Presenting at BETT 2014

A few months ago I did a proposal to the organization of BETT to present at that trade show, just like I did last year. Unfortunately my proposal and proposed presentation about global collaboration at one one the live sessions on the main floor at BETT wasn't accepted.

Fortunately, due to the fact that my classroom has been transformed to a SMART Collaborative Classroom I was asked by SMART Technologies to share and present in the SMART Collaborative Classroom about teaching in a Collaborative Classroom and my experiences about global collaboration. That what I've been doing a lot for the past year with other SEEs from around the world. A little nervous I was to do my presentation in a foreign language in the SMART Collaborative Classroom, but was also very excited to do so and to share my experiences and get feedback from likewise teachers. 

With SEE Emil Waldhauser I was due to do my presentation on Wednesday - first thing thing in the morning - and on Friday in the afternoon. Because there weren't so many people present at the time my presentation was about to start we decided to wait a little while. A little later I did the presentation and fortunately Emil Waldhauser was present and did contribute whilst sharing his side of the story when we were collaborating with our classes using SMART Bridgit. It went well, just as on Friday. The attendants were enthusiastic and we shared even more ideas on how to use the Collaborative Classroom. 

On Saturday I was asked by SMART staff to do a stand-up presentation about the use of mobile devices combined with the SMART Board. I could and did share my experiences about the use of eXtreme Collaboration, SMART Response and the use of certain iPad apps that could share the desktop and even the combination with the Apple TV. SMART Exemplary Educator Gonzalo Garcia contributed to my presentation and shared his experience with the use of SMART amp, where the combination and opportunities with mobile devices is just epic. 

Looking forward to present or be present at BETT in 2015 as well.

With SEE Gonzalo

SMART amp

At the iTEC conference in Brussels - October 2013 - Peter Claxton showed me the SMART amp and explained what it was going to be. At that time I didn't have an opinion about it, because I just didn't know enough about it nor could I imagine what it would be like.

Now after four days at BETT in London I'm able to imagine what it is going to be and how it will change the way I teach in my classroom. Although it's still under construction and will not be released before April 2014.

This new revolutionary software or actually cloud-solution contains the best of many worlds. The workspace looks like a endless Prezi or SMART Ideas desktop with Notebook features, where students can collaborate together with or without teachers in al kinds of groups and share and add content as easy as in - for instance - Corkboardme And since the SMART amp account is linked to your Google account, all that is stored in Google Drive can be shared with multiple students with just two clicks away. Students can work simultaneously in real time in the same document, just as in Google Docs and they can add different types of content such as URLs, pictures, documents, text etc. from any device that has an internet connection and a web browser. And this is what it makes it very powerful. There's no focus on one or a few types of operating systems or devices, so everybody can join regardless the device they're using. I'm enthusiastic and am really looking forward in using this tool, especially in my new SMART Collaborative Classroom.