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Although laptops are a fantastic resource for educators and their pupils, the devices can be costly to replace, with excessive usage known to cause battery life to deteriorate over time. This can be problematic for schools, especially those in older buildings, because traditional classrooms do not have enough plug sockets to power laptops whilst in use. Laptop charging trolleys are a secure way to manage the storage and charging of multiple laptops and netbooks, but these trolleys are only designed to charge devices whilst they are inside the cabinet, and cannot provide power to the laptops when pupils are working on them.
To resolve this problem, schools could invest in desktop power points that can provide simultaneous battery charging and safe power to laptops and netbooks from a single, central desk position. These extra battery charging facilities are configured to charge a specific make and model of laptop or netbook and include small preconfigured charging cables to power the devices whilst they are in use. One desktop charging device can power up to ten mobile IT devices using just one wall power socket, overcoming the problem of flat laptop batteries and a lack of classroom power points.
Desktop laptop chargers enable pupils to use laptops continuously throughout the school day, without the need to disrupt the lesson to return devices to a laptop trolley for charging. Pupils are thus able to use ICT to enable learning across the curriculum, rather than merely in their ICT lessons which their laptops may have been charged in advance for. As a result, pupils are given far greater access to ICT to further boost their IT skills, and this is something that the UK Education Secretary, Michael Gove, is keen to encourage.
In addition to enabling undisrupted usage throughout the school day, desktop laptop chargers are also designed to enable group learning. As laptops and netbooks are powered from a single desk location, pupils can sit around a table to work on projects together. Desktop battery chargers make working in groups safe for pupils because laptops are plugged in to just one charging point, using preconfigured cables to power devices. As a result, the tabletop charger drastically reduces the amount of cabling littering the floor, and subsequently the likelihood of pupils tripping over AC adaptor leads.
If a desktop power point is used in conjunction with a laptop trolley, it can also help to improve the efficiency and management of ICT delivery in classrooms. By charging devices from a single location with integral power cables, desktop laptop chargers charge devices without their AC adaptors, meaning that the laptops' own power supplies do not need to be removed from a school's laptop charging trolley. As a result, AC adaptors are far less likely to get lost or mislaid. Some desktop power points can also be supplied with the option to transfer data to the laptops, enabling teachers to carry out software updates simultaneously.
Laptops and tablets can bring considerable benefits to schools, but problems with battery life can disrupt teaching time if devices need to be continually returned to a laptop trolley to charge during the day. Desktop charging devices that power laptops from a central desk location resolve this problem by enabling pupils to use laptops safely throughout the day to improve the efficiency of ICT delivery in classrooms.
