So the BETT awards for educational technology have been announced and from looking at the winners we can only conclude that standards have been raised. The winning products are bright, original and versatile resources that fulfil the needs of teachers and pupils alike. Upon assessing the winners, I found the most attractive products were those that encouraged creative user experimentation. Critics have always accused educational software of stunting the scope of a child’s imagination. Perhaps in the early days this was a legitimate concern. But the winners of the BETT awards are a testament to how educational technology has moved away from its prescriptive confines. These resources invite a complex response from children, encouraging them to learn abstract concepts through creative play. Check out the winners at www.bettawards.co.uk

Screenshot from Focus on Beebot.

Focus on Beebot by Focus Education Ltd is a surprising product. It consists of a 3D sequencing programme where students can experiment with sequencing tasks to map out a route for Beebot, a bee coloured robot with a permanent smile. Students can guide Beebot through virtual worlds, but they can also programme their sequences into the Beebot floor robot in the actual classroom. This is a wonderful feature as it allows children to apply the abstract principles they have learnt from the software onto a physical piece of machinery. Children can feel satisfied about what they’ve learnt , enjoying the end result of their work by watching Beebot zoom around the classroom.

The sense of a fulfilling learning experience explains the success of 2Simple’s 2paintapicture. This is an art package that allows students to play with a range of artistic techniques. Children can see the results of their efforts attractively displayed on the screen. What gives this product the edge over other art packages is the ability to recreate the styles of well known artists. A child can learn the technical secrets behind great art at the same time as painting their own masterpieces. Noisy things by Q & D Multimedia won the Early Learning Solutions award because of its innovative approach to introducing young children to musical concepts such as rhythm, pitch and tone. Children play around with a variety of colourful, mischievous characters that make different sounds at the click of a mouse. The genius of Noisy Things is its intuitive design. There is no text to disrupt the experience, the children simply learn instinctively through interacting with the characters on screen. This is perfect for early learning because it allows children to learn about music through independent experimentation.

Screenshot from Noisy Things.

Another aspect of the winners was a new emphasis on software that allows for easy assessment and profiling. Bluewaveswift won Supporting Institutional Leadership and Management Solutions award. It was built on a lot of research done by head teachers in Leeds and is designed to provide a comprehensive profile of the state of a school’s development. Testimonials by head teachers all over the country tell of how Bluewaveswift saves hours of work.

Smartcat Profiling by Screen Learning is a selection of thirteen games that assess children’s reading, spelling, mental arithmetic, motor control, language skills and even emotional recognition. This allows teachers of children at the foundation stage to keep an eye on how each child is developing and ensure that they fulfil the needs of each child as an individual. The world of education is currently anxious about low levels of literacy and numeracy skills. Often this is a result of children not keeping up with the rest of the class. Smartcat Profiling has come at the right time, since it ensures that teachers know exactly which children need more help, ensuring everyone learns at the right pace. But what makes it really work is that each exercise is a game that the child can enjoy. This is a refreshing approach to assessment , making it feel less scary and more fun.

Screenshot from SimVenture.

Learning through games is the secret to the popularity of SimVenture. Venture Simulations Ltd have created a programme that allows students to set up a virtual business. Liam Godfrey, lecturer in business studies, has come from a background in banking and has a wide experience of simulation programmes used for professional training. He says that SimVenture is the most comprehensive software of its kind. Students are getting hooked on the game. The more competitive they get about scores the more clued up they are about the real dynamics of the business world. This is the beauty of these winning programmes: they draw children into a genuine passion for a subject. Technology isn’t there to make boring subjects interesting but to make fascinating subjects accessible. When you get sucked into a subject you love, learning is always fun. These products are taking full advantage of this phenomenon, taking us out of the Victorian austerity of the three r’s and into a future of varied and enjoyable learning.

Posted: February 19th, 2008 under Education, Design, Publishing, Web 2.0, BETT.
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As Ewan McIntosh noted on his blog before the event, the strapline for this event: “How is social media shaping the future of learning?”, gave our panelists a broad topic to discuss, but at Matt Locke’s capable hands the debate soon narrowed down to a few overall memes:

• - Use of digital media in the classroom
• - The demand for qualifications-led publishing
• - Integration with existing social media products
• - The concept of “control” in the education system

The debate around these issues was feisty, with Ewan McIntosh providing the perspective of the technologically-savvy, modern teacher - Ewan has blogged his opinions on the debate here. Ewan’s perspective is that students get a lot more from creating their own content using free tools than they do from using publishers’ packages. One example he gave was of Sandaig Primary School, where pupils collaborated to create wonderful audio-poetry at a minimal cost.

The other side of the debate was cogently argued by Owen White of Pearson Knowledgebox, and members of the audience, who stated that whilst publishers recognise the value for pupils in using the technologies and techniques outlined by Ewan when creating products, they must also respond to the demands of the LEAs and an education system which places an ever-increasing emphasis on exam results in assessing the progress of both pupils and teachers.

Sarah Gavin from the social network Bebo explained how Bebo is providing a space in which their users, mainly from the teen demographic, can discuss ideas with their peers which they might not be able to debate in physical spaces, where peer pressure can have a limiting effect on the topic of conversation. As a result, Beboers are becoming increasingly involved in campaigning on social issues, and Bebo has set up Bebo Be One to help them to navigate around these ideas.

Sarah also described how schemes on Bebo such as writing continuations to stories, and composing poetry, have been phenomenally successful, with many thousands of children taking part. And although Sarah sees the average Beboer’s 36-minute daily visit to the site as an extension to their social lives, often driven by the relationships they establish at school, she agreed that Bebo has not become the de facto destination for young people to discuss their homework. Is this a niche that could be filled by publishers?

All parties recognised the issue of control in education, with Owen White pointing out that despite the innumerable technological advances in the past century (e.g. radio, TV and software), formal education is still reliant on the principle of one teacher standing in front of a classroom of pupils, creating a power relationship between the teacher and pupils which some teachers can be reluctant to undermine. The fear of loss of control was highlighted as a very real factor for some teachers in their decisions about what techniques, and hence what media, to use in the classroom.

The debate revealed that there is still plenty of road left for all parties to travel before social media becomes mainstream in education, but change in that direction has happened, and publishers want to be, and are already becoming, a part of that change. Additionally, it was suggested that the educational environment itself would have to alter radically if we were to see a full-scale adoption of social media in the classroom. It would be interesting to discuss this topic in further detail on a future occasion.

Online would like to extend its thanks to the panellists for giving up their time to give us the benefit of their experience and knowledge, and to everyone who attended for helping to provoke lively debate during and after the session. We were asked many times to put on more events of this type in future, and we will be delighted to oblige. Please don’t hesitate to get in contact if you would like to be in the audience next time. We’ve also set up a LinkedIn group here - please feel free to join up and meet the other delegates.

Posted: November 28th, 2007 under Education, Publishing, Web 2.0, Events, Education Unbound.
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