Chris Betcher

You probably realise that when you search for something on your computer that your browser keeps a history of those searches (and page visits).  You can of course clear that browser history at any time.  (For those of you with paranoid tendencies, perhaps you should be using Incognito Mode?) You might also realise that a full history of your search and web browsing activity is kept by your search provider. In my case, that's Google. This search history is not kept on your own computer, but rather on the search engine's servers. You can also visit your web history page online to review (and delete if you wish) your search history or the pages you've visited. But what I think is not very well known is that you can also see the full history of all the voice searches you've ever made using your phone.  Yes, every time you pick up your phone and say "Ok Google", then ask a question, that search is recorded.  And by recorded, I mean the actual recording of...

I had a knock on our front door a few weeks ago. It was a young English guy going door to door for an electricity retailer, trying to get me to switch my power company.  As it turns out, it was his first day so he didn't really know a lot about what he was selling and couldn't answer many of my questions in detail. To be fair, I can be a bit analytical about these things and I don't think he was prepared for so many questions. His spiel was basically "You should switch to us because we are better", but when I asked about the rates they charge, all he could respond with was "We have really good rates". If you ever come knocking on my door, whether you're trying to get me to switch energy companies, make a donation to your cause, or convince me that Jesus loves me, you better be prepared to engage. I ask lots of questions. You better have answers. So I grabbed my most recent power bill, and asked him exactly what their rates were per KWh. He had never ...

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 had the pleasure this week to be a guest on Code4Kids, a webinar series with Kelly Moore. Kelly is a teacher and tech coach in Melbourne, and she asked if I'd come on the show and talk about the use of Scratch to help teach computational thinking and coding. Well, you might know I'm a bit of a Scratch fanboy so I didn't take too much convincing! Rather than just talk about theory stuff, we actually created a classic but simple guessing game in Scratch during the live show.  I thought this was a good example because it uses quite a few fundamental programming constructs such as sequencing, looping and branching, etc. It also makes good use of Boolean comparisons, if-then decisions, and reassignment of variables. Throw in some simple maths like random number generation, greater than and less than operators, and it's the start of some simple yet sophisticated Scratch coding. It was nice to get some comments from the livestream viewers that they learned something ...

If you’ve been in education for a while there is a phrase you'll hear regularly if you listen for it. It’s just seven little words but the impact of those words can be enormous. The people who utter this phrase often mean well, but it rarely leads to much that is positive. This phrase can kill a potentially good idea, ruin a worthwhile initiative or demoralise others who want to make a difference. It may just be the most dangerous phrase in the world. The phrase is “That’s the way we’ve always done it.” You may have been on the receiving end of these words. Perhaps you came up with what you believed was a brilliant, clever, innovative or time-saving idea. You honestly feel your idea can improve an existing outcome and make a huge difference. So you approach your colleagues with your idea, knowing that by making just a few simple changes the world will be a better place. And while they might listen and thank you for your interesting suggestion, they inform you of all the reason...

I was recently asked to be a guest on the Be Smart On Air podcast by Niilo Alhovaara. Niilo is a fan of The Google Educast and was keen to catch up to talk about podcasting, technology in education, and the good old days of the internet. I thoughts I'd cross post the recording here, because, well, that's just what the Internet does. You can Tweet Niilo at  @niiloa  and check out his other interviews on  his YouTube Channel .

As many of you may know, I'm a big supporter of Creative Commons and the ideals of open sharing. I publish most of my stuff under a CC licence, usually BY-SA, because I think sharing is important and I believe that the world is a better place if we allow others to build on what we do (in the same way that I often build on the influences of others). So, a while back I published a couple of things to the OER Commons ; a site where teachers can upload and freely share their educational resources with others. The general idea is that if you publish to OER Commons, anyone can take your work and remix it and build upon it to create a version for their own individualised use. For busy teachers who all too often find themselves "reinventing the wheel" in the creation of their own teaching resources, it's a brilliant concept. You can also attach metadata to the resources you share to make them more searchable, and even map them to the US Common Core standards if you wish. If s...

I was asked via email recently about Chromebooks and whether I thought they were a good choice for schools. Here is my email response, posted here for anyone that might be interested in reading it... --- I'll start by suggesting that any resistance you get on Chromebooks from tech and IT staff will be made for reasons that have nothing to do with pedagogy. I think you could argue that by almost any relevant measure Chromebooks are CLEARLY a better choice for schools. (which is why they are now the number 1 device in US schools) They are easier to deploy and manage, more secure, more robust, and less expensive. They do everything that a student would need them to do. They integrate directly with Google Apps for Education and are easily shared between students in ways that other devices are not.  They boot fast (under 7 seconds), save work automatically, are completely immune to viruses, and are fast to use. ChromeOS does not slow down over time like other operating systems, and to c...

Well, I think this is exciting news... After 8 years I've officially resigned from my tech integration role at PLC Sydney and, starting on January 1 next year, will be embarking on a whole new career adventure. I have taken up a fulltime position with EdTechTeam as their Director of Professional Development for Australia & New Zealand. EdTechTeam is a California based company but has just started a local subsidiary here in Australia. As "a global network of educational technologists" with a mission of "improving the world's education systems using the best learning principles and technology", I've always been really impressed with what EdTechTeam are about. If you've ever been to a Google Apps for Education Summit , you've already had a small glimpse into the kinds of things EdTechTeam does, but there's a whole lot of other things going on as well! Basically, imagine if you assembled a team of the most talented teachers in the world, w...

I received an email recently from a colleague asking about data sovereignty, and in particular asking about how schools deal with the  need to store all personal data on Australian servers to be compliant with the law. This was my reply... When deciding whether to do a thing - any thing - you need to assess the relative risk. There is NOTHING that can have it's risk mitigated to zero. So while we can have debates about the security of the cloud, the fact is that ANY service is generally only as safe as the password that protects it. It's far simpler to socially engineer your way into a system than to hack it, and it's easier to follow someone through an open doorway before the door shuts than to crack the lock. There are security risks involved with every system. What makes you think that data saved on a server that happens to be geographically located on Australian soil is any safer than data on a server located on the other side of some imaginary geographical dividing l...