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        General >> Off Topic Subjects >> Here's a good un'
        
(Message started by: peteHull on Oct 11^th, 2007, 5:33pm)

Title: Here's a good un'
Post by peteHull on Oct 11^th, 2007, 5:33pm

My thought for the day.... ???

For those who don't know, I work in a Primary School.
Our council is always on about save this and save that etc etc, there is a new government initiative starting next April whereby all buildings used and accessed by the public have to have an energy efficiency certificate, much like those found on white goods (washing machines, fridges etc) Ok it is a good idea to cut back on energy from the cost point of view, I hold reservations about alledged global warming and the Al Gore aproach to life. Indeed when I first started at my present school it was like Blackpool illuminations on a grand scale, (we have adult education on site too) I introduced measures which have gradually got people to be more vigilant in their energy use (they still have a long way to go but we're getting there).

Anyway, to the point I wanted to make.

All our classrooms have been fitted with verticle blinds on all the windows, they are ALWAYS closed, the sunny weather is totally excuded from the childrens lives during sessions, Why i hear you saying.

Likewise, all classrooms are fitted with Hi Tec white boards and computers, at VERY GREAT expense, they did away with the good old blackboards and chalk, teachers hardly have to write anymore.... why the blinds are closed? because when they are open the glare of the light eminating in from outside make it IMPOSSIBLE to see what is going on on the very expensive INTERACTIVE whiteboards. Is that a case of technological progress? I tend to think of it more as a case of Illogical stupidity.

It does make a lot of money for the geeks who supply the endless bits and pieces to keep it all COST EFFECTIVE though..... Grrrin

Rant finale.... for now ;D

Pete

Pete

Title: Re: Here's a good un'
Post by Baz on Oct 11^th, 2007, 7:24pm

Pete....

I own a company that supplies and installs interactive whiteboards to about 300 schools and believe me if it made me a lot of money I wouldn't be driving a Scorpio!!

As for your problem with the sunlight glare, whoever has supplied and installed the projectors/whiteboard systems would do well to look at the new Toshiba ST-20 short throw projector. Because it is mounted just above the board rather than the usual 2.5 to 3 metres away, you can leave the curtains/blinds open because the projector doesn't lose any light output because it is so close.

It is also bright orange and does not have any controls on it either and so makes it almost useless to any would be thief; as all the on/off etc is done from the adjacent wall mounted panel.

It can be retrofitted to any existing Smartboard (or similar) installation so if you have any projectors coming to the end of their lifespan it may be another option to let some sunshine into your kids lives!! (that was my line by the way, not Toshibas although I think it was pretty good!!)

Seriously though, technology for the primary school kids will enable them to become sad old forum posters in the future.... would you deny them that luxury??

You probably also need to bring in a whiteboard policy to the school. If I had a pound for every school projector I have seen still blaring through lunch or after 3:30. How many times a year do the school clean the filters of the projector to stop them overheating and thus blowing the lamps and costing the school daft amounts of money to replace what is the most expensive part of the IT budget for a lot of schools?

We operate a scheme with a lot of our schools whereby we look after the interests of the school with regular filter cleaning and lamp life inspections. The schools have one of our projector policies which most adhere to and in some cases we have started to fit the Toshiba systems now; which means that more schools can open the blinds and the teacher doesn't get in the way of the projected image.

There are a lot of companies out there who will try and take as much of the schools budget as they can get away with, I work on margins like £10.00 on a lamp and £10.00 to come and fit it AND clean the filters AND reset the lamp counters

We're not all money grabbers you know..... ;D

Title: Re: Here's a good un'
Post by TRACEYS_LIMO on Oct 13^th, 2007, 1:06pm

nasa spent a million developing a pen that would write in space the russians just use a pencil. getting back to schools we ran out of ink and my litlun states that his work will be marked down if it is not done on the computer, so if you do not have a computer your work will be marked down, but you will probably be able to spell better. without the cheat of spell checker or a copy of someone elses work. its no wonder that the press say exams are getting easier