BETT Showcases Education Technology

BETT, the education technology trade show, has opened in London, giving a taste of the classroom of the future.

BETT is the annual education technology trade show, held in London, and the 2009 version got underway Wednesday, running until Saturday. The idea is to showcase how technology will work with education in the future.

The opening address came from Schools Minister Jim Knight, who repeated plans to give children from low income families a free computer and broadband access, and the BBC reports that Becta, the government agency responsible for technology and learning, is using the show to launch its schools technology charter, setting out its vision for effective use of technology in education.

Intel used the occasion to officially launch its Classmate laptop, while Microsoft seized the opportunity to give the first British public demonstration of its Surface interactive tabletop. Among other items on display are face recognition software for school security, and the construction of a school simulacrum in Second Life that could show any design problems.