Bett 2016

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
The Bett Arena
The Bett Arena offers access
to some of the highest
profile speakers from
the world of education
technology and this year
sees a particular focus on
STEM. We preview some of
2016’s keynote addresses
Each year, the Bett Arena plays host to
some of the industry’s most inspiring
speakers and is usually the place to hear
from our politicians and policy-makers about
the latest developments in education policy.
A straw poll carried out at Bett 2015, as
visitors left the Bett Arena, asked them to sum
up their experience in just one word. Common
responses included “inspiring”, “fascinating”,
“amazing” and “exciting”.
Education secretary, Nicky Morgan
As is traditional at Bett, the show will be
opened with a morning address at 11am on the
Wednesday, January 20, by Nicky Morgan, the
secretary of state for education.
Details of her address are not yet available,
however, the initial summary of the session
states: “Technology is a powerful tool in
extending and creating opportunities for
young people. That’s why as a ‘One Nation’
government we want all children to be able to
benefit from new innovations and develop the
knowledge and skills they need to succeed in
modern Britain. This year’s Bett Show will help
teachers to identify the support and resources
they need to use technology effectively in the
classroom and I very much look forward to
attending.”
Professor Sugata Mitra
The first Bett Arena session on the opening day,
Wednesday, January 20, will be presented by the
highly respected Professor Sugata Mitra.
Prof Mitra is a professor of educational
technology and director of the interdisciplinary
research centre, SOLE (Self Organised Learning
Environments) Central, at the University of
Newcastle. In 2013, he was awarded the
$1 million TED Prize in recognition of his work
in helping to build a “School in the Cloud”
(www.theschoolinthecloud.org).
This creative online space enables children
from all over the world to come together to
answer “big questions”, share knowledge and
benefit from guidance from educators online.
The School in the Cloud brings together
“SOLEs” and links in with the “Granny Cloud”,
originally set up for retired teachers willing to
offer a few hours a week to help teach English
to Indian school children.
The mentoring and encouraging role that the
“grannies” play is still a vital part of the success
of this educational approach today.
In it together: Sir Bob Geldof addresses
the Bett Arena at the 2015 Bett Show
Prof Mitra’s session – Connecting global
educators and learners – runs from 10:20am to
10:55am. Like all Bett Arena sessions, it is free
to attend, but it is strongly recommended that
delegates pre-register as it will be popular.
The Khan Academy
At 12:20pm on the same day, Salman Khan,
founder of the non-profit Khan Academy, will
be explaining how he is “providing a free,
world-class education for anyone, anywhere”
(see www.khanacademy.org).
The Khan Academy is a non-profit
organisation with a learning platform comprised
of practice exercises, instructional videos,
dashboard analytics and teacher tools to
help empower learners in and outside of the
classroom to study at their own pace.
Khan Academy has more than 26 million
registered students and covers a broad range of
subjects. It is being translated into more than 36
languages and is used in 190 countries globally.
For teachers in the UK, his ideas are
invaluable in terms of supporting students who
may need extra catch-up work or providing an
education for excluded children or others.
This is another session for which we
recommend early registration.
STEM
With STEM high on the government’s agenda,
there will be a number of presentations on
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SecEd