Primary Bits and Bytes

(Posted by Dughall)

I always enjoy the annual BETT show at Olympia. As well as being an opportunity to get up to date on the latest developments in educational technologies, it is also an excellent chance to meet, network and catch up with educators who have inspired me virtually or in real life.

This year, though, promises to surpass previous year’s experiences for one fundamental reason – teachers are taking over! By this, I mean that there is a far greater emphasis on ‘learning’. As Ian Usher puts it in his blog:

“During various threads on Twitter about BETT – including a mainly productive one on Tips for (new) visitors to BETT – I opined how BETT would, to my mind, benefit significantly from having an “L” in its title (and core purpose) similar to the one in SLF – the Scottish Learning Festival, which was tellingly formerly titled SETT.”

Well this year it promises to be an ‘L’ of a BETT show with 4 significant ‘fringe’ features:

Firstly  TEDx Orenda.

On Wednesday 13th Jan at 6pm there will be a FREE TEDx event with a stimulating line-up of inspirational speakers from diverse backgrounds (from a London cabbie to the man who brought us Moshi Monsters). TEDxOrenda at BETT is an individually organised TED event that epitomises the tradition of TED as a vehicle for ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’.

One thing that is guaranteed is that the speakers will be sharing stories that will be of interest and inspiration to educators from every sector.
More details of the TEDxOrenda event can be found here.
The event is FREE and tickets are available from here.

On Thursday 14th January, there will be a free AmplifiED event, again from 6pm. AmplifiED follows a Barcamp, unconference model and is essentially a participatory event that involves table discussion around topics and themes. In this case, the topics for discussion will be education-based and possibly provoked by the BETT show itself.
More details of the AmplifiED event can be found here.
The event is FREE and tickets are available from here.

Last year, the highlight of the BETT show for me was the Teachmeet that took place on the Friday evening. It was my first Teachmeet and had a profound impact on me. I blogged about it at the time.

This year, on Friday 15th at 6pm a similar Teachmeet event will take place. For those unfamiliar with the Teachmeet format, it is an event that consists of short (2min or 7 min) presentations given by practitioners. These presentations are about great ideas and what works well in the classroom.
More details of the Teachmeet event can be found here.
The event is also FREE and although there are no formal ticketing arrangements, you are encouraged to sign up to the wiki (above).

Finally, Teachmeet ‘Takeover’ will be happening throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In a nutshell:

What is TeachMeet Takeover?

• Short time slots of 30 minutes or less on vendor stands throughout the course of the show.
• Teachers taking over – no affiliation to the vendor or obligation to help sell their products.
• Education professionals talking about FREE ideas.
• Informal presentations of good, quality ideas that you don’t need to pay for.
• Vendors sign up for time on a wiki.
• Educators put their name down in a time slot to talk on the wiki.

Tom Barrett is the chief instigator of Teachmeet takeover and you can find out more on his blog.

If you are going to BETT this year, do try to add a little extra ‘Learning’ to the mix with one, some or all of the above. If not, many of these events will be available through archived video or even live streams from the events themselves.

If you aren’t able to attend in person, watch this space for a post-match report. It promises to be a BE(L)TTER!