Twin Screens in an Educational Establishment?

[Zoatibix]

I'm just wondering how many other places give certain staff twin screens on their PCs.

 

Currently many of our administration staff have this set up with 17 or 19" monitors to enable to them easily work on two different appliations.

 

I'm told that we're unique in this respect...but that seems unlikely.

[Admiral208]

quite a few of our admin team have dual screens. I don't think its that uncommon.

[SYNACK]

We do, most of our Office staff have dual moniters to support all the apps that they need open at once (Email, MIS, Absences, Word etc.) You can do it all on one moniter but it is much more efficient not having to constantly minimize and swap apps.

 

Sure you can do most of this with one big moniter but our MIS is sho shocking that it really needs the bounds of a screen to itself to keep it under control, stuff like pop over custom dialogues that always show up at the size of the screen with no minimize possible.

[Abaddon]

Same here.. some have two. One or two have three screens.

[jamesb]

http://www.naplestech.com/shopcart/proddetail.asp?prod=quadstation12

 

Don't let them see these, or they'll all want one.

[knelmes]

We have a number of admin people with dual monitors - I couldn't work on just 1 now so I know how good it can be for them

[robmal]

My main teaching computer suite has a dual monitor set up for the teachers desk - one monitor being a mirror for the IWB. Allows 'off screen' assembling of windows etc that can be dragged onto the second screen and IWB. Most teachers appreciate having their Outlook mailbox open on the other screen so that pupils can't see it. Mind you some can't get the hang of it and run their PowerPoints on the wrong screen and wonder why the kids can't see anything!

 

Our techs mostly have dual screens as do some admin staff - have done for years. We don't feel unique!

 

R

[Ric_]

Another one for dual screens...

 

* Our 3 receptionists have dual 19" screens so that they can more easily run Lync Attendant Console

* Bursar and Exams Office both have laptops with docking stations and a 17" screen - they find it useful to be able to run Outlook on their laptop screen whilst processing things on the other

* Naturally, myself and my tech have dual 21" (1600x1200 each) screens because it just makes things easier

 

When desk space isn't too limited, there is little point in not having dual-screens. I have had some very good deals on nVidia Quadro NVS graphics cards and slightly used monitors so for less than £100 on top of an attractively priced desktop, why not help make somebody's job easier?

[timbo343]

We in IT Support have at least 2 monitors each and the bursar has dual screens, but about a hand full have widescreen monitors and our timetabler is having 2 machines rather than 2 screens so that someone else can check everything is ok.

[jamesfed]

No dual monitors here (yet) - all admin staff have 19" displays and all teaching have their laptops with no external display.

Biggest monitors in the school is the 22" that we have in the IT office.

[MYK-IT]

All our IT Suites have dual 22" TFT Screens on the Teacher's Computer (1 for IWB Display,and the other for SIMS. AB Tutor Control).

 

Vast majority of the school have 22" TFT Screens.

[SYNACK]

Our latest suite PCs have 24" LCDs as we got them for the same cost as the 22" which were something like $10 more than a 19". For $10 a unit it just made sense and it has made a difference to the perceptions. The bigger the screen the more powerful people feel they are (they are now slouches in the speed department anyway). The more powerful people feel they are the more they respect them which has led to less messing about with them.

[localzuk]

I'm just wondering how many other places give certain staff twin screens on their PCs.

 

Currently many of our administration staff have this set up with 17 or 19" monitors to enable to them easily work on two different appliations.

 

I'm told that we're unique in this respect...but that seems unlikely.

 

One of our admin team has twin screens, and I run 3 screens on my desktop.

 

The admin team member has 2 as she needs to be able to have more than one version of our finance software open at the same time (as we became an academy, and she needs to open the old school copy too).

 

Overall? I'd say that it is quite rare for people to have 2 screens in a school, but it shouldn't be. the productivity increase possible is significant. However, this is offset by the ability to have pretty huge screens now and have things open side by side without issue (24", 26" screens suit this perfectly).

[FN-GM]

Over the years I have worked in a few schools all hd 2 screens in the IT office and the admin office.

[Arthur]

However, this is offset by the ability to have pretty huge screens now and have things open side by side without issue (24", 26" screens suit this perfectly).

Definitely! A 27" LCD + Aero Snap in Windows 7 (or Divvy / SizeUp / Flexiglass on the Mac) kind of negates the need for two screens now. The other issue with dual screens is the thick bezel in the middle. I find this really distracting.

[localzuk]

Definitely! A 27" LCD + Aero Snap in Windows 7 (or Divvy / SizeUp / Flexiglass on the Mac) kind of negates the need for two screens now. The other issue with dual screens is the thick bezel in the middle. I find this really distracting.

 

Indeed, however as someone else mentioned - some software is less than helpful with this sort of thing, and dislikes large screens etc...

[SYNACK]

Definitely! A 27" LCD + Aero Snap in Windows 7 (or Divvy / SizeUp / Flexiglass on the Mac) kind of negates the need for two screens now. The other issue with dual screens is the thick bezel in the middle. I find this really distracting.

 

With the obvious exception of excremental software that still needs the screen mentality to keep it in check.

[john]

It isn't that common with us yet, although it is starting, our Finance Assistant has a pair of 17" ones then she can keep ParentPay open in one all day to speed that part of her job up and then does her normal job in the main screen. Myself and my technician have dual widescreens and I have a laptop as well for a 3rd when needed. The Assistant Head who is the timetabler has just this last term got a new 22" TFT and kept her 17" one and has found it made her life 100x easier doing the big work on the timetable, now fine for the rest of the year it will probably not be that useful to her but it did make it better for the TT which is a key part of her job.

 

IWB PCs in classrooms are all setup where possible as dual splitting screens to allow staff to use the MIS away from the students eyes.

[DrCheese]

Our finance staff have two monitors. A few other admin staff have 24ins monitors as it makes doing massive spreadsheets a ton easier.

 

We have dual 23ins monitors, mostly because it allows us to VNC/RDP into a machine and still do stuff on the other screen. The kids always find it amazing that you can drag stuff across to a different monitor.

[GrumbleDook]

A number of the Web team at the LA are dual screen but few others are, and this is across most departments.

 

I work over 2 machines, the council desktop has one screen and I work on a laptop connected to an additional 27" screen, so effectively I work on 3 screens.

 

Mainly each screen is used for different tasks and saves a lot of switching virtual desktops (which I still do some of anyway).

 

I am an exception though ... and most schools I have been in it is rare to see 2 screens, but more common for a single large screen instead. It all depends on how you work and separate different tasks I suppose.

[CESIL]

Blimey you lot are light years ahead of us...the muppets here barely cope with one screen let alone two...most of them haven't even got the hang of zooming in and out in apps to see more...as for minimizing or multi-tasking, well...when I say "just fire up IE" they feel the need to close everything else down before they open the new app...

 

The laptops in classrooms can be used with the IWB and laptop screen separate but then they just get confused when the cursor vanishes off the laptop screen.

 

I am hoping that the new young teachers that hopefully will start to replace the dinosaurs will be up for this sort of tech...

 

...mind you I don't know where I am going to find the money to buy all these monitors!

[rh91uk]

I did have two 24" and a stonking good PC however now use a laptop and 24" with a docking station. Our SBM does the same. The only other person who has dual screens is our cover lady for SIMS cover.

[john]

I did have two 24" and a stonking good PC however now use a laptop and 24" with a docking station. Our SBM does the same. The only other person who has dual screens is our cover lady for SIMS cover.

What has happened to your huuuuuuge screens and amazing setup I liked your office it was like a gaming centre!

[sonofsanta]

We've got dual 17" monitors here in our office, which does seem to amaze everyone who walks in, and is astonishingly useful. If you're a techie with only one monitor then you I'm afraid that, frankly, You're Doing It Wrong. Having an RDP on one monitor and your desktop on another is so unbelievably useful.

 

Any classroom that has 22" widescreen monitors also has dual monitors as well - one widescreen and one 17" square that clones to the projector. It seemed wrong to give all the students a 1920x1080 widescreen monitor and leave the teacher with 1024x768!

[Davit2005]

We have dual screens in the ICT suite (24 workstations), plus a few dotted around and of course I have in my office. Dual screen and Win7, what a combination :-D.