For the second day I programmed myself to go to the seminars and to contact hardware and software suppliers in the show. Having been disappointed at the lack of SEN input yesterday I was determined to make the most of it today. So I started with :-
Accessible Ai – talk BETT arena – Friday 26th January 2018
A very exciting and interesting seminar which said :
- AI Predicted to increase over the next decade
- China racing the US in impacting this market
AI offers Deep learning- voice and image recognition which is already here
Seeing Ai available – a product that has been created by Microsoft I believe that makes sense of the world through the mobile device camera. You can download it on the all store and will be enourmously helpful to the blind community. It is freely available now.
In terms of what skills we shall need to make the most of this explosion of AI in the future we shall need:-
- Investment in maths for young people, programmers,engineers
- AI will Invade all our lives in the future
There is a schools’s project which has just been run that gives 6 Stand alone sessions using video imaging and amazon servers.
And now for the exhibition stands
At stand 440 robitixs usa – this uses programmable tiles to create learning events.
Suitable for even pre-school. A hand held device using NFC tag technology or similar has created learning events that speak.
Padcaster is an expensive but useful tool which if I had the money (around £1000) i would buy where all the tools for producing professional video from video , sound capture, lighting and teleprompt are built in
Texthelp with Google Education explaining the free benefits that are available to help dyslexic users via Google Chrome
Back to the talks… for a sitdown!
Stephen Heppell – Workload and Wellbeing
Stephen Heppell on co2 in the classroom- note the quote on adhd
Stephen inspires and shows insight into present education system by focusing on health and wellbeing not only in the uk but worldwide
Look at the Christmas tree trail! Great idea for mapping and treasure trail. Get your pupils to draw over a screenshot of an area and draw on it. Then go outside and do the walk or cycle ride till you complete the shale using GPS.
How we make gains in the sports world is by marginal gains if only we apply this to education!
Where can we move one step forward in making maginal changes and improvements.
Lack of finance doesn’t stop innovation
Ideas for creating innovative learning spaces.
Learning situations that work.Act of asking works – despite budget cuts
Where do we get esteem? Tell people. How good to thank people and encourage each others success.
Engage with adventurous learning – world champions breaking records from the guiness book of records. Shout it out!
What’s next?
- Quantum computing and AI
- Qubits – you can do anything you like. What can you do with your learning.
- Blockchain – completely opposite of multi-academy
Be on the right not on the left!! It’s both/and but we need to consider how important to our well-being the right hand side is when currently our IT education is more on the right side with computing and programming.
Interesting talk by a parent – Emilie-Kate Kidd
Individualised assessments company
Charity funding assessments
And now from the head teacher of the school her son attended.
Joey Burgess , Blosson House School

She emphasised that the system was letting sen children down as result of underfunded and over- stretched educational system. She offered some tips to help teachers in supporting special needs pupils such as smile and encourage. Don’t use the negative use the positive “after we do this you will be able to do what you wanted to do.”
Back to the exhibition……
TTS stand also has some interesting products for SEN . Easi-speak microphone has gone Bluetooth with better buttons and the facility to send to a Bluetooth speaker for the class to hear!
There is a wrist band device which can be programmed with a short message. Useful for cerebral palsy children but not yet perfect as it requires accuracy for the child to activate the device. I think if they make it the whole area switchable then it would be great for that need.

Octagon studios have produced an augmented reality set of cards that you can download an app to activate. Dinosaur 4D+ and Humanoid 4D+ are the packs I bought at a bargain show price of 2 for £10 i think the normal price is £15 per pack. Which in the dinosaur case gives you 14 dinosaurs to play with . I particularly like the t-rex as i can make him walk around the room and over people using a joystick control. Not all the dinosaurs do that!!


That is my visual tour of BETT 2018!
I also visited 2Simple software and had a chat with long-time colleague and friend Nigel Canvin who introduced me to his team and looked in depth at the tools and activities on Purple Mash which is online teacher lesson resource and tools area to create activities. I will be using it on my pupil’s 1:1 where I have internet access.
Also did a short interview with Russell Prue on his BETT Radio station about current trends in SEN, apps and new technology and their assistive uses such as the Amazon Echo Dot – a cost effective device . A useful website for creative apps to use with the Echo Dot is http://www.iftttt.com . You can create useful workarounds as you can’t email directly from the echo dot but you can set up to 20 people to be emailed when you add an item to your shopping list!
AccessAbility Solutions 