...........Experimental Blog: A Week in London #bettuk2026 #bett26 Part Three BETT

#Bettuk2026 Wed -Friday 21st-23rd January 2026

Here is my usual summary and observations

2nd year at BETT when there were no feet on the ground from Education Scotland. A travel ban apparently. Shame when the biggest educational technology event in the UK is on and senior folks from all major IT companies are in London and not least the UK and international educational community.

It is a bit of a scandal really. Scotland should be on the map at this event. I spotted Wales and Northern Ireland on the UK stands. Great to see EdTech's from schools, colleges, universities and local authorities found the ways and means to get down from Scotland. Education Scotland's sponsoring department please note.

Queen Elizabeth line to Excel continues to be a revelation for travelling to and from venue and opens up possibility of accommodation across London. I stayed initially with my daughter in her student flat over in Deptford and then moved for two nights to an amazing hotel hostel in Rotherhithe. Really brilliant value and proof that you can do BETT on a budget. Made for an interesting free short ferry commute in morning.

It was very much AI every where - some pretty random and some very focused on the challenges discussed over the previous two days. AI can write your essay and mark it. Message really is that assessment has to change and that centres really need to learn about CASE and MCP servers to make most of their data and content.

Bridget Phillipson Secretary of State for Education's address picked up on much I had heard on the two preceding days with OECD and 1Edtech. Good to see her back ( see last year's BETT post) . Highlighting the transformative potential of AI and EdTech to make learning more inclusive, support teachers, and improve outcomes for all learners. Announces new safety standards, new digital skills pathways for teacher training, and a £23 million expansion of the EdTech Testbeds programme to build a strong evidence base for effective tools.

I achieved everything in my original plan and then some.

Squeezed into a smaller area of Excel this year but having spoken to the organisers, more exhibitors and certainly high footfall. Great to have themed stages with keynotes distributed around exhibitors. I spent most of my time in and around FE/HE zone. Still think could do with a bit more from ALT, Jisc , QAA and perhaps some more focus on Colleges and vocational learning.

Great to see many of the Scots who made it down at the Scottish gathering kindly supported by SmartBoards. Good too to get great update on their products. The training and support they give users is first class- liked new mike through smartboard- and still like smartboard mini.

Nice to see more thought on design and layout of the start up zone. Though apologies nothing really fired me up this year.

TeachmeetBett26 on Teachmeet's 20th Anniversary. Many thanks to BETT organisers for super on site support.

I did a two minute plug for learning design , Open Education and for membership of ALT. Thanks too Everway/Texthelp for sponsoring cracking social at 02 Battle Bar and for old pal Dawn Holly-Bone from 2Simple for chairing so well. Was great to see new faces embracing Teachmeet methodology. Presentations here and tribute to Teachmeet history. Every College should hold one at least once a year. Challenge is out to all attendees to organise one.

Here is very quick run down of what caught my eye and attention and some of my chats .

Microsoft - sat through a few sessions to be up to speed with their new roll outs. I didn't go to all of their sessions mainly the What is new session. But you can get all of their sessions here.
Google - Similarly spent some time getting on inside track . Some great sessions on using Notebook LM for research.

I am still really amazed that every College does not have tenancies on both Microsoft and Google platforms. It can be done at no cost, if you know how. Both are promoting a range of new tools within existing licensing costs and the best way to prevent any shadow IT developing.

In main auditorium, teaching and learning theatre and Higher Education theatre - some practical workshops particularly around how AI is changing up operational areas of Colleges and Universities - from data to track skills and employment opportunities , answering phones and even students using vibe coding to create their own booking systems. Had quick coffee and catch up with Paul Mckean and Sue Attewell on Jisc AI work.

Lots of AI with everything sat through presentations and visited some of these stands. Last year Teachermatic was out in the lead for teacher content creation, now everyone is at that game , including Microsoft and Google. More significantly emergence of tools using CASE and MCP.

Many amazing stands - big budget items. The Egyptian Education Authority had built a pyramid.

Lots too on esports - which I still don't quite get. I do get it as a gateway to games development and programming.

VR and AR it is still ClassVR leader of pack and interesting new tools for simulating interviews. Metaverse learning and Body Swaps territory . Think every College should have a class set of VR head sets for appropriate activities.

Liked this juice bar vending machine as an alternative to fizzy drinks.

A few stands that I thought were selling Vapes - were really selling Vape detector systems. A sign of the times.

Great conversations with ClickView , Cisco Training Academies and BodySwaps - it is great to hear they are going from strength to strength. Met some old Spanish friends who do lot around improving data and learning material flows for Colleges and Universities. I spent some time too revisiting C-Learning and their Merlyn Mind product.

Useful conversation with Newcastle College group who are doing the right thing and rolling out CMALT to all of their educational technologists. Follow up conversation with their Rob Wraith on how they manage access and costs around tokenisation in Microsoft Co-Pilot. Basically how they set up permissions and controls so that the institution does not get additional bills. ( this is issue for many institutions moving ahead into this space) So critical that learning technologists and IT work together around this.

Only spotted one awarding body - which may also be sign of times - assessment and certification really need to change.

But back to my theme of week it was really AI with everything - have a look at BrainFreeze stand useful to see they are explaining how their tool uses CASE and MCP.

Sorry to miss a sit down and proper catch up with Vic Boyd and Scott Renton from City of Glasgow College who were around too and many more colleagues from across vocational learning. We will catch up soon.

On way down I spotted a very negative post about BETT from a 'leading' Scottish educational academic who I think has attended one BETT in the past- it was very down on the technological hegemony - but on all technology really.

Yes, lots of selling of fantasies but some really useful learning for all. People make BETT not the technology. Everyone working in learning really needs an understanding of technologies - it is the only way to actually move classroom, institutional and global learning forward. We all need a bit more #openscot.

And a final big thanks for all the hospitality and good company I enjoyed.

My week in London Reports

I miss Wakelet as my tool of choice for summarising events like this.