Labelling ACTIVote pods

[daverosthorn]

Hi all,

I've originally labelled all my ACTIVote pods with a label maker. However, they don't seem to be strong enough and are peeling off (which looks totally unprofessional, btw). Has anyone else labelled their pods? If so, what have you done? Does it work well? Do you have to keep re-doing it?

Many thanks!!!

Dave

[Charlotte]

No joy here with that problem. We've tried so called permanent pens and sticky labels. The 'permanent' pen rubs off suprisingly quickly and the sticky labels peel and fall off. I have decided not to bother as the 3 code registration only takes a minute or two - now the kids are used to it so I'm happy to stick with that method. Might help if they had numbers on them in the manufacturing stage.... :rolleyes:

[daverosthorn]

No joy here with that problem. We've tried so called permanent pens and sticky labels. The 'permanent' pen rubs off suprisingly quickly and the sticky labels peel and fall off. I have decided not to bother as the 3 code registration only takes a minute or two - now the kids are used to it so I'm happy to stick with that method. Might help if they had numbers on them in the manufacturing stage.... :rolleyes:

Yeah, it would help but you can't have everything handed to you on a plate, eh?! :(

The reason I'm asking is that I want to use the new named mode system that's available in version 2.5... we've got older learners and they don't particularly enjoy having to put a 3-digit code in every time (plus it takes the tutor longer to set it up)!

[Charlotte]

I am using 2.5 also ... but as you say you can never have everything you want.... Why is that!!
I'm sure ActiVote can be modified in some way to make life easier... a battery indicator would be my first choice followed by a number of other identifier. Can't we be a bit more demanding!! Teachers are too used to finding workarounds and fixes!

[Daniel Bunker]

I'd recommend a CD marker pen number or code written on the face, centrally between the red and green light buttons. In this position it doesn't tend to get rubbed off.

Dan

[daverosthorn]

I'd recommend a CD marker pen number or code written on the face, centrally between the red and green light buttons. In this position it doesn't tend to get rubbed off.

Dan

Good idea; I'll give that a go :) EXPECT FEEDBACK!!

Thanks Daniel! +wave+

[Alison]

Yep, that's exactly what we have. Simply numbered the pods in permenant marker in between the red and green buttons and they've stayed perfect for the last year and a bit. My kids (Year 2) all have a number in the class and they get their own number if I'm going to want to see who answered what, but if it's ad hoc and just used for discussion purposes, they get whatever. It's really easy to give them out and put them away by just calling out the numbers (helps to keep the pods in number order!). I used them during a double observation of Deputy Head & OFSTED woman (not an official OFSTED!) and OFSTED lady said she's never seen ICT used so effectively in a lesson before!! :D Maybe because I got the kids to hand a pod to each observer and made them join in.....neither of them got full marks!!!

[Dug]

Amost exactly the same system as you, Alison, only I've put a small number on the grey rubbery surround at the top of the device (different colour for each set). Only wrote on them in the last month but no rub-off so far. Much prefer the new system - very young children really struggle with the 3 letter code arrangement.

[Mike Dawson]

I am using 2.5 also ... but as you say you can never have everything you want.... Why is that!!
I'm sure ActiVote can be modified in some way to make life easier... a battery indicator would be my first choice followed by a number of other identifier. Can't we be a bit more demanding!! Teachers are too used to finding workarounds and fixes!

In the Mac version, the battery indicator is shown in the registration screen. When a student regiters a pod with a low battery, an icon comes up in the column next to the code.

[Charlotte]

I want that!!!! Is this feature available in AS2.5 - have I just not noticed it????

[daverosthorn]

I want that!!!! Is this feature available in AS2.5 - have I just not noticed it????

Nope, don't think I've seen that either :(

[Louise Chew]

I want that!!!! Is this feature available in AS2.5 - have I just not noticed it????

This has always been there in windows as well as Mac - if you register a device with a low battery then a little symbol will appear to indicate that it has a low battery. I'm not sure how low the battery has to be - but I know that I've seen it in the past!

[Charlotte]

On which screen? What does the icon look like??? I can't believe we didn't know about this - it will be a great help.

[daverosthorn]

This has always been there in windows as well as Mac - if you register a device with a low battery then a little symbol will appear to indicate that it has a low battery. I'm not sure how low the battery has to be - but I know that I've seen it in the past!

Don't think I've had any low batteries yet then :D

[Louise Chew]

On which screen? What does the icon look like??? I can't believe we didn't know about this - it will be a great help.

when you register devices it tells you in the device name column with text saying battery low
When you register users it puts an icon in the empty box when you enter your 3 pin number. It also shows text in the device column saying battery low
I've tried to attach a screen shot of all 3 instances..hope it works!

[Kevin Abel]

Vandalising those nice little pods with nasty marker pens, what Philistines!
Speak to your friendly Design Technology teacher and get them to cut the numbers out of self-adhesive vinyl (the material used to signwrite vehicles).
I designed mine using TechSoft 2D Design and cut them out on a ‘Stika’, vinyl cutter, they are now twelve months old and still going strong.
Regards Kevin +wave+

[Alison]

Alright for those with D&T departments... :p

[daverosthorn]

Alright for those with D&T departments... :p

That's what I was thinking!

[Laura OHalloran]

Hi

Louise - this is SO useful to know, thank you so much [clap]

when you register devices it tells you in the device name column with text saying battery low
When you register users it puts an icon in the empty box when you enter your 3 pin number. It also shows text in the device column saying battery low
I've tried to attach a screen shot of all 3 instances..hope it works!

I know I've seen it just the once with my original voting set, well one I was using when teaching, and that set was 2 years old and regularly used! It's great to know the batteries last so well and are relatively cheap to change as well - I've just got some Tesco's own ones.

Laura :D

[Laura OHalloran]

Back to the issue of actually labelling ACTIVotes, I was in an infant school today showing ACTIVote, and the ICT coordinator and ICT technician were interested in buying some sets. When asked whether they wanted the Primary set or Secondary (as in colour: grey/orange for secondary and blue/yellow for primary; and letters: upper case for secondary and lower case for primary) they said that they would prefer the secondary ones as their children were ok with using upper case.

The ICT coordinator did say that what would be useful however, would be if the keys A - F were also colour coded so, for example, A button = red, B button = blue, C button = yellow etc etc. This being the case, if using the voting with Reception children the questions could be labelled with colours rather than letters but this would not preclude Year2 children using the letters.

I thought this sounded a pretty good idea. :-/

Laura

[michele.horsburgh]

This is a good suggestion. Without wanting to put water on the flames of inspirational ideas it often boils down to changing the manufacturing process. Changing the process is surprisingly costly as well as developing new designs for the handsets. However this is a good idea and is worth passing on to the relevant parties. Cheers Laura!

[Alison]

I agree Laura, a really good idea! [clap] I do adore the blue/yellow primary ones though and think that it is so important to have lower case letters for the younger children. My school has a very high percentage of EAL students too and they also find it much easier...besides, it matches my board...gotta be colour co-ordinated! ;)

[gec]

We managed to get our D&T department to laser-cut numbering on the bottoms of our new set of pods. They look really cool, but it was a bit of work - he had to make a jig to hold a controller, then unscrewed it and placed it on the jig. They're now all engraved with a large number filled with a cross-hatching.
I feel that for the price they ought to come pre-numbered. They're not cheap.

But...why do we need to pre-number them (other than for security reasons)? We've done it because it seemed to be the thing to do, but it seems to me that these things are going to go from room to room and need registering every time. Also it doesn't take long at all for the students to put the 3 letter codes in at the registration stage. Am I missing something?

[andrew.webster]

when you register devices it tells you in the device name column with text saying battery low
When you register users it puts an icon in the empty box when you enter your 3 pin number. It also shows text in the device column saying battery low
I've tried to attach a screen shot of all 3 instances..hope it works!

Hi All,

You are probably past this stage now, but when you go into Devices in 2.5 for Wdows and test the handsets it should tell you whether the batteries are low or not. A low battery warning should appear in the left column.

I hope this is of help.

Best wishes, Andrew