The AV gear looks great. The screens are high-spec. The sound system cost a small fortune. So why does it all sit quietly, barely touched?
Flash tech doesn’t guarantee practical use - and in many New Zealand schools, the biggest AV issues aren’t about what you bought, but how it’s set up, trained, and supported.
The uncomfortable truth is that even well-funded AV can fail in the classroom when it’s not aligned with the real-world needs of teachers and tamariki. And often, that failure is quiet - not spectacular crashes or dramatic outages, but quiet underuse, workarounds, and missed opportunities.
Read on as I unpack five subtle signs your AV setup isn’t doing its job. Plus, share some tips around what to do instead - so your tech becomes something staff actually want to use.
You’d be surprised how often this comes up. A stunning new display, mounted proudly in a classroom or shared space, sits unused for months because no one knows how to get it going. Maybe the controls are confusing. Maybe the remote’s missing. Maybe it just feels easier to avoid the whole thing.
This is where AV fails - not at the hardware level, but at the human one.
Why it matters: Tech that isn’t accessible isn’t useful. And if turning it on is a barrier, everything else that tech could offer is already out of reach.
Maybe it’s the daily slides. Maybe it’s the sound system for events. But if a high-functioning piece of AV is only doing one job - it’s under-delivering.
This isn’t about pushing staff to use every feature - it’s about creating comfort, confidence, and experimentation. One-trick tech usually points to undertraining or poor fit-for-purpose.
What this tells you: There’s likely untapped potential. And with just a bit of targeted PD, you can unlock way more value from what you already have.
There’s often an unofficial AV hero in every school - the person who knows how it all works, saves the day before events, fixes weird bugs, and replaces dead remotes.
That person is gold. But they shouldn’t be the only one.
In practice: We’ve seen schools pause their panel rollout because their “AV go-to” left unexpectedly. Or struggle through a parent event with no sound because no one else could switch the mic input.
Walk into any 3 classrooms and try plugging in your device. If it takes a different cable, login method, or setup in each one - you’ve got friction.
Friction = hesitation = non-use.
Why this matters: Every difference increases the mental load. Teachers can’t rely on habits or routines. The time and headspace spent figuring it out chips away at confidence and willingness.
Here’s the quiet killer of classroom AV: it technically works, but teachers avoid it.
Why? Because it feels clunky. Or slow. Or risky. Or like one more thing that could go wrong right before the bell.
Teachers saying, “I just use my laptop instead”.
Panels staying off all day.
Classrooms where tech isn’t included in planning, because it’s not seen as reliable.
It’s not always a training issue. Sometimes it’s design. Sometimes it's fear. Sometimes it’s about trust - teachers need to know that when they touch the tech, it will just work.
A flash install means nothing if it doesn’t get used.
If the answer’s “not yet”, that’s not a failure. It’s just a sign your setup needs tuning.
We don’t need every school to have the newest, smartest tech. We need setups that actually work.
If your AV isn’t quite landing, you’re not alone. And often, the fix isn’t a full upgrade - it’s a rethink of the human experience around the gear.
Because the best classroom tech isn’t just visible. It’s dependable, usable, useful and enjoyable.