IWBs

Shadow

The problem with a shadow on the board is soon to disappear. There are now:

• new large plasma IWBs on the market. Samsung launched a 63" version at the show
• a lot of short-throw IWBs and ultra-short-throw IWBs, which hardly stick out from the wall you project on

Interestingly, apart from the well-known names in whiteboards, there were a number of  (I imagine) unknown Chinese companies present in the show with efficient whiteboards. Hopefully, this competition might help drive down prices.

3D

The future is probably going to be 3D, but:

• progress is slow - not least because software is lagging behind hardware
• the technology is currently using 'active' glasses which recieve information and use batteries and which are still relatively expensive; even if we wanted to purchase, it makes sense to wait for leasing plans to be developed

However, if the school invests in more projectors, if the price allows, they should purchase projectors with the DLP chip which allows 3D.

In one presentation a UK school and Texas Instruments detailed how they had introduced 3D technology into the classrooms to great success. They conducted a controlled experiment in which students were split into 2 groups: 3D and 2D. The teacher used the same lesson plan and a script for their explanations. The final task was to create models. Without prompting, the 3D group all produced detailed 3D models while the 2D group produced flat, less accurate models.

More interaction

Texas Instruments is working towards allowing the teacher and students to interact with the 3D object - pulling it apart and rearranging it.

BETT Award Winner

Promethean won the BETT 2011 ICT Company of the Year Award.

BETT 2011

The following posts are part of a report on BETT 2011.

Use the tags/labels to search by subject or resource.

Each post will (probably!) be added to as the days go past to make it more complete. Please add comments or questions too.

Sir Ken Robinson. Bring on the learning revolution

Here you will hear about so many topics to discuss on and they are all connected: the absurd obsession for university studies, natural talent and doing what you really like, personalised teaching... Inspiring indeed.

Video series

Chat Roulette

Having heard of Chat Roulette, but scared of what I might find, I looked instead for a video about it. I was lucky to find a really cool 'intro' to or 'survey' of the phenomena:

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Wiki types

There's a fantastically well organised and comprehensive list of wiki types here.

bulk account handling at wikispaces

Can't reuse Voki or create a template!!

If anyone reading this knows how to create a voki template so that you can save the same avatar saying different text and so permit longer texts - or simply your own avatar giving instructions for exercises, PLEASE let me know how. I've spent hours trying!!

Cyber-bullying and internet use

There's a great video here, which is hosted by Vimeo but created by a high school, in which students talk about what they use internet for and staff give an overview of internet pros and cons.

Web 2.0 & Grammar - Lexis - incompatible?

Recuerdo mi entrenamiento práctico de profesor. Los tutores insistian en la necesidad de apartarnos de un curriculum basado en conceptos gramaticales que además no eran necesarimente 'verdaderos' (como el 'Future Tense' en inglés que no existe en la realidad). Pero no puedo evitar sentir que aquí hay un peligro de que las posibilidades de la Web 2.0 nos hacen olvidar la razón por que somos nosotros sentados con los niños en clase. Hay muchos adultos en su mundo... ¿en nuestra horita que es la prioridad? ¿O es que ya no estamos sentados... no hay solamente una horita...es una cuestion de nuestra relación con ellos, un papel que tenemos - tanto en su presencía como en el mundo virtual...? ¿El mundo ha cambiado y estoy quedando atrás?   More here.