Impressions from BETT
BETTclaims to be the largest education technology trade show there is and after having the good fortune to attend part of it, I believe them (it is also the only education technology trade show that I have ever seen though). My first impression of BETT actually started a couple of train stops prior to it where the platform was overflowing with people - noticeably different from the relatively empty platforms prior to it. These were all educators of some sort on their way to the show. My second impression was the sheer size of the show, the number of vendors and solutions was staggering. I remember thinking 'where is all this stuff being used?' There were technology based solutions for just about any subject I could think of. Walking around the pavilions, all the usual suspects (large vendors) were there centre stage with huge stands, impressive displays and interesting demonstrations. Surrounding them seemed to be the mainstream LMS vendors. As you moved outwards towards the perimeter of the halls you started to find the really interesting stuff from smaller companies and communities of various types. The first row of vendors that I happened to walk down was all about Internet safety, each with 'the best' filtering solution available. The only vendor that impressed me here was Securus, who understand filtering alone is quite inadequate and are taking a more holistic approach to the problem of Internet safety. It was nice to see them working hand in hand with 'the Red Balloon Learner Centre Group', a charity developing safe learner centres for children who have been bullied. As I said earlier, just about every subject I could think of had some sort of technology enhanced learning solution on exhibition. Hardware vendors were out in force as well as software ones. Electronic whiteboard solutions seemed to be everywhere and there were gadgets galore. There was a huge area set aside for special education needs which you could have got lost in for a day alone. It was interesting to see a number of online communities and social networks establishing some sort of presence in the outer wings. Communities of users (of software solutions etc) springing up and helping each other, sharing content etc. Speaking of content, there were two standouts for me. One was the BBC and the other was teachers.tv. Big budgets do help. The other content area that I thought would have been interesting was student.tv however the people/company on the stand where this was shown were more interested in promoting their services. Of interest to me also was the presence of open source vendors/solutions/communities. I have to say that I had to look pretty hard to find them. Moodle had a local provider and apparently Joomla had some sort of presence there too. Openforum Europe were also there and attracting quite an amount of interest (the presence of a few XO laptops no doubt had some attraction). Talking to them, they were very pleased with the amount of interest being shown this year - it seems to have been increasing steadily each year they have been there. There may well have been many more open source stands around but it was a very big place to get through. My last impression really was about the (for me) disconnect between all of this technology and solutions and the adoption of them. If your only exposure to education was via this trade show, you would think that education was one of the most IT savvy industries around with an exceptionally high adoption rate. What a wonderful impression (for a technologist at least)! A couple of pics here.
technorati tags: BETT
