So long, farewell, auf wiedersen aBETT

Released 15/01/2010

Final thoughts from BETT 2010 by Suzannah

BETT 2010 is nearly over for me, but before I head home to rest my aching feet and kill some braincells in front of the TV, I thought I'd leave you with my stand out trend from this year's show.

It may be a throwback to dissapointing 3D films of my childhood, or the fact that I have yet to see Avatar, but I have been blown away by the 3D technology and content on display here.

There are various ways to bring 3D into the classroom, of which I'm sure I will be writing more in the near future. There is also a growing variety of 3D content - of varying quality and varying educational value, it has to be said.

But apart from the sheer drama of 3D (who can resist ducking as meteors fly towards you while you learn about the solar system, or jumping as a dog jumps up to bark at you as you tour a Tudor village?) there is an underlying excitement here.

It sounds obvious, but the great thing about ICT in education is giving children new mediums with which to learn and to express their learning. Did you find it hard to express your projects on paper in school? Would you have preferred to make a podcast report and talk through the information and connections you had learned and made? Today, pupils increasingly have the option to express themselves in a way that suits them, and that can only be a good thing.

But taking it further, ICT helps us engage different learning styles - the rich visual and tactile posibillities of interactive displays are testament to that. 3D adds another facet to the possibilities for visual leaning, and it is an especially exciting one. At the Texas Instruments stand, I met Kathryn Macaulay of the Abbey School in Reading. She described 3D as 'the missing piece of the jigsaw' for many pupils and spoke passionately about the difference it can make for children who struggle to connect with other learning styles.

There is lots to be done still in terms of developing great educational content and solid pedagogies around 3D learning, but there is an unmistakeable sense that this could be a great tool for schools of the future. As with anything, I just hope that schools invest wisely and invest in proper training and support so that 3D is used effectively to transform teaching as well as learning styles and doesn't just become another flashy gimmick to be gather dust in years to come.

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