Chris Betcher

 When Web 2.0 and the explosion of the social web happened back in 2006, I was all in on it. I signed up for everything I could try, out of an excited curiosity and a hopeful expectation that the social web had the power to bring people together in ways that were previously impossible. I reasoned that the more we could connect, and the more we could build community with others regardless of where they were in the world, the better our world would be. And for many years, I passionately believed that was the case. Like so many others, my world expanded and I got to know many more people. Cynics would say people you meet online are not really "friends", but that was not my experience. I have many real friends as a result of online connections. I've gotten to know many people I first came into contact with thanks to the social web, and many of those in person. I've shared meals and drinks and travel and adventures with people that I met as a result of online connecti...

Over the past few years I’ve run a lot of professional learning workshops for teachers. It’s been a joy to be part of the learning journey for educators as they discover new ideas for making a difference to the kids they teach. I couldn’t count the number of workshop sessions I’ve run, or the number of ideas we’ve shared, but it’s quite a lot. And even when I’m training on the same topics over and over again, every workshop is still different because of the collection of people and personalities in the room. There is, however, one disturbing characteristic that too many of these workshops have in common, and that is the complete predictability of people who register to attend a workshop and then simply don't turn up. Even when workshops are offered as part of a conference that people have paid good money to attend, you can still predictably count on a no-show rate of around 5% to 10%. There are no doubt some valid reasons that people might pay to attend an event and then not show u...

You may (or may not) have noticed that I barely spend any time on Facebook these days. Today is the first time I've logged in for quite a while, and although I have definitely missed hearing what some of you have been up to and keeping up with your goings-on, I have to say I have really not missed "the Facebook experience". I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Facebook... I know there can be some great stuff happening there, but I was increasingly finding Facebook as a huge time suck that was stealing more and more hours of my life for very little real return. I, probably like you, have spent far too much of my life liking and commenting on other people's posts, watching inane videos, or observing some of humanity's ugliest sides in many of the discussion threads. I was becoming more and more disenchanted with the whole Facebook experience, so I just decided to stop using it. If you've read my blog you will know that I've got to this ...

Hello?  Is this thing on? Anyone? That's how it feels at the moment with my blogging. Or non-blogging. I can't believe I have not written here since July! That's 5 months, and the longest time I have gone without writing here since I started this blog just over 10 years ago. But August - my 10 year 'blogaversary' - came and went and I still just didn't seem to get around to it. Not sure why. Partly being busy with my work with EdTechTeam. Partly being busy with other stuff. And partly, I think maybe just a little bit of a need to disconnect from this online space, and reconnect with the real world a little more. I have good intentions of writing again. I enjoy writing, and as I've said on many occasions, writing is my way of thinking out loud, of throwing ideas around in my own head in a public space so I can be kept accountable for them. But lately I just haven't felt motivated to do that. I think it's partly the impact of social media. It's now...

I haven't seen an actual paper credit card statement for a long time because I've banked electronically for years, but I switched banks recently and they just sent me my first credit card statement on this new account. I was really pleased to see a prominent section on the statement (mandated by government legislation) pointing out just how long this bill will take to pay off if I were only to pay the minimum amount. I think this is a great thing for developing financial literacy, as I'm always shocked at just how little some people know about money, especially credit, and how little they understand its impact. On my credit card's closing balance of $1898.20, it tells me that even if I spent nothing more on the card, and just paid the minimum required amount each month until it was paid off, it would take me 18 YEARS 6 MONTHS, and would accrue $4,348.57 in interest! I hope we are teaching this stuff to kids at school, so they don't fall into the "free money...

In 2013 Google released Hummingbird, perhaps the most significant update to their search algorithm since the search engine launched. From the Search Engine Land blog, here's how they describe it... "On September 26, Google announced a new algorithm impacting more than 90 percent of searches worldwide. They called it Hummingbird. Google’s Amit Singhal later said it was perhaps the largest change to the algorithm since he joined the company back in 2001. Hummingbird allows the Google search engine to better do its job through an improvement in semantic search. As conversational search becomes the norm, Hummingbird lends understanding to the intent and contextual meaning of terms used in a query." http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-the-keyword-what-you-need-to-know-to-stay-ahead-175531  In plain English, this means that the conventional wisdom of the way we teach search - identifying important keywords, eliminating unnecessary terms, removing the conversational p...

Do you remember when digital photography appeared on the scene? Real photography buffs snickered about the idea of digital photography ever becoming mainstream... the images were too small, the number of megapixels was ridiculously low, and the images were, well, horrible. It'll never take off, they said. I guess it was about 1995 or so that the school I at which I was teaching managed to get hold of our first digital camera. It was an Apple QuickTake 100 camera. It could hold eight images if you shot them at full quality (640 x 480!) although if you stepped down the resolution to 320 x 240 you could fit a whole 32 images. It was a novelty, and definitely a sign of things to come, but the images were pretty awful. A little after that, I recall I got the the school to buy a Sony Mavica digital camera.  I recall it clearly because I wrote the submission for a grant to buy it, such was the special, novel nature of 'digital' photography. The Mavica FD-5 didn't use film. I...

I just posted my final status update on Facebook... Dear Friends, As some of you know, I have been wary about the direction Facebook has been taking for quite a while. Their everchanging and confusing privacy settings, the dubious way they treat your personal information, the sneaky way they phrase things in their terms of service... the list goes on... in short, I have gotten to the point where I simply no longer trust Facebook with my information.  The recent (and soon to be released) changes like the Timeline View and the "frictionless sharing" that Zuckerberg talked about at the recent f8 conference have started to change Facebook into a service that I'm no longer willing to use.  Articles like this one ( http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2114059/Your-Facebook-Data-File-Everything-You-Never-Wanted-Anyone-to-Know ) make me feel entirely distrustful of the whole thing. Despite reservations I've had about it, I've really tried to like Facebook. I've enjoye...

Many people don't realise it, but if you use Google's search services while signed into your Google account (which you already have if you use Gmail) then your entire search history is automatically archived for you, along with statistics about how often you searched, for what, and when. It will track how many times a day you've Googled something, and even displays a little colour coded calendar to show you your overall search patterns. Some people may find the whole thing a little scary, a little Big Brother-ish maybe. Perhaps it is, although it doesn't actually bother me at all. I find it useful to have a complete history of what I've previously looked for, and there have been a number of times that being able to go back through my search history has been very useful. If there are negative aspects to this sort of tracking, then, for me anyway, the positives have far outweighed them. I pretty sure that I  function far more effectively by being able to turn to a se...

I've always aspired to be an Apple Distinguished Educator , but I've never actually done anything about applying for it. As far as my own personal computer use goes, anyone who knows me knows that I am most definitely a Mac guy, but I assumed that I wouldn't be able to apply to be an ADE because most of the schools I've worked in have been primarily Windows schools.  As they say, one should never assume. While it's true that many - probably most - ADEs work exclusively in Apple schools, apparently it's not always the case.  While chatting with someone from Apple a while ago I mentioned this, and they replied that the ADE program is aimed at recognising teachers, and does not necessarily focus on the type of computers used in the school that teacher works at. To become an ADE you obviously need to be active in certain ways that help spread the message about technology and it's value for education.  You need to be passionate about the ways that digital technol...

Great video. Great message. I must read this book. Where Good Ideas Come From, by Steven Johnson.

I saw an email from someone today suggesting that they would be starting next term to teach their students to write HTML code from scratch, so the kids could make their own webpages. My initial reaction when I read this message was to ask "Why?" Why would anyone bother to learn HTML coding from scratch when there are so many great editing tools around? Surely, in a WYSIWYG world, learning how to to actually write HTML code is a complete waste of time? With so many great web editing tools around, isn't learning to write raw HTML code a pointless exercise? In once sense, these are valid questions. There's no doubt that the majority of websites these days are created using a templated approach and an "engine" such as Wordpress , Drupal , Joomla , Squarespace , etc. It's also true that for any really customised web work, it would still fall to a workhorse like Adobe Dreamweaver or something else, such as excellent free tools like KompoZer or  NVU edi...

As you may have noticed, Facebook has been copping a great deal of flak in the media lately for recent changes to its privacy policy. There is growing evidence that Facebook as a company has few scruples or ethics when it comes to the way they view and use your personal data. The company has continually “baited and switched” the privacy settings in Facebook to the point where they have become so confusing and complex that few people truly understand them. There are something like 50 choices leading to about 170 different privacy variations possible, all needing to made in multiple locations in Facebook, with very little consistency or “expected behaviour” between them... consequently, there could be significant parts of your personal data that is being made public without you realising. Facebook seems to be working on the principle that most users never look at the default settings or take the time to think through their options. The most recent changes made to their privacy polic...

If there's one thing I hate it's when people assume I'm an idiot and try to rip me off. So when I got home today I opened the mailbox (yes, the real one!) to find this letter from a company called the Domain Renewal Group .  Their letter - which looked very much like an invoice -  was addressed to me as the owner of the domain betchablog.com and kindly informed me that this domain was due for renewal soon and that I should pay this as soon as possible.  The wording on the letter said that " the domain name registration is due to expire in the next few months "... and that... " Failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date may result in a loss of your online identity ." All of that is true.  Betchablog.com IS coming up for renewal, and I DO need to renew it. The problem is that Domain Renewal Group are NOT my domain registrar, and they never have been.  I happen to have all of my various domains registered with GoDaddy , and I've never eve...

I wrote a blog post a little while back called This is Not Amazing , and the basic thrust of it was that, after more than 30 years since "the personal computer revolution", more than 10 years of living in a post-Google World, and now almost a full decade into the 21st century, that we should stop being so amazed at things which are simply just part of our normal world.  The post gave a few examples of things that are, quite frankly, pretty average tasks that can be accomplished on a personal computer and it relayed the story of how I had a day where I kept getting told how "amazing" these rather mundane tasks were, by people that were, in my estimation, too easily impressed.  I tried to tie that all together by observing that we probably do our students a great disservice by being easily impressed by technologically ordinary things, since this is pretty much just the world they live in. I think when we 'ooh and ahh' over things that are simply just a regular...

I'm a big fan of Leo Laporte.  Leo is best known these days for running the TWiT network (This Week in Tech), a podcasting empire that publishes more than a dozen excellent tech podcasts like MacBreak Weekly , This Week in Tech , This Week in Google , FLOSS Weekly , Windows Weekly , Net@Night and quite a few others, but he comes from a background in traditional radio and TV media. Leo has a wonderful, easy-to-listen-to manner, has his finger on the pulse of the tech industry better than anyone I know, and is always covering the latest, most interesting stories in tech.  It's easy to stay current with the latest tech goings-on just by listening to one (or more) of his podcasts. I listen to at least three of them reguarly, and others when I have more time... my drive to work just wouldn't be the same without Leo! This clip is a recording of a live stream from a talk given by Leo to the Online News Association Conference in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago.  It goes ...

Yes, it's that time of year again! The annual Edublog Awards are in full swing, and after a few weeks of people making nominations for various blogs, tweets, wikis and social networks across a really broad range of categories, I'm extremely honoured to have had not one, but two of my online projects - Betchablog and The Virtual Staffroom - mentioned for an "Eddie" this year. These awards (which are great to be considered for, but hopefully not to be taken too seriously!) aim to highlight and recognise some of the great work taking place in the online educational sphere.  Education is certainly one sector that seems to have really embraced the use of blogging as a tool for reflection, sharing, helping others and generally assisting teachers and students to "find their voice".  I know that I've personally found the act of blogging to be critical in helping me "think out loud", processing ideas in a public space where they can be exposed to the...

I wonder if Karl Fisch knew what he was starting when he made the original "Did You Know?" PowerPoint file for his staff at Arapahoe High School back in early 2007.  Fisch just wanted to share a few thoughts about a fast changing world with his fellow teachers, but by posting a copy to his blog it got picked up by others who found it fascinating, it went completely viral, has been made into several versions, has been remixed and modified many times, and its many incarnations have now been viewed many millions of times on YouTube and other online video sites.  All of this really speaks about the power of the web to help spread ideas... In case you haven't seen it here is version 4.0, the latest incarnation of "Did You Know?" Nice work Karl. Technorati Tags: karlfisch , didyouknow

There was an interesting story in today's news about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's outburst at an iPhone-carrying Microsoft employee. Apparently, Ballmer was addressing a company gathering when the employee pulled his iPhone out to take a picture of him. Ballmer went nuts. He grabbed the phone, ridiculed the employee publicly, then pretended to stomp on the device. You can read the full story over on Engadget. There is even an alleged photo taken as Ballmer reached for the device. Ballmer is an interesting character. Certainly there is plenty of evidence on YouTube of his over-the-top antics as he revs up Microsofties with his ranting and raving, screaming and yelling. And who could forget his chant of "Developers! Developers! Developers!" at a gathering of software developers, as he tried to make the point that Microsoft's success was partly due to its army of, well, developers. It's even spawned a remix version. Even back on the very early days ...

I've been in a few conference presentations lately where the topic of geocaching has come up.  Usually, the presenter asks the question "who knows about geocaching?" and about three hands go up.  The presenter then tries to give a quick explanation about it for those who haven't heard about it - "it's like a treasure hunt", or "it's a game where people hide things for others to find", or other similar explanations.  While these summaries are mostly accurate, they don't really give enough information and many people seem interested to know more about it. Thanks to a long involvement with 4WDing, I've been playing with GPS and digital mapping for a while now, and I've done quite a bit of geocaching over the last few years, including placing our own .  When I started I was using a Garmin GPS V , a great little GPS that can basically do it all - multiple datum switching, realtime path tracking, waypoint extrapolation - you name it, ...