In-class Charging Solution Saves Time at a Community College
February 20, 2023
Faculty, staff and students at Atlantic Cape Community College struggled with large rolling carts for many years. Sandi Greco knew she wanted something different when it came time to outfit a newly renovated building on campus.
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Time for Change
Atlantic Cape Community College has three main campuses in New Jersey and enrolls more than 6,000 students. Offering more than 40 academic degrees, the school increasingly relies on technology in the classroom.
In the past, when lessons or labs required devices, students had to relocate to a computer lab. Bringing charging carts into the classroom solved this, but took up a lot of space and created new problems, such as not being returned as expected.
“We had to chain them to the wall, we were constantly moving them from room to room. It just wasn’t feasible,” says Greco. “It seemed like we were 1980 AV technicians just rolling everything around.”
When it came time for new charging stations, Sandi Greco, Senior Director of Project Management for IT, was ready for innovation.
Primary Pain Points:• Rolling carts from room to room • Disorganization and confusion with carts not being in the right places • Carts take up too much space • Want a professional charging solution Remedy:• A mix of 12, 16 and 20-shelf Towers added over 5 years • Wall-mounted vertical towers save space • Custom school colors in newly renovated space • Organized in-class solution saves instructors and students time and improves the learning environment |
A New Model in Device Deployment
A New Model in Device DeploymentGreco chose PowerGistics wall-mounted charging Towers to be installed into classrooms, recommended by Frank Cermatori at Bluum (an authorized reseller for PowerGistics). With charging stations mounted on the wall, devices are now kept permanently in the rooms, secured by a locking door. Students no longer have to go find a computer lab or the library to use a device. Lessons are more efficient and teachers appreciate the ability to look something up with a class in those spontaneous moments of curiosity.
“The teachers love them,” says Greco. “They don’t have to reach out to IT to do any kind of scheduling. They know all their resources are there. If an impromptu thing comes up…It’s convenient to say ‘Hey, let’s grab a laptop and do research on this.’ It’s a little more adhoc and flexible.”
The Benefit of Quick Inventory and Organization
With permanent, in-class charging stations comes the huge benefit of organization. Devices are now kept in permanent charging stations in each classroom. Faculty who change rooms throughout the day can now do a quick inventory at the end of a class, made easier because of the PowerGistics open-door design.
“The faculty can come in a room, can take a quick glance and see, yes, there are 24 laptops in here, and at the end of their class, yes, there are still 24 laptops in here,” describes Greco.
A Clever Key Solution for Traveling Teachers
Since faculty and staff change rooms throughout the day, Atlantic Cape came up with a clever solution for the keys. Realtor lock boxes were installed in each room to hold a key to the Towers. With a lock box keycode, instructors can access the key in any room, and then simply open the Tower. At the end of a lesson, they return the key to the realtor lock box for the next instructor using the room.
More Room to Move
Faculty, staff and students appreciate the small footprint of the wall-mounted stations. “It has a much smaller footprint than the carts,” says Greco. “They were dual sided and took up a lot of space in the room, about a 4×6 space by the time you allow space on either side.”
The school places two Towers side by side in classrooms. By flipping one of the doors to the other side of the charging station, both doors open to the outside.
Outcome• A more organized system improves ease of device use and reduces confusion. • Atlantic Cape has school pride in the professional looking, custom-color charging stations. • More space is available for teachers and students in the classroom. • To use a device students no longer need to move to a computer lab or roll in a big cart. |
Pride in School Colors
Greco and her team were drawn to the professional aesthetic and custom color options for PowerGistics. Especially excited to brand their newly renovated space in their school colors, they selected red and blue shelves to show off their school pride.
A Change with Appreciated Results
A Change with Appreciated ResultsAtlantic Cape bought 50 PowerGistics Towers that first year and continue to add more to their buildings. After using them for so many years, Greco says they have changed how the students and teachers use technology in the classroom, for the better.
Chris Vallese, Technical Solutions Engineer, says “The availability of having it right in the room was what pleased them [the students] the most – that they didn’t have to go someplace else to have the resource they needed to be able to continue the class. They didn’t have to go to the library to get to a computer. The computer was available to them right in the room.”
Atlantic Cape Community College is set up with space-saving charging Towers that allow for a quick visual inventory. In the newly renovated space, the custom colors of the Towers bring out school pride while looking professional. For students, teachers and staff, PowerGistics Towers have both made technology use easy and saved time, a recipe for moving education forward.
Atlantic Cape Community College is a public community college in Atlantic County and Cape May County in New Jersey. Atlantic Cape enrolls more than 6,000 students. Founded 1964, Atlantic Cape Community College provides inclusive, accessible, and equitable educational programs and services to transform lives and empower students to successfully meet their academic, social and career goals, while also supporting the diverse needs of our community.
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