BETT 2011

So, a new year is upon us, and BETT 2011 begins tomorrow. Watching the Twitter stream from the LWF2011 conference held just before BETT it looks to have been an interesting and thought provoking event. I am looking forward to BETT, but am also interested to see whether there is much at the show which is new and innovative, and whether teachers and school leaders from the UK make the effort to attend in the financially challenging times that our schools face.

For our company it is an opportunity to meet up with old colleagues and potential new partners. We are running a seminar on day one and look forward to meeting many people there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mobile phones and portable devices in schools

Image
It has been reported over the last two days that mobile phones are to be banned in classrooms in England from September 2011, by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary.  Yesterday's News of the World  and today's Telegraph both contain references to this ban, linking it to new documents on behaviour and discipline that have been published today by the Department of Education.  The DfE website quotes Mr Gove as saying to the News of the World: "I'll also give teachers the right to remove disruptive children from the classroom without fear of legal action. They will be able to search pupils for weapons, and items like iPods and mobile phones, and confiscate them". Firstly let me say that I am against the idea of a complete ban on mobile phones in schools.  Used appropriately, smartphones and other student owned devices such as iPod Touches and Playstation portables can be used as very powerful aids to learning, and there are many schools who are making good use of...
Read more

Google Apps for Education User Group

Yesterday I attended the 2011 Google Apps for Education User Group at Loughborough University. It was an excellent event, attended by over 100 people from higher education through to the schools sector, and well organised by Martin Hamilton . This is a run through of some of the highlights for me. I stayed with the strategy strand of the event, though I was disappointed that it meant missing the very interesting looking technical strand. And the amplified nature of the event via Twitter and elsewhere added to the value of the event for me and others.
Read more

DfE funds schools sector Internet access via JANET

Image
News that the Department for Education has agreed to continue to fund schools sector access to the JANET network for 2011/12 somehow passed me by when it was announced a couple of weeks ago.  This is a great example of how procuring something at scale offers fantastic value and quality.  Schools who use an Internet Service Provider that makes use of JANET for the Internet "transit" (route to the Internet) benefit through reduced Internet costs as a result of JANET's buying power and technical expertise.  This means most schools that use their local authority or Regional Broadband Consortium for their Internet connection.
Read more