At the Education Show (4–6 March) at the NEC in Birmingham, Emap which organises this and BETT, has added a new area, the BETT Boulevard. Emap is also offer travel subsidies of up to £150 for educators visiting the show. The Show has been going for 20 years and is free to attend.
To see if you qualify for the subsidy check at The Education Show website), but groups of at least ten staff travelling more than 50 miles can claim a subsidy of up to £150 to hire a coach or minibus. In addition, those travelling on Thursday March 4 can claim an additional £50 bonus.
BETT Boulevard will be located in the For Your School area of Exhibitors planning to show their wares there include Whizz Education and NumberGym, producer of interactive mathematics programs for upper primary and key stage 3 learners.
Among the seminars are a number focusing on ICT and its place in the transformation of learning. For school leaders, for example, Peter Twining, project director at the Open University will present the Leading Learning with New Technologies seminar.
He is also in charge of Vital (Transforming Lessons, Inspiring Learning), the new £5.6 million government-funded partnership between the OU and e-skills UK, designed to provide CPD for the education community to help move the use of ICT in schools and colleges into the 21st Century.
Other seminars will cover topics including Online Networking for Leadership Development, delivered by Stuart Sutherland from The National College, and The Use of 3D Virtual Online Environments for Building For Schools and Beyond.
In the latter Mark Mullis from Middlesbrough City Learning Centre will reveal developments in creating virtual schools in the online 3D world of Second Life so pupils, teachers and governors can see how their design ideas translate and reducing the potential for expensive mistakes.