The number of laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, and other mobile devices bought by U.S. schools has dramatically increased since 2020.
According to a recent survey by EdWeek, 90 percent of educators said there was at least one device for every middle and high schooler by March of 2021.
This influx of technology has enabled richer forms of instruction, but also poses some challenges for teachers.
Teaching is evolving to incorporate technology in lesson plans. Aside from the obvious challenge of designing new lessons that take advantage of technology’s potential to transform teaching and learning, teachers also face the daunting task of having to manage all this technology in their classrooms. This adds another layer of complexity for teachers who are already overburdened with responsibilities.
But for teachers trying to manage the use of laptops and other mobile devices in their classes, a high-quality laptop charging cart can reduce this burden significantly—freeing them to focus on instruction. Here are three ways the right laptop cart can make teachers’ lives easier by simplifying teaching with technology.
1. A laptop cart keeps devices secure, organized, and fully charged.
Just keeping track of devices, making sure they don’t go missing, and making sure they’re charged for daily use can be a hassle. To solve these challenges, San Lorenzo Unified School District purchased LocknCharge laptop carts as part of the district’s 1:1 Chromebook deployment. At the end of class, the Chromebooks are returned to the laptop carts, where they are securely stored and recharged so they’re ready to use the next day.
“Any time you introduce devices into classrooms, you also introduce additional responsibility, administrative tasks, and stress for teachers,” said Director of Technology Integration Services Sam Sakai-Miller. “The LocknCharge carts significantly reduce those burdens for our teachers.”
2. The right laptop cart makes distributing devices to students super-easy.
Any laptop cart can help teachers keep mobile devices charged and secured, but the right solution also makes it extremely easy to get the devices into the hands of students each day—saving valuable class time in the process.
The unique design of Baskets by LocknCharge eliminates the headaches involved in distributing devices to students. With a traditional cabinet-style laptop cart, students often have to wait in line as they take out a device one by one. With our laptop carts, the devices are stored in baskets of five. Teachers or students simply take out these baskets, place them on students’ desks or tables, and the students can grab a device from there.
Coachella Valley Unified School District was using a different brand of laptop cart but found that it took five to 10 minutes to distribute devices to students at the start of a class period. When the district switched to LocknCharge carts, this process was reduced to just two minutes.
Our laptop carts are “a game changer in terms of classroom management and getting to the activities we need to do that day,” said Education Technology Coordinator Edward Simoneau.
3. The right laptop cart also makes stowing and charging the devices a breeze.
Nederland Independent School District was using a different type of laptop cart as well, but teachers had trouble reaching into the back of the cart to plug in the devices for recharging.
With our laptop carts, this isn’t an issue: A secure top lid slides open, giving students and teachers easy access to the devices from above. Reloading the cart is as simple as placing the devices back into the baskets with their charging port facing up, placing the baskets into the cart, and then plugging the charging cords into the devices.
“When I found this cart, I knew it was the best solution because of the baskets and how easy it was to plug in and charge (devices) from the top,” said Technology Director Cindy Laird. “The teachers love (it).”
Arlington Independent School District also uses LocknCharge carts to securely store, charge, and transport its mobile devices. “We have been able to say to teachers, honestly and authentically: This is going to make your job easier,” said Coordinator of Instructional Technology Marcus Miller. “Accessing the devices from the top allows (us) to plug them in and charge them easily—and the baskets have made a huge difference in how convenient it is for teachers.”