Headphones in classrooms

[timbo343]

So, we have bought some replacement over-the-head headphones for classroom use and was wondering how people manage them in the classroom. We have said to the teachers, here are your head phones for your room all labled up so you can do as you please with them. Another teacher has asked if he could have them cable tied to the back of the machine which is fine but im struggling to come up with a solution of where to put the headphones when they arent in use.

 

I had originally thought about putting a screw in the wall so users can hang the headphones on it but we most ICT rooms we have a circle of machines in the middle of the room and cannot put a screw in the wall as there is no wall there in the first place.

 

What do other people do if there are permanant headphones in the room? Where do you hang them up/store them? We could i suppose have some coat hooks with the number of the headphone and the kids could hang them up when not in use...

 

Thanks

[Steve21]

Short answer we don't Individual departments do.

 

Longer answer,

 

Language department has numbered hooks, which linked headphone to pc.

 

ICT have massive crates, one per ICT room.

 

Steve

[pubgrub277]

Short answer we don't Individual departments do.

ICT have massive crates, one per ICT room.

 

I think our ICT rooms had a similar system but now they each have a ball of headphone cables with bits of plastic on the end.

Children are now sent from these rooms to the ICT office to request headphones which we no longer have. (as they been magically drawn into the larger ball of wires.!!)

[Steve21]

I think our ICT rooms had a similar system but now they each have a ball of headphone cables with bits of plastic on the end.

Children are now sent from these rooms to the ICT office to request headphones which we no longer have. (as they been magically drawn into the larger ball of wires.!!)

 

Forgot to mention, The important bit to stop them tying up. Each headphone has zippable plastic bag

 

Steve

[pubgrub277]

Cunning:eek:!!

[TechMonkey]

We used to have a crate, then we had a crate per class, then we had a crate per class in individual baggies, then in numbered baggies. All staff were instructed to count them out and count them in but after seeing too many people dump the crate in the middle of the class yell "grab headphones", and then watch as the students dump them back in the crate if we were lucky or left all over the place we gave up. Finally after receiving a crate with under half the headphones left we gave up. We instructed the departments to buy their own, donated our remainders to IT and now just have to deal with students asking for them for staff, even after about 3 years!

[pubgrub277]

to be fair most of our students have their own from ipods etc..... not that they are listening to them in lessons i might add!

[bossman]

ICT staff deal with headphones in the ICT suites, each set has the students name on and is individually boxed, it is about ownership as the students have been given the criteria of "These first pair are free, if you damage them wilfully then your parents or you will have to replace them" this has been really adhered to and to date we have only had one set of headphones wilfully damaged and they were replaced by the student.

 

Classroom management not IT support staff remit

[timbo343]

Seems like most are in the same situation as use at the moment. I was just trying to organise it so we didn't have to have a box full of headphones with cables that have been pulled and earpieces missing, thus saving the school money in the long run.

[pete]

Crate of Philips SHP1900 full-ear cans in each room that might need them. Dept's responsibilty to pay for and look after. Edited June 15, 2012 by pete

[simpsonj]

After the third box of headphones, I've given up. Instead we rely on students having their own, and our Resources Centre sells earphones to students who don't have any as they are a requirement for Music lessons.

 

In fairness, I think the vast majority of our students have earphones or headphones now, especially as we don't confiscate phones or iPods.

[JonWPS]

We don't supply headphones and instead state that students should have them as part of the required kit. Those we had previously continuosly got wrecked and there were obvious health and safety issues.

[Sylv3r]

Our students fetch their own in and is classed as part of essential equipment they need such as a pen, pencil, ruler etc.

[laserblazer]

We tried getting the kids to bring their own but that didn't work. After spending a fortune on quality ones that still got trashed in next to no time, we bought a shedload of these HK-1S - -- - SINGLE SIDE EARPHONE (LEFT) | CPC, which are stored in plastic seed trays from Wilkos. The kids are fine with them but the staff are not good at getting them put back tidily, so now they have to come and get them from me and return them. Strange, but the requirement for headphones during lessons has gone right down.

[witch]

In my junior school I put hooks up and watched the headphones get left everywhere. Then I put them in a crate in ziplock bags. And watched the teachers not bother to count them out and in again. Currently they are strewn all over the room in various states of breakage.

In my middle-deemed-secondary things are better as we have a dedicated IT teacher who stays in the IT room all the time, except during his PPA. He has put a bar up on the wall and hooks his nice over the ear headphones up on that, with a bar below to tuck the cable behind. The bars are deliberately quite high up so that most of the children can't reach - the staff hand out the headphones. It has worked quite well so far although a couple of sets have been damaged when he was out of the room.

[iPrimary]

We recently sold a couple hundred headphones (£2 a pop) to a primary school which opted to keep a certain amount spare for 'breakages' in the server room, and use a sticky backed hook on the rear of screens, as well as cable ties to keep them. Seems to have worked well from the feedback I've had.

[timbo343]

Hmmm. Some interesting points but thinking about the stick on hooks. They would need to be fairly deep hooks though as the head band is fairly thick but the headphones are light. Also, the monitors are out of warranty now.

[Edu-IT]

Oh this is one of them things you'll never win regardless of what you try. You'll always find them where they shouldn't be, or broken...

[iSteve]

How do you find headphone quality vs breakages? Our current ICT team by very cheap small headphones which break if you look at them. Do you find that if you buy a more 'solid' pair that they get more respect because they are not cheap and nasty in look and feel?

[gshaw]

We got the educational ones from Hills (also available on eBuyer) and shackle them to the PC through the same fitting as the security cables... they can't go far that way

[Alis_Klar]

+1 for The Hills Components Hills Components UK headphones.

 

They come in individual bags which eliminates tangling. If the earpads get ripped off (they are rubber not foam and none broken so far) you can order spares. Also the cord is fabric covered so they are tangle resistant. We paid £4.50 each for them.

 

In practice (after 6months) we have never had to use any of the spare earpads but we have had some of the bags lost or torn. We have also had one 3.5mm plug tip broken off inside a PC. We have had no other breakages.

 

But the microphones are not very sensitive.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Alis_Klar

[timbo343]

+1 for The Hills Components Hills Components UK headphones.

 

They come in individual bags which eliminates tangling. If the earpads get ripped off (they are rubber not foam and none broken so far) you can order spares. Also the cord is fabric covered so they are tangle resistant. We paid £4.50 each for them.

 

In practice (after 6months) we have never had to use any of the spare earpads but we have had some of the bags lost or torn. We have also had one 3.5mm plug tip broken off inside a PC. We have had no other breakages.

 

But the microphones are not very sensitive.

 

Funny you should say the tip of the 3.5mm plug came off, we had the exact same problem a few weeks ago but the end got stuck in a students iphone which i had the great job of getting out.

 

I blamed it on the student for been heavy handed with it and quested ehy he was using headphones that were plugged into and cable tied to the machine.

 

The only way i could get an end to break was to pinch the end with a pair of pliars and twist the end off.