Victoria Bachvarova, educational methodology and development expert and Daniela Todorova, project manager at
Centre for Inclusive Education visited
BETT 2016 (British Education and Training Technology Exhibition) which is one of the biggest international exhibition in the field educational technologies. It was held in London between January 20 and 23, 2016. The exhibition unites, every year since 2000, at one place inspiring lecturers, business experts, IT specialists, producers, teachers and principals from all over the world.
The Centre for Inclusive Education team came back from BETT fulfilled with very pleasant emotions and new ideas.
More than 800 exhibitors presented this year their products – hardware, software and innovations to facilitate learning and teaching. The number of visitors for the 4 days exceeded several thousands of people, but thanks to the perfect organization there was not any tension.
Except the numerous stands, in the exhibition space was built a big scene for key lecturers, as well as were set up corners, where in parallel workshops were held in different fields: Primary education, Grammar school, Special needs, Higher education, Technologies of the future, Science and etc.
While in Bulgaria we are trying to limit the time spent with tablets and computers of our children, we saw how the British schools are doing everything to promote the use of technologies and mastery of new “virtual” skills.
Sensor lights, sensory rooms’ equipment, interactive boards were only a small part of what could be seen.
The stands of robotics, coding and animation provoked great interest.
There was a big variety of software to teach lessons and to examine pupils in a very entertaining and engaging way.
Different producers have been developed programs to support children with dyslexia and dyscalculia, to read easily and to advance their mathematical skills.
The focus was on programs to monitor pupils’ progress as well as online platforms to communicate and exchange information with parents.
It is an undisputed fact that the technologies are the future. It is a question of time they to become part of our schools, but of course we are those who can accelerate this process, to make learning easier, more accessible and entertaining as soon as possible not only for pupils, but also for teachers themselves.
This visit was organized within project "One school for all", supported by
America for Bulgaria Foundation.
