BETT 2013 Interviews: Andy Black

Edtech guru Andy Black talks about what wasn't at the BETT Show this year, and some of the trends he spotted.

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BETT 2013 Interviews: Simon Finch

E-safety guru Simon Finch talks about why pupils should be allowed to use social media, why teachers should use it, e-safety and identity management.

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BYOT Case Study: New College, Swindon

Why has New College gone down the Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) route? An obvious factor is cost. But there’s also another, less prosaic reason...

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What is Both good and original in the world of educational technology?

When a young man with dreams of becoming a writer sent a manuscript to Samuel Johnson for his opinion, Dr Johnson is reputed to have replied:

“My congratulations to you, Sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”

I thought it might be interesting to look at 10 ideas that have gained popularity in the world of educational technology and ICT in recent years, to see if they meet the “good and original" test”. Here are my considered, though possibly opinionated, views.

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BETT 2013 Interviews: Yolanda Halston

In this video, Yolanda Halston, of the Educational Apps Store, talks about pupils collaborating and other matters.

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3 General Prequisites of Bring Your Own Device

If a school wishes to go down the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) route, what are the conditions necessary to make this possible in a useful (ie learning enhancing) and hassle-free way?

From my research into schools which have gone down this road, or at least started to, I have come to the conclusion that there are three at least three general conditions which have to be met.

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BETT 2013 Interviews: Prad Samtani

In this short video, Prad describes a very useful-sounding product he saw at the BETT Show in 2013.

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M is for … Marginal Cost

Marginal Cost, like Opportunity Cost, is a concept used in Economics. It’s so useful, I’m surprised it isn’t used more often, or at least more explicitly, in general. It definitely comes into its own in the world of ICT or education technology.

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Review of BETT 2013

The BETT Show is, I’m reliably informed, the biggest education technology show in the world. It takes place in London, England, every January. This year it was slightly later, but I’ll come to that in a moment. The first thing I’ll say is that even if you didn’t attend you may find this article interesting, as I suspect that several comments will apply to any education technology conference.

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BYOD Case Study: Invicta Grammar School

The Bring Your Own Device scheme implemented by Invicta is a hybrid of school-supplied or specified technology for the younger students, and a true BYOD scheme, within certain limits, for the older ones.

The question arises, why have a 1-to-1 scheme given the fact that there is so much technology in the school already?

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We are running a good service –you can see it in real time

Here’s a photo I took recently on the London Underground. There are periodic announcements, static noticeboards, and electronic delays constantly assuring us that we are experiencing a good service. I presume it is intended to introduce a feel-good element into an otherwise mundane existence.

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The sound of being connected

When I first had email and an internet connection, it was made possible by using a dial-up modem. These modems were positively snail-like compared to today’s devices. For example, my first modem could transmit data over the telephone line at the blistering speed of 9 kilobytes per second (kbps).

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