Empowering Learning: Southport College ICT Success

Southport College is a successful further education college in Merseyside, offering hundreds courses to its 3,500 students. The college uses ICT in every classroom, from data projectors and interactive whiteboards to desktop computer suites and flexible workspaces and classrooms with laptops and mobile charging trolleys.

“At the college we don’t just use ICT equipment for ICT lessons, but in all aspects of our curriculum. Students undertake individual and group research using a combination of sources including the internet, accessing library resources and ebooks and other electronic databases relevant to their subject area.” - Diane Finnie, Head of ICT

Southport College and LapSafe® have worked together for many years, already using Mentor™ Mobile Charging Trolleys to store and charge their laptops across the college. Southport decided they would like to offer students the ability to use self-service smart lockers to borrow laptops in one of the three Library Learning Centres, and approached LapSafe® for their ideal solution.

The college wanted a product that would provide security and charging for our laptops. We already used the SmartLine™ charging option with our Mentor™ trolleys so we knew the Diplomat™ Pro was the best option for us.

Southport invested in a 48 bay Diplomat™ Pro Self Service Laptop Locker to integrate with their Heritage library management system, allowing students to access laptops themselves using their existing magnetic stripe cards.

Self-service laptop loans have completely changed the way our LLC works, empowering students to loan and return laptops without the assistance of library staff. The students feel able to work in small groups or individually. We are reviewing other areas of our curriculum with a view to remove desktop based computer suites altogether and move to a completely self-service laptop solution.

Diane said: “Typically, all of our LapSafe® units are fully booked throughout the day, either in drop in access or during classroom sessions. We would recommend LapSafe®, and have continued to experience a very high level of customer service over the years."

Laptop Storage and Charging Options can be a simple way to manage IT in the classroom. For more functionality, including audit trails and reproting then Laptop Loaning Smart Lockers can provide a more data lead and holistic solution.