BETT photos : elearning transformation where or when?

Photos now on Flickr

I am still wondering about why BETT is not better reported. Is elearning getting closer? I asked Stephen Heppell this question and he claimed that it is. But his answer was more about what learners expect than actual changes in schools, universities etc. I have yet to edit a video. But I found this quote from a recent meeting in Australia, Be Very Afraid 7.

There are big questions for those who want to be part of education and for those who might be employing today’s students tomorrow. With rich information, borderless collaboration and autonomous learning available whenever and wherever an internet connection exists, and with students given the keys to unlock it, we have a seismic shift occurring in education that will reverberate in all corners of society. Listen to learners or be very afraid.

Quoted by Joanne Hopper on her blog, Shaping the Vision

So this is a message that needs to be drawn out. Few speakers are upfront with the view that most organisations will fail, and sometime soon. I think this is what he may be saying though. The examples of IBM and Microsoft as leading companies who seem to have lost their buzz may also relate to universities etc. and countries with a reputation for educational policy.

At BETT there was very little presence for UK government. Not only no BECTA ( due to close down in March ) but no Department of Education or Business. There were stands for UK Parliament and the European Parliament but no clear policy on digital literacy etc. The most relevant stand was from Singapore where there is a budget for bandwidth and a dir3ection for creative industry.

IT and media studies are both the sort of subjects not encouraged by the new league tables on core academic subjects. So although BETT convinced me there is a momentum for elearning it seems that the UK may not be the place where any tipping point will be obvious.