School Clocks Are More Than You Think !

When I was a child, I never
thought much about the
school clocks I saw up on the
wall of my classrooms. All I
ever wanted to know was the
time. Is it time for recess yet? I'm hungry, how long until
lunch? Then I got older and
less interested in school but
more interested in being a
teenager (it happens to all of
us, right?). Then I turned to those classroom clocks with
only one thought. Is this
class over yet? Is there really
still two hours until the end
of the day? It's funny now
that I look back, how all the clocks in my school were
always placed right over the
very doorway you longed to
make your exit from. Now
that I'm older, however, I
know that those school clocks could have done a lot
more than I ever thought.
They seemed useless but
really school clocks can be
state of the art if made from
the right manufacturer. Here's why. After some experience
working for a clock
company, I've learned a lot
about school clocks and all
kinds of clocks. It may not
seem that interesting but there's a lot more to clocks
than you think. For instance,
school clocks can be
independent, wired, wireless
or even IP meaning they all
connect and interact with other clocks and devices
differently. Classroom
clocks that are independent
or standalone do not connect
to any other devices at all,
while wired, wireless and IP clocks are considered clocks
systems and synchronize
with other clocks and
devices attached to their
respective systems.
Furthermore, such clock systems are often interactive
and can be interfaced with
other systems in a building.
Understanding each type of
school clock helps you better
understand just how important those classroom
clocks can be in a school.
Here's a brief snippet about
each. Independent These are the clocks I suspect
my high school had. While
they weren't terribly
inaccurate, they tended to be
off by up to a few minutes or
so from bell times and from classroom to classroom.
Independent clocks are
usually just that. Their
displayed times drift, do not
correct automatically, or
match any bell schedules. Wired Wired clock systems are
installed and powered over
new or existing wired
infrastructure within a
building. These school
clocks correct frequently with a master clock that
receives accurate time from a
GPS receiver or NTP server.
Typically, wired systems
will synchronize with other
interfaced systems and never drift when made by a
reliable manufacturer. Wireless When a wireless school
clock system is installed in a
facility, all the same benefits
of a master clock are at your
disposal. This system,
however, requires no wiring. The analog clocks are battery
powered and receive a
wireless signal for correction
from a transmitter within the
master clock. IP A difference to the IP clock
system is that these school
clocks do not require the
installation of a master
clock. Because each clock is
assigned its own IP address, they can be programmed
individually, generally
through a web interface of
some kind. IP school clocks still receive precise time,
from an NTP server, and
correct frequently through
their connection to the
network. These clocks can
also be powered through their Ethernet connection,
otherwise known as
powered-over-Ethernet
(PoE). When it comes down to it,
classroom clocks can do a
whole lot more in a school
than you think. Next time
you, or your kid (if you're
wise beyond your years), complain about how long
the school day is or how
boring chemistry is,
remember that there could be
more to those school clocks
that you hopelessly stare at than you think. Anthony Gaudio is a
Marketing Intern for the
Sapling Company, Inc.
Sapling manufactures classroom clocks for schools K-12 and higher education. Article Source: http:// EzineArticles.com/?
expert=Anthony_Gaudio