the hook for any previous damage?

[6Foot2]

So these (separate) incidents happened today:

 

Moving en-masse down the corridor = Exclude all in the group

Cause extensive damage to a network room = Things aren't good at home. Sit here, do you want to talk about it?...