EdWare visited BETT 2006 at the Olympia in London yesterday to check out what’s new for ICT and Education. The show was very interesting and massive when compared to similar shows here in Ireland. We came away with a lot of new ideas and contacts which we hope to put to use over the coming months and launch some new products to the Irish market.
Whiteboards and digital projectors were the big attraction with many companies demonstrating new products and more importantly educational uses for the technology. Voting handheld systems were also present for every day use in the classroom. More software designed for this technology is needed before it will really take off. Also the handheld controls which are wireless were not entirely kiddie proof, they resembled a mobile phone/calculator but ideally it should represent the PlayStation Buzz game controller to make it truly user friendly for children Buzz – Relentless Software. The costs is also very high, but in time it could be very useful. Although teachers must remember that classroom activities need to encourage children to speak up and learn to present their ideas to audiences.
BETT 2006 11th -14th January. Olympia, London
BETT is the world’s leading educational information and communications technologies (ICT) event, attracting over 600 educational suppliers and 27000 visitors, and bringing together the global teaching and learning community for four days of innovations and inspirations. http://www.bettshow.com.