At the beginning of our third term in July last year, our then principal, Tracy Laubscher, sent me an excerpt from the ISASA Weekly Bulletin, in which a competition was advertised, the prize being a trip to London to attend BETT 2010.  All I had to do was to write an article on how technology affects learning in our school and what our approach to ICT is.  Tracy encouraged me to enter, and while it took me a while to formulate my article, I duly submitted my piece and promptly forgot about it!  Just over a month later, I was informed that my article had been adjudged the winner!  Ironically, as I opened the email informing me of my win, Tracy walked into my office and the two of us jumped around for joy together – and shed a few tears of excitement!

Sponsored in conjunction by ISASA Publications and UK Trade and Investment Return flights on Virgin Atlantic from OR Tambo to Heathrow, London (including the Cpt/Jhb connections) 6 nights accommodation at the plush Kensington Hotel A school visit Entry to BETT 2010 for 3 days Included VISA fee & spending money!! An invitation to the BETT Awards dinner ISASA Publications sponsored the airfare and UK Trade & Investment covered the rest. I was accompanied by the new editor of Independent Education magazine, Fiona de Villiers, and met in London by Mike Carvalho, CEO at ISASA Publications – what a treat! In effect I was a guest of the British Government and was treated as such! They were fantastic!  I was treated so well by everyone involved.  I was part of a delegation of foreign delegates on an inward bound buying mission to BETT, and we were transported by coach to and from the show each day.  They also arranged the school visit for us and we also attended the BETT Awards dinner. Simon, Barrie and the team from UK Trade & Investment treated us with warmth and friendliness and their organisation was superb.  I felt like a celebrity! I met people from Canada, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Slovenia, China, Malaysia, Spain, Colombia and more. It was a wonderful privilege for me.  I was the only teacher – most of the delegates worked for the education departments of their respective countries, or for private companies, but many of them had teaching backgrounds.  There were also some principals and even the owner of a school amongst the delegates. I learnt that a teacher is a teacher – regardless of where you are in the world.  You face the same trials and tribulations, failures and successes. 

This was a true highlight.  I literally stepped off the plane, dumped my luggage the hotel and got onto the coach, which took us to Westminster Academy at the Naim Dangoor Centre in Westminster. Westminster Academy is a business and enterprise school catering for 11 to 19 years olds – essentially Key Stage 3 to 6th Form. It is a new school in a new, award winning building which, even though it might not be to everyone’s taste, was certainly a talking point. What was very interesting is that the school is built in a huge rectangle with the classrooms all facing an internal atrium. All the classrooms had floor to ceiling high windows facing inwards. This was specifically done so that the teachers could stand on the landings or in the passages and have a clear view into all the classrooms, and so that the pupils would have no hidden areas in which they could get up to mischief. This is part of an initiative to alleviate and prevent bullying at the school. A wealthy Iraqi family donated £2 million to build the school and members of the family still serve on the school board, but the running of the school is funded by the state. We were shown the state of the art music rooms with the most amazing technology and equipment, we visited the impressive canteen which serves three course meals daily, as well as breakfast, and we were taken to their sports academy which has stunning gym facilities and a dance hall. We also sat in on a few lessons, one of which was a Maths lesson. It was immediately clear that technology is totally integrated into the daily running of this school. I have never seen so many computers in a school in my life! Many of the computers were Apple iMacs and interactive whiteboards or tablets were to be found in most of the classrooms. This school is in a low-income area of Westminster and 98% of the pupils who attend the school are of Middle Eastern origin and English is their second language. Up to 60% of the pupils were on the school-feeding scheme, which means that they are provided free meals at school. Despite their home circumstances, these children are receiving top-notch education. This was a truly amazing experience – I would have loved to visit another school just to see a contrast.

Yes, it was FREEZING to say the least! When we arrived it was not snowing, but there was plenty of evidence of snow that had fallen. On the morning of the first day of BETT, I awoke to a carpet of snow – my first ever. I could not wait to go downstairs and take a closer look. The snow was not thick, but it was still snowing and I was soon covered in a layer of white flakes. At 9.30am, when we got onto the coach, the temp was just 2 degrees C!! That was, however, the last of the snow and extreme cold weather – the weather progressively improved and gor warmer. I believe it was the last really cold spell of the winter.

BETT or The BETT show (formerly known as the British Educational Training and Technology Show)

Just a few bits of trivia for you…

Just to get an idea of the size of the venue…

First Impression: WOW!  At first I felt like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car!  I had been warned that BETT was huge, but it was only once I was inside the exhibition venue, that I realised how huge it really was.  The sheer size and numbers of visitors were a little overwhelming at first, but once I had sat down and looked at the map to get my bearings, I decided to use the first day to get a general overview and walk up and down the rows and rows of stands, and just take it all in.  This didn’t really work too well, because I kept being held up at stands when I saw something interesting, so I don’t think I even made it around the whole Grand Hall on that first day!  At the end of the day I was exhausted – I am sure I had walked miles and was suffering from information overload!  I am certain that, even if you used every minute of the four days that the BETT show runs, it would not be possible to visit each exhibitor. Since my situation was a little different, in that I was not at BETT as a buyer specifically, I went back to my hotel and looked at the pamphlets I had collected on that first day and sorted out the information I wanted to keep and then I marked off any stands I wanted to visit again on my map.   I then also decided to visit all the stands of the BETT Awards nominees, which were marked on the map with gold stars.  This is what I ended up doing the next day and it proved to be a good tactic, since these stands were spread out all over the exhibition and I ended up seeing many of the various areas of the show, albeit briefly.  Whenever I came upon something that interested me, I simply introduced myself to the exhibitors and asked them to demonstrate their product to me.  This would often lead to lengthy conversations, especially since many people I met either had been to or were planning to visit South Africa, or they had friends or family who live here! There were so many impressive things to look at and take in, but I was most impressed by the stands of companies that went out of their way to make you notice them, specifically by their different approach. One such company was Serco, a company that was launching its latest product, the Aspire School Improvement Suite. They had a “magician” who caught your attention with card tricks and sleight of hand tricks. Once you were “sucked in “ by his excellent show, he lured you further with he prospect of winning a digital photo frame - if you could open a little plastic box in side which there was a little piece of paper indication whether you were a winner or not. Of course, there was a catch to opening the box! He then promised to show you how to open the box IF you stayed to watch a 5 min presentation of the company’s latest products. Most people stayed on – still lured by the prospect of winning that digital photo frame! Afterwards, he was true to his word, and showed you how to open the box. Sadly I wasn’t a winner, but it was an impressive presentation and the product seemed to be worth something too. Another company, Turning Point, used a tower of cupcakes with the company logo imprinted on the icing to lure potential clients to watch one of their presentations on their student response system. I took two cup cakes, put them in my bag with all my pamphlets and promptly forgot about them!! I found them two days later when I packed my back for the journey home – flat as pancakes! The presentation was worth it though. What struck me most about BETT is that it is all about interactivity!  The stands that promoted products such as interactive whiteboards, interactive tables, touch screen technology and personal response systems were really impressive.  There were many similar products, but each one had its own merits and special features. It was all quite mind-boggling, but oh-so exciting and something I would like to see more of at our school. It was an overwhelming experience. It took me a while to get to grips with what I’d seen and work through it all, specially once I’d come home again.

Produced and presented in partnership by Emap, Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency – now made defunct by the new British Government) and BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association). Show booklet and read a few examples of the categories: Early Years Solutions;Primary Digital Content Secondary;FE and Skills;Digital Content;Digital Collections;Leadership and Management Solutions;Special Educational Needs Solutions;Promoting Safer Learning;Learning and Teaching Tools;Digital Devices;ICT Company of the Year;ICT Exporter of the Year;ICT Education Partnership;ICT Service and Support Award;Outstanding Achievement in ICT Education.

Dinner held on Wed, 13 January 2010 Hilton Park Lane, London Black tie affair – very posh! The Awards dinner was like a mini Oscars ceremony – complete with comedian host and all!  As guests of UK Trade & Investment, we attended a pre-dinner drinks party and then moved on into the venue where the Awards were being held. The tables were beautifully decorated and there was an air of glitz and glamour.   Each guest was also given a small gift at your seat.  The meal, which preceded the actual awards, was a superb three-course dinner.  I was also very pleased to find a bottle of South African wine, from the Western Cape, on the table!  The awards were presented in true Oscars-style, with guest presenters reading out all the nominees per category and then announcing the winner.  After the awards there was a disco and many of the guests partied on into the early hours of the morning! It was very interesting to see which companies won in each particular category, and who they were up against.

As a treat, Mike Carvalho invited Fiona De Villiers and myself down to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, for the weekend, so early on the Saturday morning Fiona and I travelled by train from London to Aylesbury. We were put up in a Holiday Inn Garden Court hotel. We spent the afternoon and evening driving around the countryside, popping in at two or three very quaint little pubs dotted around the countryside. Great fun. Next day, long roundabout drive through countryside to Heathrow to catch plane home again. Arrived home Monday (18th Jan) afternoon (missed son’s first day of Grade 1), but made it back in time for his 7th birthday the next day!!

ICT is my passion and I returned extremely excited by what I had seen.  My trip has shown me just how well ICT can be integrated into the curriculum and into the daily lives of pupils, without losing the importance and relevance of good old-fashioned teaching methods.  ICT is not about sticking a child in front of a computer and teaching him to type a letter – it is about making use of all the technologies around us, such as digital cameras, cell phones, camcorders, laptops etc. to enhance all the senses and stimulate learning.  It’s the real world, a world our children are growing up in and they are totally comfortable with it.  We cannot deny them this.  Such technology opens up a vast variety of ways in which subject matter can be presented and assessed.  Whilst financial constraints, especially in South Africa, might not make it possible to implement some or all of the latest technologies right now, I believe that it is good to dream and work towards a goal.  And, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day!  I was also made aware of how advanced some countries are – like the US and Britain.  We, as South Africans, should not try to compare ourselves with them since it is impossible to measure ourselves against them, especially when it comes to technology and the resources they have made available to their teachers.  We can, however, learn a lot from them and aspire to reach great heights. I met a wonderful young woman from Brazil and in listening to her, I realised that her country faces many of the same issues as we do in education as a whole in South Africa.  That made me feel a whole lot better! The message I am giving to you again, as my colleagues is this… “Open your eyes, see the real world, embrace technology and make sure you are abreast of the latest trends, even if it just to engage in a conversation with your pupils, regardless of whether or not ICT is your field of interest.”

LONDON / BETT 2010 An opportunity of a lifetime! Karen Stadler

HOW? It’s all due to Tracy Laubscher! Competition advertised in ISASA’s Weekly Bulletin. The prize - a trip to London to attend BETT 2010 . Write an article on how technology affects learning in our school and what our approach to ICT is.  I AM THE WINNER!

THE PRIZE

SCHOOL VISIT Westminster Academy at the Naim Dangoor Centre, Westminster

COLDDDD!!

What is BETT? BETT or The BETT Show is an annual trade show held at the Olympia, London exhibition centre in Kensington, London. It showcases the use of information technology in education. It is the largest event of its kind in the world.

BETT FACTS BETT exhibitor stands alone cover 13,935 square metres, which is the same as three and a half football pitches Just over 30,000 educators visited BETT in 2010. Some 700 exhibitors brought 8,863 staff to the show. That is equivalent to the people on 21 Boeing 747-400s. Nearly 20 per cent of visitors to BETT were from overseas, which totals 5,835 visitors. That is about the same number as there are secondary schools in the UK. The average BETT visitor spends 10 hours and four minutes at the show. Therefore, the total amount of time spent by all visitors to BETT this year is 302,070 hours (or 34 and a half years!).

FLOORPLAN

My BETT experience

BETT Awards Dinner The BETT Awards celebrate the best digital products and technological companies supplying ICT for education. The awards are widely regarded to be the most highly esteemed awards in the industry. Showcase outstanding education sector products and learning solutions. 13 categories – 15 in 2011.

Mini Oscars night

A QUICK TRIP INTO THE COUNTRY…

REFLECTIONS… It was a privilege and an honour to have been chosen as the recipient of this prize. A trip to BETT is a truly worthwhile experience – not only for IT staff, but for teachers at grassroots level. ICT integration is all about using all technology in such a way as to enhance learning – not just computers! We cannot deny our children this! “Open your eyes, see the real world, embrace technology and make sure you are abreast of the latest trends, even if it just to engage in a conversation with your pupils, regardless of whether or not ICT is your field of interest.”