Cool Stuff We Saw At Bett

Dirtyword exhibited at Bett London in January - if you were there, we probably thrust a copy of our special show edition into your hands. In between handing out issues and chatting to new readers, we walked the floor to see what exciting new tech we could find from other exhibitors...

Adobe had a huge stand featuring a magical tunnel that sent visitors on a journey into the wonders of generative AI to promote the Adobe Express product to schools.

Delegates were given 15 minutes to prompt the software to create a text-to-image avatar that would then be printed out on a canvas tote bag to shove exhibition freebies in.

Obviously Mark couldn’t resist the challenge and knocked out a portrait of Whisper in 42.7 seconds...

The Lego Education panel talked visitors through the various ways the world’s favourite toy could be used in schools as a tactile, STEM aid to learning.

Lucky audience members were given a cool mini-build with instructions to create 2 small dragon creatures. Then, in a nod to Primary school Biology lessons, delegates were told to disassemble the dragons and create what they thought their offspring would look like.

Of course, everyone created a differentlooking baby brick dragon and thus, we all learned about DNA and the birds and the bees.

Sky were there with a swishy van full of cameras and teleprompters allowing visitors to become Sky News presenters, all in a bid to promote their Sky Up Academy Studios.

Sky Up Academy offers students a hands-on experience in bespoke TV studios, where they can create their own digital content, take on real-life media roles, and gain key digital skills.

With a VIP peek behind the scenes, Sky says the experience boosts creativity, communication, and collaboration - essential skills for aspiring media bods.

SENsational Tutors hosted a panel in the Esports arena, discussing the use of gamification in SEND-centric learning.

Hosted by SENsational Tutors CEO Joanna Gibbs and featuring panelists including MindJam founder, Dan Clark, and Director of Fraser Esports, James Fraser-Murison, the talk highlighted how gaming enhances intelligence, problem-solving, and teamwork while providing a safe space for young people disengaged from traditional education.

The key takeaway? Gaming isn’t just a hobby - it’s a powerful tool for engagement, learning, and future career development.

Lamsa, a digital platform focused on early childhood education, was there to launch its Unified Education Framework, which aims to unite all stakeholders involved in delivering education, including funders, operators, and teachers.

Lamsa CEO, Badr Ward, expained how the framework adapts to each country’s national aspirations, curriculum, cultures, languages, and learning styles. Ward’s vision is to create a seamless integration between the classroom and the living room, where learning is both educational and enjoyable. Turn to page 32 to read our interview with Badr and find out more about Lamsa.

Marty the Robot caught our attention on the Robotical stand, waving to us as we passed by. Marty is a customisable, programmable robot used to develop STEM skills in the classroom.

Designed to make coding childs play, there are already more than 10,000 Martys around the world, programmed by children to dance, move and interact based on coding with Scratch and Python.

Kirsty and Brittany spent the event painting a huge live mural to celebrate 40 years of Bett.

At a conference where most companies are plugging the latest ways to use AI to generate courses, copy and images, it was awesome to see the talent and effort that goes into a genuine piece of human-created artwork!

The finished mural will be donated to a school in the South-East of England.