Bett Bulletin #5

Bridging the Digital Divide

That's the title of a panel discussion I'm chairing on the Wednesday of Bett, from 5:15 to 5:45 (pm, not am!). On the panel we have:

Simon Finch @simfin http://www.digitallyconfident.org/

Christina Preston @mirandanetter www.mirandanet.ac.uk

Steve Wheeler @timbuckteeth http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk/

An outstanding panel, I think you'll agree.

I find the concept of the 'digital divide' quite interesting. When you start to look into it, you discover that the term means a range of different things. For example, as well as a divide based on income and wealth, there are also geographical divides, and even regional divides (ie between different parts of the same city).

I suspect all are related to degrees of wealth ultimately, but there are subtle nuances too. For example, even where youngsters from different socioeconomic backgrounds have the same access to computers and the web, they use the technology for different reasons.

I won't say any more now, as I don't want to steal anyone's thunder (I have no idea what they're going to say). I've prepared a resources sheet full of interesting references, and I'll be providing a download link to everyone who attends the seminar. Apparently that is known as an ethical bribe! Hope to see you there.

Other bulletins

You may be interested in some of the other Bett Bulletins I published, as I tried to be a little bit different from the usual type of (boring) announcements. In my review of Bett 2017, for instance, I used my time machine to go forward a few weeks to check whether it would be worthwhile attending the event. Unfortunately, things went horribly wrong....

Then in Bulletin #3 I drew on my experience of past Betts to write a computer program in BASIC that I think describes what happens quite well. However, it is not perfect, so I've set a few questions at the end of the article for you to ponder on.

Should you attend the keynotes?

Why not read 9 questions to ask about big name speakers at education conferences to help you decide?