BETTer

Although rather late - a few words about the annual BETT show this year. It seems to have been bigger and certainly more people attended than last year. Interestingly there was a much greater representation from foreign countries, including Singapore, Brazil, Sweden and the UAE amongst others.

This is the last year for BETT at Olympia - next year it moves to the Excel Centre. It maybe a bit further away for some but at least the technology should be more robust. Nothing can be more frustrating for those exhibitors at the worlds largest ICT show than having a variable (and often out) ICT capability.

Apart from the increasingly large and dramatic structures from suppliers there seemed to be a much greater emphasis on software and peripherals rather the more expensive kit. I did think that some of the presentations were particularly interesting this year. Inevitably Professor Stephen Heppell's stand was amongst the most visited with a rolling programme of presentations and Skype links to students from all over the world.

I was also pleased to listen to Ollie Bray, National Advisor on Emerging Technologies in Learning for Education Scotland talk about the virtues of using gaming as a key resource to aid learning. As ever, he was engaging and motivating with several examples of students and schools doing great things.... simply because they were given the chance!
And of course, Stephen Heppell was surrounded the inevitable television crews all show... no change there - people all over the world want to hear what he says, it's always motivating!