Chris Betcher

At the recent Google Apps for Education Summit held at MLC School in Sydney, details for the next Google Teacher Academy were announced. Rather appropriately, the next GTA will be held in Sydney on May 7/8 at the Google Offices in Pyrmont. Full details and a link to the application form can be found at http://www.google.com.au/edu/teachers/google-teacher-academy.html It's a great couple of days and although it can certainly be a bit of a brain dump and information overload, you'll have the opportunity to network with other passionate and dedicated educators, meet with some of the local Sydney Google staff, become a part of the very active Google Certified Teacher community, and join in some fun social events as well. The event is open to people from all over the world... at the last Sydney GTA in 2011 we had participants from the US, Guam, France, Russia and other places. People come from far and wide to attend the GTA. Of course, I happen to think it would be nice to grow the ...

What do you think of when you hear the name Google ? To many people, it’s just the place to go when they want to find something on the web.  You just type a few words into that simple text box and, hey presto, you usually find what you’re after. To the majority of users on the web, that’s just what Google does. If you’re a serious web user, you know they do a little more than that . Last week, along with 53 other amazing educators from around the world, I had the pleasure of attending the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney. It was the tenth GTA since the program started, but only the second to be held outside the USA. There was a selection process to be part of it, and many more applied than were actually accepted. There was a ton of hype and excitement leading up to it, with Twitter carrying the anticipation of both those who would be attending as well as those who wished they were.  So what was it like? I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the GTA. I knew it would be a ...

Ok, I'm a bit greedy I know... I applied for both the Sydney Google Teacher Academy and the Australian Apple Distinguished Educator Program. It would have been nice to be part of both. I was thrilled to bits to find out that I got into the GTA program last week, and then was full of anticipation to hear back about the ADE program this week. Unfortunately, I missed out on getting into the 2011 ADE Program. I mean, I know it's really competitive and all, and I'm not for one moment trying to take anything away from those that got into it - my hearty congratulations go out to all of you who made it, including friends like Helen Otway and Allanah King. They are absolutely deserving of their place in the program. Well done to you both, and to everyone else who was accepted. But I'll be honest with you... I was quite frankly a little surprised when I read the email. As brash as it might sound to say so, I thought I had a pretty reasonable chance of being accepted into the ADE ...

A few weeks ago I posted my application video for the Sydney Google Teacher Academy . According to their schedule, I wasn't expecting to hear anything back about it until late next week, so I was very excited yesterday when I checked my email and found this waiting for me... You have been selected to participate in the Google Teacher Academy - Sydney. After reviewing your application, we believe that you have the experience and passion necessary to positively impact education in your region, and we are excited to have you join us on Wednesday 20 April 2011 at the Google office in Sydney. Woohoo! I'm aware that it's a pretty hotly contested thing to get into, so I'm feeling very fortunate to have been accepted. Of course, as well as spending time at Google 's fantastic new Sydney offices and getting hands-on and in-depth with all the cool tools that Google offers for education , the other best part is in the networking and the conversations that I know will take pla...

This is my application video for the Sydney Google Teacher Academy.  Google have run a number of these events for teachers in the USA, but this is the first one to be held in Australia (and I thought I read somewhere it was also the first to be run outside the US, but I could be wrong about that). Regardless, I have wanted to attend a GTA for a long time now, and even contemplated going to the States to attend one.  As you can imagine, I was pretty excited to hear that it was coming to Sydney. Part of the requirement for the application is to make an original one minute video based on either of the following topics: " Motivation and Learning " OR " Classroom Innovation ".  They said to try and be creative. The video is designed to demonstrate your technical ability, your resourcefulness, your commitment, and your unique personality and interests.  My first thought was "What? All in the same minute?"  Seriously, minute-long videos are hard to make! No doubt...