21st Century Classrooms

A weekly chat tackling the issue of educational technology from both sides. Ben Rimes, a former teacher turned educational technologist, chats with Pete Poggione, an Information Technology Professional from the private sector turned School IT Director.

This week we follow Pete as he jets sets around to globe to Prague, where he is attending an Institute for Innovation in Education Gathering (iiE for short). We talk about potential changes to lighting, presentation technology, and other "wish list" items that teachers have regarding technology in their classroom, and touch briefly on why Pete doesn't listen to a podcast that he participates in weekly! Thanks to an excellent question from Joe via Twitter, Ben and Pete both share their thoughts on the definition of "21st Century Classrooms" and Ben even goes so far to share his more luddite-friendly version of "21 Things Every 21st Century Teachers Should Do and Keep Their Sanity" based on Carl Hooker's tech-heavy blog post of the same theme. And of course, listeners attempt to stump Pete, and almost come away with it in this episode!

Timestamps for this week's questions:

1:17 What is Pete doing in Prague, and what is the iiE?

3:13 What is Pete's role with the iiE?

4:50 A high school student helped plan an international conference?

6:20 When our bond passes, will there be money to change the lighting in the high school?

7:45 Will we be getting better projectors in the district?

8:40 Wait, Pete doesn't listen to this podcast?

9:25 Is it possible that we might have new dimmer lighting or other enhanced lighting?

10:43 In 60 seconds or less, why does restarting your computer resolve a lot of problems?

12:05 What do you think a 21st Century classroom looks like?

17:18 Stump Pete! Who wrote the album, "Numbers?"

18:20 We were featured as a "New & Noteworthy" podcast in iTunes for Educational Technology, wahoo!

You can talk about the show or continue the conversations on Twitter using the hashtag #TechDirectorChat or chatting up Ben (@techsavvyed) or Pete (@ppoggione) on Twitter.