I was very much looking forward to attending my Third BETT in a row in the UK this week. For a guy who is trying to get a consultancy off the ground, this has been a big sacrifice and I don’t think I would have gone this year, were it not for the offer of some consultancy work in the Middle East on the way home.

Yesterday was opening day and, for me the first time that I had a full day to just attend seminars and soak up the BETT experience. Whilst I liked a lot of what I saw, I must admit to being a little disappointed in the sameness over the last few years. I know that some of the blogs I read really talk up the happenings at BETT but a lot of the writers are ICT specialist teachers at schools and are not as concerned about systemic change in the use of ICT for learning as I am. Like the fantastic HSBC ads that came out a year ago, it depends on your point of view.

I attended quite a few seminars from BECTA and from UK teachers and Head Teachers and they are still facing the same challenge of “how to shift the good practice from being what goes on in one or two rooms to something that happens across the school. It appears that the new Next Gen Learning programme is going to go some way to helping this. I am looking forward to learning more about initiatives in schools over the next few days.

As for the products, it seems that everything I have come across so far is a refinement on something rather than a new initiative. The mini notebooks that were a real buzz last year are still everywhere but they are just one of the mix which includes electronic whiteboards of all types all of which are, of course, “much better now” because of the must have features of short throw projecting, rear projection, multitouch or some other “essential” feature, mobile technology and a learning platform.

Every single supplier is passionate that they have developed the feature that your school needs and they are very happy to bend your ear and explain why this is so.

Whoops! Must run. More soon.

Paul