powering Laptops during exams cable spagetti

[woodham]

Not really sure where to put this one so i thaught here might be a good place to start

 

We have lots of students now requiring laptops for there exams which means we need to supply power for said laptops

 

Having lots of extension cables slung across the floor and plugged together dosnt sit well with me so im looking for solutions to the issue , i do think that this will come down to lots of gaffa tape and some extra sockets round the room but thaught id ask here first

 

Any advice

 

Cheers

[simpsonj]

Going to have the same issue here come next summer I'm sure, so also wondering what other schools do!

[dhicks]

i do think that this will come down to lots of gaffa tape and some extra sockets round the room

 

If this is a situation that occurs regularly (i.e. every year during exams) it might be worth investing in some heavy-duty cables with commando sockets for power distribution. You'd need to add at least one commando plug point as well, of course, but it might help reduce the number of cables you have to run. Maybe also a roll of rubber cable cover.

[hardtailstar]

Any more than 10 students taking an exam we put them in computer rooms.

 

Less than 10 students then use laptops. Most of the time the room is rearranged in a way that laptops can be close to extension cords and making sure students cant see or copy each other.

 

If we have 10 students using laptops then at most we have 5 extension leads.

 

We only duct tape the extension cords down in walk ways.

[pete]

We put additional sockets into the exam hall and required students using laptops to be seated along those walls.

[Koldov]

How long are these exams?

 

How many students are taking exams on laptops at any one time?

 

Are the batteries not to be trusted in those laptops?

 

Would it not be worth buying brand new batteries and having them fully charged?

[synaesthesia]

We charge our laptops up...

[Andrew_C]

Are the batteries not to be trusted in those laptops??

Not on my watch. The risk is too high - you plug them in to charge, the cleaner unplugs, one goes down during a real exam. Devastating damage to one pupil's future.

[robyholmes]

We charge them here and just replace batteries more regularly to make sure they last.

[midweek]

We use rubber cable covers and hazard tape in the exam hall. Luckily we have dedicated laptops for the purpose and we insist they stay in place for the entirety of the exam period.

 

I wouldn't trust battery only. Had an instance many moons ago where a student failed to notice the laptop wasn't plugged in and proceeded to ignore the low battery warnings until it died. Parent threatened to sue me directly (School were excellent in dealing with it though).

[Koldov]

Thanks for clarifying, we don't do exams here on laptops (assessments sometimes but these are done on the IT suite computers) and certainly nothing in the realm of destroying futures and getting sued if something goes wrong!

 

If that were the case I'd have them all plugged into their own UPS and that directly wired into a fused spur...

Edited March 7, 2022 by Koldov

[psydii]

Been a while, but I've managed 60 laptops in an exam.

 

Required careful management of students as well as cables.

 

a few daisy chained 6-way trailing sockets (with surge protection) running down the length of the room closing off an aisle for the students.

 

Students required (trained and supervised) to enter correct row so that they are not walking down an aisle with cables.

 

Where it is necessary to run power to the middle of the hall a cables are run under a rubber cable bridge and the daisy-chain starts from there.

 

Power sockets were installed in the hall to support this, all trailing sockets were new/only used for this purpose.

 

Students were also trained to keep an eye on the power indicator and put their hand up if the laptop appeared to be running on battery or issued any sort of power warning.

 

We also had a macro that locked down word and ensured that work was properly titled and saved with backups to a secured network folder (which snapshotted every 15 minutes) etc etc. (which all kind of stopped working after 10 years with the office 365 editions of Office and we've used examwritepad ever since)

[andy_b]

Laptops on batteries with a few of these in case of emergencies (assumng usb-c)?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-PowerCore-Delivery-Portable-Charger/dp/B08S6YRTDN?ref_=ast_sto_dp

[paulkerton]

Solution. Invest in laptops with an all day battery life.

[DrBeaker]

Need to digest some other replies - but my 2 cents:

 

1) Health and Safety - trailing cables, power overloads etc.

 

2) Anything power related should be a sites/estates issue. IT generally whilst seemingly holding more common sense than other staff - aren't electricians.