Tech Director Chat #004 – Making Pete’s Blood Boil

Ben Rimes

Another Monday is in the books, and another episode of Tech Director Chat is in the can….or on the air…or something like that. New metaphors are obviously needed on my part for digital equivalents of traditional media.

This week’s conversation waxes a bit philosophical on the obstacles that we all face when trying to bring new technologies into the classroom; hint, it’s not always the technology itself. I’ve been impressed with my Tech Director’s more candid, yet thoughtful, responses to the questions that others have posed for him. I work alongside him everyday, and while I question some of the choices he makes, at least I know that his heart is in the right place when it comes to moving forward with technology. Sure, we have our disagreements when it comes to how to best implement new hardware, or whether certain hardware and software should be brought into the classroom in the first place. But at the end of the day, forcing him to turn off his email, step away from his computer, and chat with me helps nurture the perception that he’s not just trying to “control” every piece of technology in our school district. A special thanks once again to Sara Kentner for providing some great questions for us to wrestle with!

I’m still not entirely happy that these podcasts are longer than 20 minutes. A little part of me feels as though I’ve failed when I let the conversation run long, or I can’t find a way to cut it down a bit. My audio levels still need work as well; part of it is the less than ideal environment I have to record in, and the rest is just getting both myself and Pete to be the same distance from the microphone (we both fidget a lot in our seats). On the more positive side, I’ve continued to refine how I present the podcasts to staff, including the time stamps and making the audio available to download for listening offline. There’s even a helpful link to each episode in iTunes, so for those that have issues with the player can easily load it up on their Macs in iTunes for better playback controls. I still haven’t found a way to create enough time for everyone to listen to it, but I’m sure some startup in Silicon Valley is working on that.

Enjoy this week’s episode, either right here, in iTunes, or however else you’ve managed to get access to it!

Timestamps for this weeks questions:

:40 Pete isn’t certain about who he is anymore

1:26 What has Pete been doing today?

2:14 Why was Pete on the roof of the high school?

3:19 What sort of projects are you working on most of the time?

4:40 What is a wireless survey and why are we doing it?

5:40 When will the Apple TVs be fixed so they don’t drop the connection, and why are we having this issue?

10:34 What’s one thing that really gets your blood boiling in regards to technology?

12:08 Are sales people in the technology sector not entirely honest about their wares?

13:15 What’s the biggest obstacle to bringing new technology into the school district?


Tech Director Chat – Making Pete’s Blood Boil