We are keen supporters of TeachMeet Takeovers at BETT. We actually hosted the very first one by Tom Barrett in 2010 and, frankly, it was such a blast, we couldn’t wait to volunteer our stand for 2012.
This year we were lucky enough to have three teachers take over our stand, each of whom, in the spirit of TeachMeet, were more than happy to share their presentations with us so we could share them with you. What a wonderful world!
1. Mark Anderson (a.k.a. @ICTevangelist) kicked off with a crowded session on Thursday where he shared the “cornerstones” of his classroom: Web 2.0 tools you can use straight away. He managed to cram an unbelievable amount into just 15 minutes and told us about the following, to name just a few:
Popplet, a mindmapping tool that works on the iPad
2. On Friday, we were delighted to have Julia Skinner(a.k.a. @TheHeadsOffice) “let loose” [her own words] on the stand and tell us all about the 100 word challenge, a creative writing challenge which aims to spark the imagination of potentially reluctant writers. It’s truly awe-inspiring to see what kids have written and shared with a worldwide blogging (and tweeting) community.
3. And finally on Friday we had Phil Bagge (a.k.a. Baggiepr) take over the stand with an animated and engaging presentation about how easy and effective it is to blog in schools using an iPod Touch and Posterous.
There’s no shortage of post-BETT chatter clogging up the internet super highway this week and most folks can sum up their time far more eloquently than us, plus we were kind of tied to our stand for the duration, so we’ll keep this debrief…brief. Our highs, lows, and everything in between…
1. VIBs and a girl named Phoebe
For the past few years, we’ve invited VIBs (Very Important BrainPOPpers - expert BrainPOP Educators) to help us out on our stand. We figure it’s better for teachers to hear from teachers about BrainPOP than just a demo from us*. So a round of applause and huge thank you to Dawn Hallybone (@dawnhallybone), Charlie Deane (@charliedeane) and Ian Addison (@ianaddison) who all rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in for BrainPOP.
Special mention must go to an honorary VIB, who operated the stylus on the IWB for us when we showed BrainPOP movies on the Saturday afternoon, like only a 10 year old history fan can. She worked the board as competently as any dyed in the wool classroom teacher.
Phoebe watches the Cleopatra movie
Phoebe, we salute your laid back style and whiteboard skills. And you’ve got great taste in movies: Black Death, Queen Elizabeth I and Cleopatra to name but a few.
*Please note: we don’t actually pitch, that’s not how we roll.
2. TeachMeet Takeovers
Having been the host to the first ever TeachMeet Takeover in 2010, we were keen to offer up our stand once again. On Thursday we watched Mark Anderson (@ictevangelist) present on Web 2.0 tools you can use straight away, followed by Friday appearances from Julia Skinner (@TheHeadsOffice) who kindly shared what she’s been up to with her 100 word challenge, and Phil Bagge (@Baggiepr) who talked about using Posterous on the iPod touch. We’ll be doing a post shortly showcasing all of their presentations - there’s too much to fit in here - so stay tuned and watch this space!
It wasn’t a Takeover but we also welcomed Mr Handley’s class who presented a masterclass in BrainPOP. They were incredible and a real highlight of the show for us. This presentation deserves a full blog post to itself so look out for that. In the meantime see the post they wrote up on their BETT visit.
Mr Handley's class meets Moby at BETT 2012
3. The heart-stopping moment when your wi-fi fails
We were so excited about our “media counter“. We were finally going to be able to show off just how flexible BrainPOP is: For use at school, home, and on the go. BrainPOP can be accessed via the Sony PS3, various flash-enabled tablet devices, and also our free app for iPad, iPod touch and iPhone. We were also keen to hear Dawn Hallybone’s top 5 educational apps.
However, none of this is possible if your wi-fi connection fails. And fail it did!
It’s fair to say we were pretty devastated about both of the above but have learnt a good lesson for forthcoming years. Do not rely on wi-fi at BETT.
4. Are you using iPads, iPod touch or iPhones in school?
A question we asked everyone we spoke to. And it seemed for every teacher with access to iPods or iPads in school, there were another three who were visiting BETT to help them make a decision: Is there enough content available to justify the spend on such devices?
While we can’t speak for other suppliers, we are well aware of the growing multitude of helpful apps and tools available for mobile devices which can be used in schools. As we’ve mentioned many times now, we’ve got a free app you can download from iTunes and start using it today. You’ll find top tips for classroom use available on our Mobile page.
5. The goodies, the goodies!
As ever, BrainPOP goodies seemed to go down a storm. But, when we’re surrounded by suppliers who seem to be offering less and less giveaways on their stands each year, we’ve got to wonder whether it’s truly worthwhile having them.
What do you think? As a teacher, does it make any difference whether you get something to take away and share with your class? Or, does it all end up in the bin at the end of the day anyway? We implore you to let us know.
6. Evaluate BrainPOP? No bother
If you spoke to any of the BrainPOP team at BETT you’ll know that this year we opted to set up a generic free trial for the event. This meant that anyone could walk away and log in to BrainPOP as soon as they liked; no messing with emails and activation links and all that jazz.
Not only did we make the free trial process as simple as can be, we created evaluation booklets, each with a photocopiable topic sheet so your class could complete an evaluation of BrainPOP for you. Download the PDF here if you didn’t manage to grab a copy last week:
Click image to download
7. Moby does the robot
Erm, there are no words?
(iPod touch, iPhone and iPad are all trademarks of Apple Inc.)
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:
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.
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).
BrainPOP UK was proud and excited to host the first everTeachmeet Takeover at BETT 2010.
But before Takeovers there was TeachMeet itself. If you don’t know what Teachmeet is you’re not alone! Teachmeet is a growing educational fringe movement, centred on local evening events hosted by teachers for teachers, to allow the sharing of ideas and best practice.
It’s pretty awesome. If there’s one happening in your local area it’s a very worthwhile event to attend.
BrainPOP UK has been very supportive of these events for some time, and we were even asked to make a movie to explain Teachmeet.
But a major challenge of any movement is to encourage new members to join; to spread the word; to invite fresh blood into the tribe. BETT 2010 offered an opportunity to get the discussion and demonstrations of new online tools to a wider audience. Thus was born Teachmeet Takeover! You can read more on why we took part on our post: Off to BETT Part 3 - TeachMeet Takeover .
Drew kicks off Teachmeet Takeover at BETT2010 on the BrainPOP UK stand
Drew Buddie (@digitalmaverick), kicked things off with a talk on using Web 2.0 Tools. This was more historic moment than perhaps it appeared. For the first time at BETT a stand was being used to promote something other than its product.
We all learned an important lesson in this first presentation, which is the importance of speaking LOUDLY!!! (BETT background noise is l-o-u-d). We didn’t have a microphone, or one of those fancy Madonna style headsets. Or even a megaphone. But most people could see and hear what Drew was presenting and that was the main thing.
The audience and the BrainPOP UK team all leaned loads about using slideshow animation tools to bring pics, pdfs, and other media to new life. Drew took stills from some great BrainPOP UK movies, and showed how they could be given a new spin as annotated resources for kids, or, indeed, by kids.
Tom Barrett was up next on the Friday and he gave a superb presentation on using Voicethread in the classroom. In case you missed it check out Tom’s excellent Google doc: “17 ways to use Voicethread in the Classroom”
Friday is the busiest day but even so the stand was mobbed. In fact, the queue was building out of the stand and blocking the pathway. But that’s kind of the point - be a little disruptive and get noticed. People were stopping and staying to see what all the fuss was about.
There were a series of great presentations on the variety of Takeovers and they’re sparking some fascinating debates about the impact and implications of Teachmeet - such as this much-commented on post on Tom Barrett’s blog .
So if you’re off to BETT 2011 keep an eye out for TeachMeet Takeover flyers…who knows what you could learn?
