Did you go to the first BETT show put on since COVID hit our shores?
With COVID still reported as an issue in many schools with high infection rates and staff shortages your answer might be NO… so allow us to give you a taster of what was on show.
The razzmatazz was in full flow with whizzy demonstrations of touchscreens, quiet moments of deep engagement with high quality audio for the classroom and of course, the usual array of robots, apps, assessment solutions, curriculum resources and the things that we know children will LOVE to have in their classrooms.
With 400+ solution providers exhibiting at BETT you can image the array of tech and tools developed specifically for the education section was fairly mesmerising.
There was also an impressive 300+ speakers at the exhibition sharing their own experiences and challenges. Nothing unusual there but the range of topics and the desire to provide hybrid access to the speeches shows the progress.
Talking of which there was also something new. Something you couldn’t see or touch like those impressive CleverTouch screens YouTeachMe were located by but something tangible if you looked carefully enough.
It was the sense that education is fully embracing technology. The pandemic has shifted education towards the benefits of deploying technology into classrooms properly forever and at Excel last week it was fully apparent.
Teachers visiting exhibitors were looking for technologies that build on what they’ve been using over the last two years. They were wanting to talk teaching and learning technologies. Exhibitors had quality conversations with every stand visitor.
In the arenas, discussions focused on ways to build on what’s been gained during the pandemic. Like ‘How do we move from EdTech to PedTech?’ (i.e. from ‘technology that can be used by teachers in a lesson’ to ‘pedagogy underpinned by technology’) was one fabulous question that really hit the nail on the head.
This change opens up the door to better education for our children. Children in any school. Technology really does help any child learn anything anywhere.