Classroom Clocks

[Planehazza]

One of our schools wants new analogue clocks for the 70+ classrooms. WIthout going into details of behaviour etc, consistency and having the clocks being correct is importtant so before they've gone and bough 100 or so standard clocks I recommended RCC ones, albeit being more expensive.

 

Can't do anything crazy invasive or overkill like PoE, so thinking RCC battery analogue clock faces is the way to go unless there's a more modern solution? I believe the RCC mast etc is still like and isn't looking to be phased out like RDS etc? 

[synaesthesia]

Pushing the bounds of IT a little there!

For the sake of £15 quid each from Espo, standard radio clocks aren't exactly bank breaking!

[DWilson1997]

We have the following in some locations but they are £££ and you need a master controller. I personally would go down the route of standard radio clocks.

Indoor analogue clock: Profil 930 analogue clock

 

 

[Planehazza]

2 minutes ago, synaesthesia said:

Pushing the bounds of IT a little there!

For the sake of £15 quid each from Espo, standard radio clocks aren't exactly bank breaking!

I know, but it came to us and anyone else would just say go get 70 clocks from Argos and then it would come to IT for a better solution when class A is out causing chaos on the corride 3 mins before class B anyway 😅

 

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard of that supplier, but one of the products listed is the same as one I've already suggested from a more expensive supplier, so thanks for that heads up

[Planehazza]

3 minutes ago, DWilson1997 said:

We have the following in some locations but they are £££ and you need a master controller. I personally would go down the route of standard radio clocks.

Indoor analogue clock: Profil 930 analogue clock

 

 

Thanks, yeah RCC is the way to go I think. Cue "kids can't tell analogue time" comments from teachers.

[synaesthesia]

Espo? I thought they were country-standard for schools to buy (usually) overpriced anything from stationary to furniture

Those ones are quite small though so might need something a little larger for classrooms.

[msi_school]

I have used RCC clocks they are normally great but sometimes they can't get a signal in a room on on a particular wall. Obviously it is always vital that the clock must be in this location which can be a problem but it is by far the cheapest option for wall clocks.

 

However, most schools I have been to in the past 5 years are just using the clock on the PC now. 

[psydii]

Yeah exactly as @msi_school, you might want to check RCC actually work in your location. We had a tonne of trouble with ours and ended up going back to manual. But these days most people just rely on the clock on the computers. 

Edited April 17 by psydii

[Planehazza]

11 minutes ago, psydii said:

Yeah exactly as @msi_school, you might want to check RCC actually work in your location. We had a tonne of trouble with ours and ended up going back to manual. But these days most people just rely on the clock on the computers. 

 

I'm not sure what the scope is; we've just been told they want clocks in the classroom for kids to see. The school has gone down a locked phone pouch route now so their thinking is the kids needs to see the time from some other method. Why the kids "need to see the time", I've no idea... 

 

I've presented the RCC option to them with a suggestion we buy only a few to test with for now. Clock aesthetics, size, and price is up to them now.

Edited April 17 by Planehazza

[Andrew_C]

There is one windowsill, in one lab, where the dashed darned things will reset reliably here...

[psydii]

 

18 minutes ago, Planehazza said:

the kids needs to see the time from some other method

Have they not heard of wrist watches?

[NegativeKillDeath]

26 minutes ago, Planehazza said:

 

I'm not sure what the scope is; we've just been told they want clocks in the classroom for kids to see. The school has gone down a locked phone pouch route now so their thinking is the kids needs to see the time from some other method. Why the kids "need to see the time", I've no idea... 

 

I've presented the RCC option to them with a suggestion we buy only a few to test with for now. Clock aesthetics, size, and price is up to them now.

Its not actually a bad idea that kids can see the passage of time as it will help them understand how long tasks take, invaluable for exam time. And I'm all for kids learning how to tell analogue time. 

[Davit2005]

Queue the calls that the clock does not work, you reply saying the battery ran out, they say but it said it was wireless. Been there, seen that 🙂

[msi_school]

and suddenly they belong to IT not the site team

[dhicks]

1 hour ago, psydii said:

you might want to check RCC actually work in your location. We had a tonne of trouble with ours and ended up going back to manual.

 

A quick Google / Gemini suggest that RCC signal boosters are a thing - seemingly, you can use a Raspberry Pi as a local time signal booster in some cases.