Tag: Chris Betcher

Replied to The Wrong Question by Chris (chrisbetcher.com)

As teachers we need to stop focusing on the nouns (the tools) and focus more on the verbs. When you do that, the actual tools become far less important. In my opinion, the mark of a good technology user (and a great teacher) is being able to easily switch to new nouns while never losing sight of the verbs.

Chris, your discussion of Chromebooks reminds me of something that I wrote a few years ago about changing the mindset, rather than the program.

It has been interesting supporting Ms 5 during her learning at home. We started off using an iPad, but I found limitations in regards to typing in passwords and jumping between screens. Having a touchscreen Chromebook, I found that my daughter like the ability to pinch zoom on the screen, while also use the cursor and trackpad to select the next page.

It did not solve everything, I still find it useful to use the iPad to take photos and record videos. Even though I can treat my Chromebook as a ‘tablet’, it does not have the same form factor.

Replied to The Industry Standard Myth by Chris (chrisbetcher.com)

Turns out that, for the most part, a word processor is just a word processor, a spreadsheet is just a spreadsheet, a video editor is just a video editor, and so on. It’s their points of difference that make them interesting, but if you’ve never tried anything else then you won’t know what those difference are.

I enjoyed this Chris. It reminds me of an experience from a few years ago where we moved to Dropbox as a collaborative solution to fit with the ‘industry standards’, rather than grow and morph our expectations.

we can spend forever looking for the perfect fix. However, the fix is only part of the solution. In addition to going through the process involved in coming to a decision, what we actually do once we have made that decision to change is just as important. What everyone really needs to learn is how to overcome various hurdles and hiccups. So often people think that the answer to problem solving is to holla for the nearest technician. Although there are some issues which we can’t solve, there are many which we can with a little nous. No matter how simple the solution, there will always be a problem that needs to be overcome. We need then a change of mindset, not to simply change the program every time we have a problem.

It also has me thinking about my current work. I came into the role without any knowledge of the system we use. I begged, borrowed and listened my way through, tinkering and testing various pieces and processes. I actually think that it has been helpful in not having any knowledge, but instead having the right approach.

Liked Something you know, Something you have by Chris Betcher (chrisbetcher.com)

The something you know is the password, and yes it’s still a good idea to have a strong password, something with enough length and complexity that is hard to guess but easy to remember.  But it’s not enough. It’s just one factor.

The second factor is something you have, or something you physically carry with you, such as a phone or touch key. Unless the hacker or foreign power actually has your phone, they can’t access your data, even if they know your password.  Just like the two keys for the front door, they need both your password AND your phone at the same time. If they have both those things, you may just have bigger problems to deal with.

Bookmarked The Magic of Google Slides by Chris (chrisbetcher.com)

Google Slides is one of my favourite G Suite tools. Its versatility and ease of use offers lots of amazing visual possibilities for students to present their learning in creative and interesting ways.

Here are 10 tips for becoming a Google Slides wizard…

Chris Betcher provides a useful summary of the be📑nefits associated with using Google Slides.
Liked Something came up by Chris (chrisbetcher.com)

Please, if you say you’re going to do something, do it. Whether it’s a tech workshop, a family function, a kids party or a meeting with a friend. If you say you’re going to be somewhere, be there. And if something comes up, and you can’t be there, please have the courtesy to let someone know so that the organisers know who to expect, or even so your place can be offered to someone else.

It’s just common courtesy.

Liked My Facebook Moratorium, One Year Later (chrisbetcher.com)

For me, it became a case of the more connected I became, the more disconnected I felt. I decided that there is a whole real world out there that is far more interesting and more deserving of my time than Facebook. I’m glad we are friends, and I’m glad that I can stay connected to you in some way, but it will be far less on Facebook. If you want to know what’s going on in my life, I’d much rather you call, or have lunch, or meet for a drink, or go for a walk together, or something…

I still like social media, I just don’t want it to be a permanent proxy for my real life.

Replied to

Congratulations Chris. Intriguing role, does it include edu or is it more about business and beyond? Exciting times.
Bookmarked Technology is amoral by Chris (chrisbetcher.com)

I ‘ve been asked to present a keynote and workshop at the National Education Summit in Melbourne in August. The organisers of the event wanted to do an interview and ask a few questions as a way of promoting the event, which I did via email. This has been published elsewhere, but I thought I’d c…

This is interesting reading in regards to the arguments of Gary Stager and Virginia Eubanks. I wonder if any part of the system is ‘neutral’ or amoral?
Bookmarked January – Balinese Hinduism by Chris (chrisbetcher.com)

I spent nearly five week in Bali over the December/January period, so Balinese Hinduism seems like an obvious place to start. As part of Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, Bali is a religious outlier with nearly 85% of the island’s population identifying as Hindu. Its version of Hinduism is a little different to that traditionally found in India, which is polytheistic (believing in many gods), and it has quite a different feel to the other Muslim parts of Indonesia. Balinese Hinduism claims to be monotheistic, with only one god, although it seems to me that in practice this is not always the case, based on so many different statues I saw everywhere. There were statues of Vishnu and Ganesha and many, many others that I didn’t recognise, so I’m not totally sure how the monotheistic thing applies.

In the first post of a new series looking at different beliefs, Chris Betcher reflects on his time spent in Bali their practice of Hinduism. This is more than Betcher’s attempt to write a Wikipedia page, instead he is open about the different customs and his particular experiences. In some ways this reminds me of John Safran’s documentary series, John Safran vs. God. I look forward to following this series throughout the year.
Replied to Dear family and friends, by Chris Betcher (chrisbetcher.com)

I still like social media, I just don’t want it to be a permanent proxy for my real life.

I too have progressively stepped away from social media. What I find interesting about all this is where it leaves blogging? Sometimes it gets tainted with the same brush, maybe because it is based on the same technology, however I still believe it is something different. That is why I have embraced the IndieWeb and the effort to manage my own online interactions.
Liked Une leçon de Creative Commons by Chris (Betchablog)

This kind of pisses me off, because they do NOT have the rights to restrict access to my image like this, especially when they make it a subscription access thing. Whilst I choose not to use the NC (Non Commercial) aspect of the Creative Commons licensing system – which mean that people can indeed make money from using my photos if they wish – the SA (Share Alike) component means that they must publish under the same licence as they got it. In practical terms, this does effectively mean that my photos cannot be used commercially, since anyone using them has to make them freely available in the same way that I did. But what they are definitely not allowed to do is to restrict others from using them in any way, including watermarks or paywalls. I see this as a clear breach of the terms of my Creative Commons licence.

Replied to Choosing a Music Streaming Service by Chris (Betchablog)

Right now, given that Google Play Music is going away, I’m leaning towards a switch to Spotify. Although if the New YouTube Music service adds the ability to upload my own files, then I could be swayed to stay in Google land, even if they do want an extra $2 a month to remove the ads from YouTube.

I saw all the news about YouTube Music and changes to YouTube Red, however I must have missed the information about the closing of Google Play Music. I wonder what will happen on Android for playing audio? I have actually come to like Google Music, so it is kind of annoying.

Reply to Chris Betcher and Location Tracking

I am wondering if this is the way of the future Chris? Are we coming to a time when insurance companies, car manufacturers or platforms collect our data whether we like it or not? It is baked into the Maps API infrastructure. I worry with the way that data is shared whether some of these companies even need our explicit permission anymore? Take for example the recent analysis of tracking on Android:

The tracker allows marketers to use machine learning to discover personas, uses cross-device ID, and even uses behavioral analysis to guess when a user is sleeping, and a probabilistic matching algorithm to match identities across devices.

What is disconcerting is that it may not be the application designed for location which provides a company with location information.