{"id":4550,"date":"2015-02-16T16:53:41","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T16:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsletter.alt.ac.uk\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2015-02-16T16:53:41","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T16:53:41","slug":"perspectives-on-bett-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2015\/02\/perspectives-on-bett-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspectives on BETT 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BETT Show comes around each January and entices all of us working in the education sector to play with exciting new toys and then (they hope) buy or sign up.\u00a0 Here three ALT Newsletter readers from further and higher education share their experiences\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Richard\u00a0Chantler, \u201cthe BETT newbie\u201d<\/h3>\n

I have recently joined the E-Learning Team at Queen Mary University of London and this was my first outing to a learning technology fair. It was a somewhat daunting task to identify stalls which may be of interest from the 779 to choose from, but I went with an open mind and was keen to learn as much as possible across all areas of learning technologies that were being demonstrated and promoted.<\/p>\n

Of the 779 stalls, approximately half were listed on the BETT website as being applicable to the Higher Education sector, however I found the event mostly targeted primary and secondary schools, with more than 80% of exhibitors tailoring their products to those markets. Of those I spoke to, when their tools looked of interest, they often said they could develop the products to cater to HE Institutions (for\u00a0investment).<\/p>\n

\"SMART<\/a><\/p>\n

A number of exhibitors demonstrated products which applied to a broad range of markets and these appealed to me the most. SMART, of the once ubiquitous SMART board, have launched their new product \u2018SMART Kapp<\/a>\u2019 which enables users to connect a tablet to the white board device via Bluetooth and record any text that is written. \u00a0The outputs could prove useful distance learning and revision resources.<\/p>\n

I was particularly eager to learn more about VLEs other than Moodle and\u00a0Mahara, to explore what features they offered. Of those I saw, I was most impressed by \u2018Canvas<\/a>\u2019 which seemed user friendly and was beautifully presented. It has a simple interface, is easy to navigate and the tools were accessible through only a limited number of mouse-clicks.\u00a0 I know Queen Mary has gone down the Moodle route, but Canvas may be worth looking at in future.<\/p>\n

I left the event feeling much better informed about what learning technology products are available, what possibilities there are for my institution, and excited to find out which tools we\u2019ll adopt to further enhance learning at Queen Mary.<\/p>\n

Yousef Fouda, the \u201cYouTuber\u201d<\/h3>\n

Yousef is the Chief Technology Officer at Warkwickshire College\u00a0and visited BETT to find out what\u2019s new in four key areas: Virtual Learning Environments, virtual reality, 3D printing, and hardware for staff and students.\u00a0 He recorded his review and used the video to launch his new YouTube channel.\u00a0 Watch below for Yousef\u2019s perspective on BETT 2015.<\/p>\n