On Friday the 27th of February, members of Coretek visited the 2017 Bett show. We reflected on what stood out for us and what we think will be the next big thing in educational IT.
The BETT Show was a very useful experience for any schools looking to find out what are the latest trends in educational technology.
We found that IFP’s are easily the biggest trend of 2017, following on from last year. The difference being that now there are a much wider range of options available. Smart and Promethean are still big players but other companies such as Clevertouch are now offering comparable, competitive products. In addition, vendors such as BenQ have also come into the market offering products for the more budget conscious schools. Although it’s not new news, it’s important to mention that the Smart Notebook software is now a paid annual subscription. Smart do provide one year free with a new board or IFP.
All of the IFP’s we saw at the show have Android build in, which means that teachers can do basic annotation and web browsing even without connecting their laptop. This also provides access to the apps available on the Google Play store for use on the board. Some, such as Clevertouch, have their own bespoke app stores with exclusive apps.
As many are predicting, it is likely that VR is going to the next big thing in IT. However, the number of units available for testing at this year’s BETT was quite limited. We had a play with the ClassVR headsets (which is a VR product designed for schools) but found the technology to be fairly limited. There are some fantastic VR products on the market such as the Vive and Oculus but these are going to be currently too expensive for most schools. It will be interesting to see if there will be more VR options next year.
Did you attend the BETT show and have any thoughts that you would like to share with us? Get in touch!