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Filed under:  As the doors opened on day two of BETT 2012, thousands of teachers and education professionals from across the globe made their way into Olympia to experience all that is on offer in the way of educational technology. As always, the bee-it team were up bright and early to welcome visitors to the bee-it stand (Stand P39) and to set off on another day of discovery around the exhibition.
The first port of call was the Press Office for the SMART breakfast press conference to listen to Nancy Knowlton, Co-founder and Director of SMART Technologies, explain the latest innovations on offer from the company.
In a shift away from tradition and new to BETT this year is SMART’s Light Raise interactive projector. The team behind this development have been assessing ways to make SMART products more affordable for schools and are now offering this new solution as an alternative to interactive whiteboards. Nancy commented:
“The key points about the Light Raise interactive projector is that it is fully integrated with SMART products such as Notebook, it gives access to the SMART Exchange which currently hosts over 51,000 digital resources, and importantly, it leverages existing classroom surfaces for classroom equity.”
In addition to the launch of the Light Raise interactive projector, Nancy announced that a new software upgrade is now available free of charge to schools with SMART 800 series whiteboards. The upgrade will enables up to four users to simultaneously work together, either via the digital pens or through fingertips.
Visitors to BETT can see SMART on Stand B50 and try out these new developments plus several others, as well as hear more about future developments including the soon-to-be-released SMART Notebook v.11 with 3D tools. There are also opportunities to take advantage of two special BETT deals, including £250 off any SMART board when trading in any other interactive whiteboard, and 35 per cent off any education training courses.
 Nancy Knowlton demonstrates the latest products in the SMART portfolio
A short trip away in the Grand Hall, there was time for a pit stop on Stand A31 to find out what’s new with home school communications experts, Contact Group.
Most people will be familiar with Contact Group because of their well-known automated telephone and text messaging systems, Truancy Call and Call Parents. Over the last year, the team at Contact Group have been collaborating with CardSave and Pebble to integrate a parental payment tool into the system. Director Stephen Clarke commented:
“It was vital that the payment portal would be easy to access and easy to use for both parents and schools alike. We wanted to ensure that school administrators could simply log in and add items for sale to the system that would be instantly available for purchase by the parents. Equally, we wanted parents to be able to log in, select their child (if they have several within the school) and make the payment in a quick and easy but secure way. We now believe that our new solution offers exactly that.”
In a big step forward, both Truancy Call and Call Parents will be merged into one package and added to ‘the cloud’ from spring 2012 onwards. For schools, this means accessing the systems will be possible from any computer with an internet connection, without the need for any installation. It also means that the way data is presented will be much more customisable, saving time for the user.
Keen to congratulate Oxford University Press (OUP) on their success at the BETT Awards last night, the next stop was Stand F110 to chat about the award-winning Oxford Owl, as well as the other OUP products on display.
This year at BETT, OUP are focusing on demonstrating the breadth of products they have available for schools. Computer pods situated around the stand invite visitors to select which category of product they are interested in and, after selecting the age range and subject matter, they are presented with demonstrations and access to a wealth of relevant resources. If you’re heading to BETT over the coming days, try out the pods for yourself and find out which products your school could benefit from. Why not also have a peek at the superb free Oxford Owl website whilst you’re there?
 A pupil tries out some of the resources on offer at the Oxford University Press stand
The voyage of BETT discoveries continued around the corner on Stand H6 where the Nelson Thornes team had been joined by television mathematician and scientist, Johnny Ball who was presenting a fascinating session about how to make maths lessons more engaging.
Over the next two days, Johnny Ball and former teacher, headteacher and Ofsted inspector, Pie Corbett will be giving presentations covering creative writing, innovative story writing, science and maths, and offering support and ideas for teachers to help them engage pupils.
Additionally, Nelson Thornes will be demonstrating their Kerboodle Learning Suite – a bank of resources for 35 curriculum subjects across Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 – as well as launching a brand new Creative Writing App in association with Pie Corbett so it’s well worth a trip to Stand H6!
 Johnny Ball shares some of his mathematical expertise
For schools that are keen to hear more about safe social networking and the benefits it can have in the education sector, a visit to Lightspeed Systems Europe on Stand S42 is a must.
Last year at BETT, Lightspeed introduced My Big Campus, a safe social network exclusively aimed at the education sector, to the UK. Following tremendous growth, the system is now being used by over 800,000 teachers and pupils and is constantly being redeveloped to improve functionality, including a recent integration with YouTube Edu and a free, highly engaging and intuitive mobile app for both iPhone and Android devices.
Visitors to the Lightspeed stand at BETT can take advantage of free sign up codes for My Big Campus, as well as enter a fantastic competition to win a trip to California – exciting stuff!
For those who are not able to visit BETT, there is still an opportunity to get a free My Big Campus account by heading to www.mybigcampus.co.uk/sign-up and entering the code ‘c2mx8ey9’.
As the clock struck 5pm in the Grand Hall, Crick Software cracked open the champagne and brought out the nibbles to celebrate the official launch of the highly anticipated Clicker 6 on Stand F40.
In December 2011, bee-it was invited to test drive the new version of the award-winning reading and writing tool at Crick Software headquarters. To read the full article from this event and discover more about what Clicker 6 has to offer, click here.
As well as being able to try out Clicker 6, visitors to BETT 2012 are also able to take advantage of some great special offers on the Crick Software stand, including half price Widgit icons with any purchase of Clicker 6 and huge savings across the full suite of Crick software products. Plus, as a special gift for bee-it users, the first ten people to head to Stand F40 and quote ‘bee-it’ will receive a limited edition Clicker 6 thermal travel mug – perfect for those wintry morning commutes!
 Clicker 6 being demonstrated on the Crick Software stand
The final visit of the day was to see games based learning experts, i-education and find out what was new for their highly-acclaimed games based homework and revision system, I am Learning on Stand Q22. As well as hosting several Teachmeet Takeovers at BETT 2012, the team have been busy demonstrating the brand new ‘multiplayer gaming’ feature, designed to add an additional competitive element to the system through simultaneous gaming. This new development is anticipated to encourage more extensive use among pupils as they strive to beat their counterparts.
Speaking about their experience of BETT 2012 so far, Michael Wilkinson, Director of i-education, commented:
“We have been rushed off our feet over the last two days! We always enjoy talking about I am Learning with regular users as well as introducing the service to potential new schools, and the Teachmeets have been excellent.
“I think it is important to listen to what teachers are doing in their schools and how they are using technology successfully in their classrooms. The Teachmeet Takeovers have allowed teachers to share their practices and collaborate with others, which can only be a good thing.”
To see why games based learning is helping pupils across the country, visit Stand Q22 and try out I am Learning for yourself!
And with that, day two draws to a close, bringing with it the end of another busy day on the bee-it stand. We had the pleasure of welcoming some familiar faces, including Stuart Porter of TrueTube, the free online educational resource focused on RE, Citizenship and English, as well as many more new-bees.
If you’re heading to BETT 2012, stop by Stand P39 and enter the bee-it free prize draw to win a Kindle!
Stay tuned to bee-it for all the latest from Day Three of BETT 2012, coming tomorrow!
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