RETHINK THE CART with CDC Considerations

Returning to in-class instruction during COVID-19 challenges educators to rethink all processes in the classroom.

Traditional charging carts were an innovation when laptops first began to travel between classrooms to support student learning in the early 2000s. They were never designed to save space or permanently live in the classroom, yet they are now fairly ubiquitous in crowded classrooms as many schools reach 1:1.

Rethinking how classroom devices are charged, retrieved, and returned has never been more relevant with this invisible threat from COVID-19. To ensure the electronic devices that enable modern learning are as safe as possible, we need to innovate the classroom process for device deployment. How many people touch a device during the deployment process? How long does deployment take? How easy is it for students to social distance when they retrieve and return a device? How are shared devices cleaned between uses?

This guide will explore all these questions and more.

PowerGistics Charging and Storage Towers help educators get their classrooms safe and ready for their students to return.

Our 100% Student Managed Deployment inhibits the spread of germs in the classroom. Individual storage trays reduce touching and cross-contamination, so there’s never been a safer way to store, charge and deploy your classroom devices.

Our latest device storage and charging Towers are available with an antimicrobial coating and optional cleaning-wipe caddy to further help protect your teachers and students.

The 100% Student Managed nature of our Towers helps prevent the spread of germs:

• Single Touch Device Deployment for Students With a dedicated shelf for every student, they only touch the power cable when retrieving and returning their device during the school day. There is no need to touch the charging Tower.
• No Touch Device Deployment for Teachers Since the teacher can visually inventory the devices because of the open door concept, their only role is to lock and unlock PowerGistics Towers by touching the key or lock.
• No Traffic-Jam Deployment If the class is larger, placing two Towers on opposite sides of the room creates natural social distance and speeds up deployment time. Students can retrieve their device by color group, allowing small groups of 2-5 to collect their device easily.
• USB Tower Series Includes the USB-C Cables Save the power bricks that come with your devices to send home with students in case of school closures. Wire our Towers once and enjoy maintenance free cable management for your full device life cycle – or longer.
• Optional Cleaning Caddy Accessory This add-on accessory hangs on the side of the Tower and easily fits a standard sanitizing wipes container, or a large hand sanitizer pump.
• Open Tower Design allows Natural Air Flow With increased ventilation, microorganisms are not trapped in the Towers, helping to minimize colony growth and disperse germs.
• Antimicrobial Powder Coating Available The silver-ion additive to the powder coat finish kills or slows the growth of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, mold and mildew. While it cannot guarantee to kill all microorganisms, it’s designed to interrupt their growth and spread.* Antimicrobial Custom School Spirit colors are available in Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and White (the shades on our standard Towers).

*Antimicrobial coating available as an option with all Towers.   Cleaning Caddy sold as an accessory.