Saturday, January 17, 2009

BETTO9 The UK Educational Technology Fair




















I'll post more over next couple of days as I come back down to earth from what is always a very busy week in London . BETT is always a bit unreal sometimes portentous of a better reality and sometimes frankly it can be bit nightmarish too. One year electronic tagging of learners seemed to the fore ;-)

This year I think was a good one - there was a lot of content worth more than a second look, there were still all the electronic whiteboard peddlers but content rather than the technology was more to the fore.

There was an announcement from Microsoft, Cisco and Intel of a partnership to look at 21st Century Learner Skills and Assessment.
Cisco Press Release
Microsoft Press Release
Intel Press Release

(We stuck to Next Generation User Skills - we thought this was bold enough. In 1908 did they really know the skills we'd need in 1998 or even 1914 - Sample - 1908-1914 First Model T Ford, Movies with sound and Ecstasy were all developed in this period )

I can confidently predict that more educators or those who are interested in moving learning on a bit quicker will start using Twitter - was great as last year to meet with in real life or follow all the educational twitters around Bett - search for #Bett09 , #tmbett09, #bettr09 and you get a flavour both of the event itself and some of the great fringe events. Teachmeet and Bettr.

I got lots of detail on how the Home Access Programme will work to ensure that those who are digitally excluded have home access to broadband and a device/laptop in England.

As last year my days were filled with meetings our education vendor partners and others - who do so much to support vocational learning in Scotland and around the world. I have a few specific updates to follow.

No comments: