Education Leaders Program / Chris Betcher
Chris Betcher
Sydney, Australia
School affiliations
"Sometimes the acquisition of knowledge or facts is the least important factor in success…the really important factor is something much simpler — just a desire to create, to learn, to express oneself."
— Betchablog, February 11, 2008
As someone who has been in (and occasionally out of) education for over 20 years, Chris Betcher has a few opinions on how he'd like it to work. He is particularly interested in thinking about how schools need to change to accommodate 21st century learners and how technology can be used to make learning more interesting, relevant, fun, and engaging.
Betcher is currently the R-12 ICT integrator at Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney. He originally trained as a visual arts teacher, but thanks to an interest in graphics and design, found himself drifting away from that role and into a variety of technology-related areas, including the teaching of computing and multimedia, the provision of training and professional development in ICT, general network administration, and ICT coordination. He has also had industry experience with Intouch Consultancy as their Australian training manager and also Microsoft Australia as editor-in-chief of the rapid deployment business case study program.
Betcher is an active member of the global edtech communities and regularly contributes to the online conversations taking place in that space. Over the years, he has led a number of online initiatives and global collaborative projects, and he presents regularly at various conferences and workshops around Australia on a wide range of ICT-related topics, including interactive whiteboards and Web 2.0 technologies.
Publications
- Currently writing a book on teaching effectively with interactive whiteboards.
- 2008 conference presentations include:
- Computer Education Group South Australia, keynote address
- 5th National Interactive Whiteboard Conference, Melbourne
- 2nd National Leading a Digital School Conference, Sydney
- PowerUp, Gold Coast