Being strategic after the Bett show

Bett: 30 years forwardIf you look at the list of suggestions in my “Getting the Best out of Bett” guide, some of which I reproduced in 5 Things to do after attending Bett, nothing leaps out as being “strategic”. But there are a couple of things, as I’ll explain in a moment. And that is tremendously important.

It would be very easy indeed to spend a day or two after an event, especially a long one like Bett, just dealing with the backlog of emails and work, but not actually doing anything that will help future growth. I suppose it’s a bit like clearing a financial debt: very important to do, but it’s putting some money into an interest-bearing account that will reap benefits in the longer term.

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5 Things to consider regarding seminars at Bett

With the vast amount of choice at the forthcoming Bett show (15 different events, hundreds of seminars, loads of exhibitors, plus networking), we need some criteria by which to judge whether or not something is worth going to or not – or worth staying for if you already have gone. Here are my suggestions. And remember: your time is precious, so if it becomes apparent that a seminar you thought would be relevant to your needs turns out not to be so, then get up and leave.
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Getting the best out of Bett now available

Bett Guide cover 2Over 170 hints and tips from a Bett veteran! Yes, this is my UNOFFICIAL guide. Feel free to download it or share it, via an embed code.

Now includes a floor plan!

If you have already downloaded it, you may wish to download it again, as this is a revised edition containing extra information.

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Assessing “soft” skills

Do you have anything you’d like to add to the discussion, Terry?

The scene was a meeting at the Edusummit conference at UNESCO in Paris in 2011. The question came from the Chair.

Thank you, but no: everything I was going to say has already been said.

That was my response, because I didn’t see any purpose in repeating points that had not only been made, but also generally agreed upon. In fact, my contributions to many meetings are based on Salvator Rosa’s, dictum:

Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence.

The question is: does that make me a good collaborator, or not so good? How do we measure such things? And does any of it matter anyway?

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5 tips for BETT

Bett guide coverMy annual guide to Getting the Best out of BETT is pretty much complete. I’m just waiting for one more item to be sent to me, and then it’s all systems go. I’ll be making it available to subscribers to our newsletter first, and then more widely. In the meantime, I thought I’d publish a few extracts from it. These extracts are just a small sample: there are over 150 suggestions altogether
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5 reasons schools need computing teachers with expertise in the subject

Some Principals and Headteachers think that a good way around the problem of teaching computing is to not worry about whether teachers have subject knowledge at all. “All we need are facilitators”, they say, “while the kids can teach themselves and each other.” This is, as any teacher knows (or should know), easy to say, less easy to do, and not altogether the most desirable thing to do even if you can do it. However, just in case your school happens to be “led” by one of the aforementioned Headteachers, here are some arguments you may want to use. I think that any one of them should suffice, and all of them together make for a cast-iron case.
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Getting permission to go on an ICT or Computing course

On this date 4 years ago I published an article that I think is still relevant today.

It strikes me that, what with a new Computing Programme of Study coming into effect in September 2014, ie under a year’s time, Getting permission to go on an ICT course or to a conference is rather timely. Teachers of ICT having to become

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EdExec Live - ICT Matters: A conference worth going to

I look for three main things in a conference:

  • Good topics, by which I mean not only ones about the latest fad but useful, down-to-earth ones too, and ones that make you think and reflect
  • Good speakers, by which I mean people who are experts in their field, and not merely good entertainers
  • An opportunity to meet and network with others
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10 reasons to attend BETT

BETT2013It’s that time of year again. No, I don’t mean the Christmas lights and shopping, but starting to think about BETT in January. If you’re serious about educational technology you really must try to get there, even if you can only manage a day: you’re bound to see something that you find interesting and useful.
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