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The future of classroom tech at BETT

As Microsoft came under criticism from Becta at BETT 2008, plenty of other companies were showing off the latest tech for schools and colleges
By Richard Thurston, Contributor
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1 of 7 Richard Thurston/ZDNET

Despite declining attendance rates at technology exhibitions in recent years, BETT has thrived.

Started in the mid 1980s, the technology-in-education show has continually attracted a healthy number of visitors, including — curiously for a term-time Wednesday — a lot of teachers.

This year's event runs until Saturday at London's Olympia and fills both floors of both the National and Grand Halls.

The 700 exhibitors include the usual big names — Microsoft, Apple, Dell and Oracle among them — plus a raft of lesser-known niche players displaying a host of innovative software.

The government has also played its part, with an opening keynote from schools minister Jim Knight, who is keen to see both open-source and proprietary software included in the school curriculum.

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2 of 7 Richard Thurston/ZDNET

Microsoft held one of the most prominent positions at the show, with two large stands inside the main entrance.

However, it didn't take long for Redmond's outpost to come under fire, as government IT adviser Becta released a report urging schools not to deploy the company's latest software, Windows Vista and Office 2007.

Microsoft was unfazed, springing back with an upbeat riposte.

The software giant was keener to focus on its flagship educational product, the Microsoft Learning Gateway, a collaborative platform based on SharePoint for running VoIP, mail and Web 2.0 applications in schools.

Full marks to the organisers for their skills in juxtaposition: Apple's bold positioning next to Microsoft generated a stream of competitive banter throughout the show.

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Apple certainly wasn't content with playing second fiddle to Microsoft, bringing along a saxophone-wielding musician.

The multi-talented Joe Moretti pulled in huge numbers for his demonstration of Apple's GarageBand personal recording studio.

Apple, which confessed to doing little business at BETT, used the event as more of a showcase.

Aside from the display of its iMac and MacBook Pro range, some of the products touted were of peripheral use for the education sector, for example Apple's movie-making software Final Cut Express or Apple Wiki Server, its collaborative offering.

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4 of 7 Richard Thurston/ZDNET

Dell took a different tack to attracting visitors: a singing, flashing robot offered sweets and rulers.

Rather more helpfully, the robot also offered a guide to Dell's education portfolio.

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5 of 7 Richard Thurston/ZDNET

Dell was particularly keen on selling its new Latitude laptop, the XT, which, with a nifty swivelling manuoeuvre, transforms from standard laptop format into a tablet.

The 12.1-inch convertible is very thin. Dell says it should prove useful for people who walk around while using their PC, for example teachers or doctors taking notes as they move around the classroom or hospital.

The dual-core Vista-powered machine recognises all but the worst handwriting and connects via both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Customers who want the XT, which was released in late December, will have to fork out around £1,000 for the device, which can be customised, in true Dell tradition.

We're not sure why Dell showed us a model with a system-failure message on it.

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6 of 7 Richard Thurston/ZDNET

If there has been one resounding theme throughout BETT so far, it has been collaborative working, and an important tool for this is a kind of electronic whiteboard which allows you to draw and amend your work and send it to your colleagues.

This version was being demonstrated by Smart Technologies, one of the leaders in the market.

Smart was demonstrating how you could annotate a web page to describe a concept to someone, in this case how you could travel by Tube.

You could expect to pay upwards of £600 for a board like this, or £2,300 for Smart's giant 77-inch "Smart Board".

The board comes with a projector so you can carry out presentations, and it even knows that you're writing in red because the red pen has been removed from its tray. This capability depends on the pens being put back in the correct tray of course.

The equivalent of a left mouse click is performed by touching the screen lightly with the pen, and a right click by holding the pen to the canvas for several seconds.

ZDNet.co.uk asked Smart if they would demonstrate the technology with a route diagram from Elephant and Castle to Baker Street. It should require one direct train on the Bakerloo line.

The offered route of walking to Waterloo and then changing twice didn't quite meet expectations, but then the beauty of the technology is that you can always rub it out and start again.

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7 of 7 Richard Thurston/ZDNET

Edujam is an example of one of the myriad of smaller suppliers at the show with niche educational offerings.

This start-up from the Welsh borders aims to empower schoolchildren to create multimedia content and upload it to a school portal for sharing and discussion in class. Parents can be given remote access so they can see each day what their child has been doing.

The software is hosted so it should be relatively easy to maintain. £300 buys a school a recording kit, which includes a video camera, voice recorder, microphone and headphones, and the portal allows access to all video, audio and written material in one place.

Edujam is trying to convince teachers to turn schoolchildren into creative producers. An ego-driven, logistical headache? Possibly. But it may be also be a great way to equip children with the IT skills of the future.

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