POPtalk

This year at BETT we welcomed two International VIBs to join the BrainPOP team, Adina Popa (Technology Resource Teacher/International Ambassador, Loudoun County, VA) & Tammie Mihet (4^th Grade Teacher/Teacher Trainer, First Baptist Academy, Naples, FL). They have been using the American English version of BrainPOP in their classrooms for many years. We asked them to provide their unique perspective on the BETT event as a visitor, Collab8 4 Change keynote presenter, VIB and teacher.

Tammie (left), Moby (middle) and Adina (right)

“Do you want to see the latest and greatest technological advances in the education field? Do you want to rub shoulders with the brightest names in ICT? Then head to the BETT Show and come ready to be blown away.

That is what we did last week.  Except we didn’t jump on a train to get there.  We flew through the night, all the way from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, very eager to take part in the biggest  ICT show in the world.

Our first impression when we walked in…overwhelming!  Overwhelming not because it was confusing or disorganized, it was just the opposite.

Overwhelming because we felt like kids at Disneyland – so much to see, and so many activities in which to participate!

The real treat, however, was our involvement in the show. We didn’t fly all the way from the US just to experience BETT as visitors. We came to take part in it.  We were VIBs – “Very Important BrainPOPers“.  As VIBs we shared the power of BrainPOP with people from around the world.  What an amazing opportunity we had to meet parents, teachers and school leaders and to share our passion for BrainPOP and its ability to drastically impact the learning of our students.

Through our encounters we showcased many features BrainPOP offers:

1. Research-based short videos that enhance instruction in any subject
2. Quizzes that are integrated with Promethean whiteboards and ready to be taken via personal response systems
3. Class charts with student responses that can be exported to PDF and graded accordingly
4. Extension activities through the FYI section
5. Closed captioning (subtitles to you guys!)
6. ESL lessons that teach English in a very stimulating environment

We also had the opportunity to attend and deliver a mini-note at Collabor8 4 Change, event held on Thursday evening, and sponsored by a few ICT leaders, including BrainPOP UK.

The layout of the evening was beautifully arranged. The opening address was provided by Lord Jim Knight, who mentioned that ICT needs to be quintessential to education.   As we listened to Lord Knight we began to realize that, no matter which side of the Atlantic we call home, we are all facing similar struggles – economies are failing, schools are cutting budgets, and ICT integration is jeopardized.

It is, therefore, important that as innovators we lead the way in illustrating the importance of 21st century tools in educating our children. Throughout the evening we listened to lead educators who shared ideas on successful implementation of technology.

As a result of listening to these presentations, we created future collaboration plans between the two continents, and felt ready to implement many cutting-edge initiatives in our own schools.

The evening ended with two mini-notes, one delivered by us.  Our theme centered on the fact that collaboration, especially at the international level, is becoming a necessity in education today.

It is required by our ever-evolving society, and its integration is essential in order to understand and respect our globally connected world.  There are many ways to connect globally, and quite a few are offered through BrainPOP.  From international competitions, to BrainPOP Educators, to POPtalk, students and teachers alike have a place to learn and share practices, lessons, and finished products.  BrainPOP is a great catalyst in facilitating collaborations, and it is a good place to start collaborative activities.

As we reflect on our time at BETT two things are very evident:

1. There are some amazingly dedicated teachers and professionals out there working tirelessly to reach our kids
2. Technology has magnetic power; it can engage even the most obstinate learner

Personally we feel that BrainPOP is on the frontline, reaching out to teachers and students, and transforming the classroom into an engaging, 21^st Century environment.  There is a saying that comes to mind when we think about the BrainPOP family: “Behind every great product there is a great team.”

Thank you, Adina & Tammie! We hope to welcome you next year as our favourite International VIBS

Related Posts:

• Turning it up to 11 at BETT
• Teachers Takeover BETT 2011
• Joining the dots with the VIBs
• I Met Moby @ BETT 2011
• Collabor8 4 Change – a new ‘unconference’ at BETT 2011

Much like the Edinburgh festival many of the more interesting activities at the BETT show happen on the fringe. Although with Learning Without Frontiers, TEDX, Collabor8 4 Change and the TeachMeet being sold out it seems what was the fringe a few years ago is now challenging the mainstream for why teachers throng to London in mid January.

One of the most exciting of these developments is the TeachMeet Takeovers, where a commercial supplier gives their stand over to a classroom practitioner to present on a free tool, service or learning experience that they want to share. We really like this idea as it appeals to the BrainPOP ethos that places, above all else, the learner at the heart of things. And it feels deliciously rebellious too

We had 4 teachers present their Takeovers – Dan Roberts, Alessio Bernardelli, Ian Guest and Bill Lord. Each one of them was erudite, interesting and entertaining. We uploaded some recordings of them below. We really do recommend you take the time to watch them, you will walk away enriched with practical ideas to take into your classroom.

Dan Roberts aka @chickensaltash “35 Free Tech Tools in 6 Mins and 40 secs”

This is the Slideshare which contains all the links:

Chicken pecha kucha 20×20 free tech tools

Bill Lord, aka @Joga5, talking about his Year 1 “Giraffeclass” in which he employed Twitter as a tool for literacy:

Ian Guest aka @ianinsheffield gives a TeachMeet Takeover entitled “Poll Dancing – Using online tools for formative assessment, eliciting opinion & stimulating discussion”. He recommends some really excellent free Poll tools and best practice on how to use them in the classroom.

Related Posts:

• Turning it up to 11 at BETT
• Sharing the TeachMeet Takeovers from BETT 2012
• BETTer late than never – highlights from BETT 2012
• Back from BETT 2010 Part 2 – Teachers Takeover BrainPOP UK
• Back from BETT 2010 part 1: Sparking conversations – the VIB effect

It’s traditional at BrainPOP to ask teachers to join us at BETT each year. We call them VIBs.

2011 was no exception. We welcomed more VIBs than ever before: Dawn Hallybone, Ian Addison, Charlie Deane,  Tim Handley, Adina Popa, Tammie Mihet,  Tom Sale , Mhairi Healy, Vickie Bacon, Patricia McLean and James Maloney . All passionate about embedding ICT into classroom practice and all BrainPOP fans. But how do we get such great teachers to volunteer their valuable time to help support BrainPOP?

Our Friday VIBs (clockwise from left): Jim Maloney, Tom Sale, Dawn Hallybone, Ian Addison, Charlie Deane, Mhairi Healy

In truth it’s a million small interactions but essentially it comes down to two things.

First and foremost, the concept of a VIB wouldn’t be possible if the BrainPOPpers didn’t place keeping our customers happy as our No.1 priority. That’s easy to write, and often claimed, but hard work in practice. Working with our Educators is KEY to the BrainPOP experience. Just having a great product isn’t enough these days. We’re a social business.

Secondly, teachers and parents can be just as passionate about an educational resource they use, as the iPhone they carry or the TV show they tune into every week. If you’re lucky enough to find and connect with those engaged customers then it’s important to give them ways (small or large) to express that.

So when you combine a real time, personalised & remarkable customer experience with an amazing product you can, if you’re lucky, invite your customers to collaborate with you. So we do. Having a close connection with our Educator network makes a substantial difference to the quality of the conversations and feedback we can have with teachers, and not just at BETT.

And that’s what VIBs do – metaphorically speaking, they join the dots for us.

Teachers are fatigued with sales people at exhibitions like BETT, bored with endless direct mail and dismissive of cold calling. The chance for one teacher to connect  to another teacher, even if they don’t work directly with the same age range, makes a world of difference. It’s all to do with “domain expertise“, which even the BrainPOPpers cannot rival when it comes to talking about using BrainPOP day to day with pupils, and the power of word of mouth referral.

So we implicitly trust our Educators to support and represent BrainPOP. They are our Ambassadors and our Advocates. They simply are “Very Important” to us.

We’ll leave the final words to Jim Maloney, a Year 5 teacher and ICT Leader (and VIB!), from Blackpool:

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• Turning it up to 11 at BETT
• The magnetic power of technology
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• Quick! I’ve only got 10 mins

For some people, BETT is about innovative ICT, for others, it’s about networking. And for a special few, it’s the annual opportunity to meet inspiring colleagues in the world of education.

But we were thinking along the lines of something a little more ORANGE and ROBOTIC.

Yes, we’re talking about meeting the mechanical maestro himself – Moby the BrainPOP robot. This year he had his very own photobooth where BrainPOP fans could have their picture taken with Moby. It was a massive successs and he LOVED the attention.

Were you one of the lucky few who grabbed a special moment with the robotic rascal? If so, go and add yourself to your photo on Flickr or watch the slideshow below.

Related Posts:

• The magnetic power of technology
• Teachers Takeover BETT 2011
• Turning it up to 11 at BETT
• BrainPOP at BETT 2013
• A grand day out, Moby style

This will be BrainPOP UK’s 3rd year at BETT and this time we’re turning it up to 11.

At BETT 2009/10 we were “up in the Gods”, on the gallery section overlooking the Grand Hall. A sweet spot, but not too easy to find and not much space for Moby to bust out his moves.

Moby on our old 2010 BETT stand

For 2011 we’ve graduated to the ground floor of the Grand Hall, stand No.B60, right in the middle next to the stairs and the RM stand. It’s a modest sized space compared to some of the monolithic structures that surround us but we promise it will be one of the most social and fun stands you visit.

Each day we’ll be meeting lots of current and future BrainPOP Educators and demoing ALL the BrainPOP products and features, including BrainPOP ESL and BrainPOP Jr. Of course there will also be a scintillating array of BrainPOP goodies for you to take back to school to show off.

Here’s a few more reasons you should come and visit our stand:

• We’ll be joined by a number of VIBs – BrainPOP teachers (including Dawn Hallybone, Ian Addison, Tim Handley, Adina Popa, Tom Sale and James Mahoney) who have kindly given up a few hours to show how they effectively use BrainPOP in their classrooms, both 1-2-1 and presenting on our Interactive Whiteboard. They will have their own special VIB tshirts – keep an eye out for them as not only are they passionate about BrainPOP, they are great exponents of relevant and modern ICT practice.
• We’re hosting TeachMeet Takeovers at 2pm on Thurs/Fri (maybe Saturday too). This is when we hand the stand over to a real teacher who gives a presentation about free tools and services that they’ve used in the classroom. We’re honoured and priviliged to have the inspiring Alessio Bernardelli and Dan Roberts doing a tag team Takeover on Thursday about “Using Livestream to create and broadcast pupils work as a TV Show & Chicken Pecha Kucha 20×20 free tech tools” and the fantastic Bill Lord (who is a wonderfully infectious speaker) talking about “Amazing free tools to fire up literacy learners“. You do NOT want to miss these.
• Moby’s Photobooth – come and get a Polaroid portrait picture taken with the big orange fella himself, to treasure forever. His Photobooth will be open most of the show, except when he needs a break to oil his sprockets.
• BrainPOP Spotters! If you visit the BrainPOP stand, get a demo and pick up a special Moby shoulder bag make sure you proudly display it when you’re wandering around the exhibition. Why? Because at 2pm each day Moby will be wandering the exhibition hall looking for a BrainPOP bag. If he “spots” yours then you’ve won a full year’s subscription to the BrainPOP product of your choice. Woot!

BrainPOPpers will also be attending these events:

• Learning Without Frontiers (Drinks reception sponsor and general hob-nobbing – please grab a BrainPOPper if you see one and say hola).
• Collabor8 4 Change – Sponsor, Keynote and round table lead.
• TeachMeet BETT 2011 – Generally kicking back with lots of old (and hopefully new!) friends at this highlight of the educational calendar.

Find us where the little red box is:

The location of the BrainPOP stand at Bett 2011

Related Posts:

• Teachers Takeover BETT 2011
• The magnetic power of technology
• Collabor8 4 Change – a new ‘unconference’ at BETT 2011
• Back from BETT 2010 part 1: Sparking conversations – the VIB effect
• Off to BETT 2010 part 1 – A grand day out

BrainPOP UK are part of a very special new evening event at BETT 2011 – Collabor8 4 Change

BrainPOP UK have long been fans of the unconference / BarCamp model of event, such as TeachMeets and Fishbowling.

This year we were kindly asked to join Merlin John , Apple, Rising Stars & Dave Smith of the Havering ICT team to create a new type of event for teachers.

Collabor8 4 Change is the result – an unconference focused on School Leaders.

So what is it?

• Share best-practice ideas that you can take away and implement in your school
• Collabor8 with like-minded, award-winning ICT innovators that are willing to share
• Join discussion sessions that will challenge thinking and inspire change

What would I get from it?

All attendees will benefit from the experience and conversation with leading ICT practitioners as they openly share best practice use of hardware and software, with an emphasis on the impact on pupil outcomes and making effective use of existing ICT resources.

With an impressive, thought-provoking, mixture of exciting table-based sessions and focused mini-note presentations from ICT experts such as:

• Hannah Jones (Former Special Projects Director at NCSL)
• Steve Bunce (CPD Leader at VITAL)
• Bob Harrison (Consultant with BECTA and the NCSL)
• Adina Popa (Educator, VSTE Innovator of the Year, Staff Developer, #globaled10 Regional Chair, Speaker, Writer)

And it’s completely FREE!

So, what are you waiting for? Follow any of these links to find out more:

• Sign up at the official Collabo8 4 Change web page
• Linked In users can sign up here for the Collabor8 4 Change event page
• Become a Fan on Facebook

Date: Thursday 13th January 2011

Time: 6:00pm- 9:00pm

Venue: The Apex Room, BETT, Olympia, London

Related Posts:

• Turning it up to 11 at BETT
• BrainPOP connects at the Global Education Conference
• The magnetic power of technology
• Teachers Takeover BETT 2011
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