Tech Director Chat

This episode is short, sweet, and to the point. We had some excellent tech questions about one of the most essential elements of making technology work in schools; keeping it charged up! And we dove a bit into Tony's background at the Pentagon, lessons learned early in life, and we had our technological knowledge tested with details about the release of the very first iPhone from Apple.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:20 What has Tony been up to?3:22 What was the best thing that Tony learned from working in the Pentagon?5:31 Someone wants to know why the laptop carts don’t charge all of the laptops at the same time.7:37 Are student computers able to Airplay to the Apple TVs in the classroom?9:58 Stump Us!11:24 What year did the first iPhone debut?You can talk about the show or continue the conversations on Twitter using the hashtag #TechDirectorChat or chatting up Ben (@techsavvyed) on Twitter. Our professional Twitter accounts are Mattawan Learns and MCS Technology.

We're back! Sort of! Ben is still alive and toiling away in central office, having picked up a few more tasks this year, but Pete has moved on to other challenges...specifically to Western Michigan University where he's now a Senior IT Muckity-Muck :)In this episode I welcome Tony Nuismer, our brand new Director of Information Technology to Mattawan Consolidated Schools, and the new voice behind the microphone. Tony has led a fascinating career and comes to us from a similar size district in the greater Kalamazoo area; he enjoys playing in a band outside of work, and he's just as nerdy as Pete when it comes to IT.Timestamps for this week's questions:0:55 Wait, Pete has been replaced?!1:25 Where did Tony come from?7:23 What had Tony been up to today?7:45 There’s an Elvis impersonator in the district?!9:42 Phu wants to know, why don’t Netflix accounts work on the projectors at school?11:20 Joe Wang wants to know, what was the first song that Tony ever played?14:05 Stump Us!14:34 On “Saved By the Bell” what is t

Does technology work in the classroom? What's the deal with Chromebooks? Why does the Slack App hate Ben so much? Pete and I scratch the surface of how technology affects our daily habits and routines, or fails to affect it in some cases. We address questions about our older machines, getting teacher laptops updated, and wrap our brains around a tough "Stump Pete!" question about NHL arenas!Timestamps for this week's questions:0:58 What has Pete been up to?2:05 It’s time for teachers to update the OS on their laptops.3:07 Apple has now made all iLife and iWork apps free?!3:59 Do we ever sell the old Apple laptops or desktops?5:20 Our laptops are HOW old and still in service?6:15 Does the Technology Department need to be made aware of a laptop that’s extremely hot coming out of a cart?8:38 Ben wants to know, what’s the deal with Chromebooks?11:20 Why doesn’t the Tech Department use the Slack App anymore for inter-office communications?15:31 Pete wants to know, why can’t we make technology work in the classroom

Change is difficult. Choosing a new brand of toothpaste or finding a new dish at your favorite restuarant can be hard enough, but when you start talking about changing a school district's Student Information System (SIS) you can produce enough anxiety to make even the most laid back individuals frought with fear. And we're doing just that! We're currently in the middle of transitioning to PowerSchool, and there are a lot of really good questions coming from all corners of the school district. Pete and I address them as honestly as we can, and even make a few recommendations for teachers to prepare.We delve a bit into how the school district is responding to the Office of Civil Rights complaint that many districts have been issued in regards to website accesibility, and discuss what we can do to start making resources that teachers provide online more accesible by a wider range of learners. This is a conversation that we will definitely need to revisit in the future, and we will. For now, it feels a bit like t

Thanks for all of the great questions submitted this time around. A lot of good technical and troubleshooting questions about Apple TVs prompted some good conversation about a few of the policies we have in place, and why we have to put passcodes on them for airplay mirroring. For those that don't have restrictions activated for an Apple TV in a school setting, you should definitely make sure that happens. Pete and I go over a social media policy that our district has in place, and then we spend quite a bit of time pondering about the future of Google Classroom, why it (likely) won't ever become a full-blown LMS, and why we continue to push its use in our district. Follow all that up with an opportunity to "stump Pete" and I'd call this one full podcast.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:48 What has Pete been up to?2:26 We’re getting ready to move to Powerschool?3:04 Wait, what did Ben call Pete?4:42 Nicole wants to know, why doesn’t my Apple TV ask for a passcode when using Airplay?5:36 Does the Apple TV

Interested in listening to Ben and Pete ramble on for far too long about what the future of technology looks like? No? Well then, this episode isn't for you :)We tackle a few questions about speakers, feedback, apps on student devices, tricky 1:1 scenarios, and a lengthy birdwalk into the future of technology. Halloween costumes and tetrachords round out this episode.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:36 What has Pete been up to?3:05 Chris wants to know, how do I lower the high-pitched sound coming from my classroom speakers?5:27 Can teachers change settings or add apps on student laptops?8:55 A listener wants to know, what technology should I be learning about to keep up with students?12:30 Ben is still rambling on about predicting technology five years in the future.15:00 Seriously, this is a REALLY long birdwalk of a question.15:48 Jeremy from Twitter wants to know, what’s the best 1:1 computing program for a High School where “take home” is NOT an option.19:21 Someone wants to know where Ben got his C

It's probably safe to say that anyone willing to take on the job responsibilities of Information Technology Director for a school district needs to have a touch of insanity. The ability to juggle upgrading networks, managing repairs teams, and even getting your hands dirty when there's no one else to do the job can be a daunting task. So it's nice that Pete is willing to share a bit of his insanity with us :)Timestamps for this week's questions: 2:29 What has Pete been up to?3:25 Can we forgive Pete?3:55 JW wants to know, what drives you insane about being a Technology Director?5:25 Does Ben help keep Pete sane?6:33 Why do people keep getting a notice about Neo Office?7:24 How can a staff member connect to the new MCS 2016-2017 Wireless?8:23 Pete advice for restarting your laptop (at school) at least once a week.10:00 Hey Pete, what is the single most important things users can do to keep their machine running smoothly?12:58 Stump Pete!14:38 How many teeth does an adult giraffe have?You can talk about the sho

Wow, it's been a long summer for the Mattawan Consolidated Tech Department! Bond construction, total audio/video upgrades for the Middle School and High School, and the refurbishment and cleaning of machines all around the district have kept us all busy. Pete and Ben attempt to answer a heap of technical questions in this first episode of the school year, and are looking forward to settling into a more normal routine now that major construction is over.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:00 The answer to life, the universe, and everything.1:52 What has Pete been up to?3:45 Wait, Pete gets nervous about visiting classrooms?6:01 JW wants to know, did Pete get any sleep this summer?8:17 A teacher wants to know, will metallic or magnetic necklaces or jewelry affect the teacher microphones?9:17 A strange loud static sound always occurs for a brief moment when connecting my laptop tot he new A/V stations. What’s up with that?11:53 A teacher wants to know, can they change their password for Infinite Campus, our s

This week Pete and Ben explore a growing question in the realm of educational technology; the role of pedagogy, and how it relates to technological change. Special thanks to Todd from Twitter for asking us the great question about trying to stay current with technology that prompted the discussion, and for the thoughtful educators that I get to work with everyday that understand the importance of balancing the needs of students and the classroom with the abilities of technology. We also address a number of district questions including how we're moving beyond our "Wifi Bus" pilot to expand Internet access to other busses, document camera compatibility for the new Mattawan Instructional Technology Stations the High School and Middle School will be receiving next year, and Pete gets another shot at answering some stump-worthy questions.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:15 How awesome is Pete’s day so far?2:50 Will teachers be able to easily connect document cameras to the new technology workstations for the

It's the second week back from Spring Break, M-STEP testing is in full swing, and Pete and Ben drone on about wireless networks, poorly shapen metaphors, and stuffed animals. If that's not a podcast worth listening to, what is? We do get a chance to address some of the ongoing Apple TV issues that have plagued our network, although we have made some significant improvements, we help out with a question involving recovering files with Crashplan, and Pete is fully stumped once again with a question about his favorite Icelandic musician.Oh, and if you're curious about following piggie's adventures (listen to the podcast for that to make sense), you can check them out on Ben's Instagram account.Timestamps for this week's questions:0:55 Pete is confused about how we open the podcast1:32 What has Pete been up to?3:07 Will the new schools have designated places for technology to be stored?4:55 What information do the occupancy sensors provide, and what do they cost?7:30 Kevin wants to know if he can recover previous

It's been awhile since Pete and Ben have sat down to record an episode, and we're terribly sorry for your ears that we've decided to record another episode. It's been a long hard Winter for our school district, and there was a lot of time that needed to be spent away from the microphone, but we're back for the remainder of the school year...and perhaps into the summer.This week's questions revolve around security. How secure are district issued devices and email? How secure is the email we send? And how secure is the choice that teachers have in interacting with students in an instructional capacity? We chat a bit about Google Classroom, the need to be mindful when questioning a suspicious email, and Pete is stumped!Timestamps for this week's questions:1:12 Where have Ben and Pete been?2:30 Pete and Ben are no longer co-habitating in the same work space?4:41 What are the protocols for administrators or district officials to look into our emails and district provided technology?6:13 Google keeps a log of any a

We had a tremendous amount of excellent questions this week, and we tried to work through as many as we could, balancing out questions from within district and those coming from Twitter. We touched on upgrades to laptops, installation of new interactive projectors, and Pete got to actually work with students!We also had a thoughtful response to our discussion about cell phones in the classroom that we had in a previous episode. One of our high school teachers is taking a much more practical approach to student devices in the classroom and wanted to share his experiences. Realizing that not all learning activities will require the use of devices, but that students still wanted to have access to their music or phones while they work in groups or independently, he's devised a simple check at the end of each class to ensure that the students hit their learning targets and the devices didn't interfere with them being successful. It's an interesting take on the issue, as often many want to focus solely on the direc

Happy New Year!This episode was actually recorded at the end of last year, but we wanted to hold onto it until now as we address one of the long standing issues that several people have in the district with our internel classifieds email (aka, our own homegrown Craigslist just for district staff). Most staff in the district love having the ability to quickly be rid of items through district email; often many items are simply given away for free as educators are always looking for items they no longer need to be put to good use, whether it be in another classroom or not. And it's handy to be able to list big items (furniture, electronics, etc.) without the need to deal with Craigslist or another service that would require shipping and/or people that may or may not show up to actually look at or purchase an item.But sometimes the classifieds can be a bit much, especially when people are cleaning out garages, attics, play rooms, or decluttering after New Year's Resolutions to make life simpler. So we though it m

In this week's episode, Ben and Pete talk a bit about the money behind technology purchases. While it's no secret that many school districts make technology purchases a regular piece of large bond projects now, often those dollars go to larger systemic technology. Interactive projects, voice enhancement, and other technology needed for security purposes are top items. However, some of the more essential technology to teaching often doesn't always make the cut. We talk about a few grant opportunities for those in our district and everyone in general, as there are always grants available for pilot and classroom projects. We address the internet outage that occured in two of our buildings before Thanksgiving, and Pete tricks Ben into reading a question that Pete submitted!Grant resources mentioned in the podcast:MPEF Brainstrong - For Mattawan Teachers onlyMeemic Grants - For Educators in MichiganBest Buy Community GrantsState Farm Good Neighboor GrantsTimestamps for this week's questions:1:18 What if education

Pete is back! And he's ready to tackle the hard questions about policy review, what makes him tick as a tech administrator, and cell phones in the classroom! Well, maybe only one of this is truly a difficult question to grapple with, but Ben enjoys the banter none the less. We finish up our list of questions from our high school that were compiled at the start of the school year, and talk about the advantages...and disadvantages of the use of cell phones in the classroom for learning. In fact, Ben highly recommends checking out an interesting piece from NPR about the rampant use, or rather misuse, of cell phones in college courses. We finish up the episode with Pete's philosophy on being a tech admin, and a question from JW that proves Pete truly has no regrets in life.Timestamps for this week's questions:2:25 What has Pete been up to?3:17 Ben is curious how much time a Tech Director spends reviewing policy.4:46 JW asks, has the final decision been made on the “teacher tech control stations”?10:04 What are th

After a couple of weeks off, Ben is back....with another Ben! That's right! Pete has the episode off, so I had the opportunity to ask Ben Tomlinson, a former teacher in the district, a few pointed questions dealing with laptops, 1 to 1 computing, and how to bring more collaborative work into a high school classroom. We bounce through a few questions left over from our beginning of the year list from our high school teachers, question Ben about his thoughts on smart watches, and spend a good deal of time discussing the significance of every student having a device vs. every student having access to a device through shared or collaborative models for learning.Timestamps for this week's questions:0:41 Pete isn’t here!3:05 Someone asks Ben Tomlinson about creative ways to manage laptop carts at the high school.6:55 It sounds like a party going on in the Tech Department7:30 What happens if we guarantee every high school teacher a specific number of computers, rather than a full cart?9:30 Is the model of 1:1 techno

Well, the conversation definitely turns philosophical in this episode after a wonderful question comes our way from one of our high school teachers. It gave us pause to explore what "direct human communication" means, and whether or not technology mediates our experiences with one another in a way that affords us the same advantages of face to face conversation. Hint, we think it does, and in some ways can enhance it. The rest of the episode involves "Projector Pete" pontificating on the intimidation of the tech department, Ben arguing that we need to be more service oriented, and Pete finally admits when he'll get an iWatch.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:53 What has Pete been up to?3:15 Pete gives himself a new nerdy nickname.4:10 Are there any new initiatives to transition to a 1:1 environment?7:00 Should someone feel guilty if they want less technology and more direct human communication?12:10 What should someone who needs just the most basic technology questions answered do?14:10 Ben wonders if co

We're Back! Sort of. It's been such a busy start to the school year that while we've recorded a few episodes, finding the time to edit and post them has been rather difficult. Ben is in a new role that has put a lot more on his plate, and Pete is still recovering from one of our busiest starts to the school yet ever! This marks the start of our weekly conversation, and it was filled with plenty of good questions! Managing Spotlight on your Macs, Speck coming through after a defective bunch of cases, Ben geeks out over an Avery label maker addon for Google Docs, and Pete gets philosophical about whether we even need to teach students how to use technology.Timestamps for this week's questions:1:12 What has Pete been up to?3:50 How many help tickets do we have at the moment?4:26 Speck cases are failing? Get your help tickets in!6:40 How did one of the students change their school picture to a Minion?8:30 Do we even need to teach students how to use computers? - Hole in the Wall9:25 What’s up with the new Spotlig

Technology increasingly drives the conversation in education. New laptops without DVD drives means pushing people to make the leap to video in the cloud and online. The use of collaborative tools means asking students to work on individual projects and digital worksheets risks disengaging them. Asking for help may not be a simple fix, or applying "the solution" as a torrent of them may exist for your particular problem. Pete and Ben dig into a couple of philosophical questions about the nature of teaching and learning with technology, Ben gets a bit geeky with curricular thoughts, and we answer a bunch of questions about the new laptops coming.Timestamps for this week's questions:0:51 What has Pete been up to today?2:47 Todd from Twitter wants to know, what is the most important thing for teachers to know about technology?3:55 So the most important thing about technology is to ask for help?5:30 So what does Ben think about Todd’s question?6:54 Michael from Twitter wants to know, how are we ensuring that think

This week's episode takes Pete and Ben down a few conversations from past episodes, rekindles the "off again, on again" relationship with web filters, and explores Ben's lack of interest in music. Along the way we talk about what we think would make the ideal bare minimum device for students to be successful in a "21st century" classroom, with some disagreement over iPads, Chromebooks, and the traditional laptop. And Pete gets a software question for "Stump Pete!"Timestamps for this week's questions:1:00 What has Pete been up to today?2:47 Wanda from Twitter wants to know, can teachers have access to the web filter?4:29 Could you see a special group of individuals that have the same web filter rights as the Tech Director?7:10 Will teachers have the option to purchase their old laptops that are being replaced?9:24 Elvis wants to know, is Pete moving because he just got married?10:45 Jason from Twitter wanted to know, what should the bare minimum device be for a student to be successful in a 21st century classr