BETT looks to be a biggie this, its 26th, year.
Recommendations include:
- Check out the Future Learning Spaces
- Newcomers like Google
- Product launches from the likes of Dell and Toshiba
The government has spent (I think) £5b since 1997 on educational ICT, and BETT is the largest educational technology event in the world, apparently. Last year 25% of visitors were from overseas.
Apparently the Home Access programme is going to be widened, so listen out for that.
Stephen Heppell: we're in the post-appropriation phase. But we can't appropriate any more: we can't reel in what the kids are doing, we have to go where they are!
Also, what kids' play is these days is engaging and seductive: using GPS for example,, so it should be worth checking out Prof Heppell's Google-sponsored Playful Learning.
Some welcome news: according to Ray Barker of BESA, Ministers from around the world are now recognising what we old hands have always known: it's not the technology, but the people, that makes the difference!
Great quotable statement from Heppell: we've been very lucky: we've been able to do 19th century teaching with a bit of 21st century gloss!
Content-driven sessions like the 3-night Teachmeet is the future of BETT, according to Richard Joslin of EMAP: it's almost like Web 2.0 in an offline format.
I've discovered a problem when using my netbook to write blog posts in Squarespace: I can't see the 'tags' section on the screen, and so have to ad tags when I get onto a big computer. Please bear with me!