He will say: "Imagine the dramatic change which could be possible in just a few years, once we remove the roadblock of the existing ICT curriculum. Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11-year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations using an MIT tool called Scratch.
I am still puzzled by "High Performance Jurisdictions". Who chooses the list? Why Massachusetts and not California?
But trying to find out more today reveals that my blog yesterday is a leading result on Google blogsearch. It started with Heppell at BETT 2011. By the end of the week there should be more info on a more coherent picture of just what these high performing jurisdictions are like.
I still think bandwidth will come into it.
Search YouTube on "Heppell, BETT" , recent video should turn up.
Google are supporting the Guardian on this one and also have quite a big stand. They may supply some of the central buzz that the BBC used to generate. BETT becomes globalised as UK institutions get weaker, just my impression.
Do people at BIS have a theory about "high performance jurisdictions" ? I'm sure bandwidth comes into it somewhere.
Guardian on computer science in schools tomorrow in print. Will they link to BBC? Previously they campaigned for BBC to drop any products that would turn up at BETT.
I have just managed to edit video from last year ahead of BETT in a couple of days time.
Stephen Heppeel may once again mention the unexpected. It is worth repeating as how we prepare for it remains a bit of an issue.
Last year I asked him why there has not been a transformation of schools and other education to adopt the web etc. Having done the edit I realise that he did answer the question. Pressures from technology and user expectations continue. The schools that block this out will find that things happen somewhere else. Later he suggests that new forms of learning will start in a few places before becoming general.
Maybe this relates to the "high performance jurisdictions" that the Department for Education is studying. I wonder which universities in the high performance areas have studied this. There is some overlap in technology and web access for all levels of education in various jurisdictions.
Not sure how much of my previous rave has been here and/or also in "Wifi Exeter". The year will include some cross posting and retro rewrites.
Anyway the story so far is that I am contributing to the Wild Show on Phonic FM in Exeter. I have played quite a lot of Aretha nd also Joss Stone. I was encouraged that despite the low stock/ display HMV sold out over Xmas.
But now I find that both name tags have been removed. Presumably these are national decisions. Joss Stone performs in Exeter on occasion and for some reason the UK in general is not as interested as the USA or Continental Europe. But this is the sort of thing that might sell if it was available.
A record store without Aretha has just completely lost it.
lots of headphones and mobile devices, so suggest start search with Aretha on Wikipedia.
There are still CDs in the computer exchange shop in the Guildhall shopping centre. Prices may be lower than marked but not high enough to be worth updating.
Ahead of BETT I am reminded of what I have failed to do since the last one. I find that recording video is much easier than finding time to edit and load to YouTube. Now I am allowed longer than 15 minutes it is even more complicated. I have some faster broadband but the render times seem to be getting longer. So there is still much stuff left over. And it makes me think that nothing happens all that quickly. Some of it is still current.
For example I did a short record of the dentist chair on the HapTEL stand or rather the TEL research project with the dentist chair as main feature. Fortunately they now have their own video on YouTube with reasonable lighting so all I have to do is copy the embed code.
hapTEL is shortlisted for a BETT award so there is still a connection even though there is no TEL stand.
(By the way I still think "Technology Enhanced Learning" started with print or even clay tablets. Mervyn Bragg this week on radio4 has suggested that voice story telling has been replaced. Maybe YouTube will bring it back. He could do some more programmes with extracts from BETT Radio)
There is also a video on Education Innovation, part of a discussion with BIS, the department for business and innovation that used to be the DTI.
Not sure if BIS will be there. Michael Gove will make a speech. Maybe he will comment on the National Curriculum, ICT skills and Computer Science.
The review appears to reclassify ICT with a lower priority and it is not clear how computer scince will be developed as a subject.
Information and communication technology is reclassified as part of the Basic Curriculum and requirements should be established so that it permeates all National Curriculum subjects. We have also noted the arguments, made by some respondents to the Call for Evidence,59 that there should be more widespread teaching of computer science in secondary schools. We recommend that this proposition is properly considered.
...that starts with schools The industries suffer from an education system that doesn’t understand their needs. This is reinforced by a school curriculum that focuses in ICT on office skills rather than the more rigorous computer science and programming skills which high-tech industries like video games and visual effects need. As the curriculum is overhauled and syllabuses are brought into line with the most challenging in the developed world, we need to look to places like Singapore and Finland so that the computing and artistic skills that are vital to high-tech, creative industries are given the impetus they need.
Maybe somewhere at BETT it will become clear how this will work out. My impression based on rumours about the London College of Communication for example is that the creative industries are still seen as humanities from a funding point of view so the budgets cover some text books, not much technology as such.
Things could always change. According to the Guardian
The Sunday Times reports that Gove is "particularly impressed by the sophisticated subjects pupils in Asia tackle in primary school". Apparently they learn "how machines work" and "how plastic is made".
The reports refer to "high performing jurisdictions" and include Japan, Korea, Canada and Singapore. One theory could be that they often have an active government policy on broadband. But enough to point out that the starting point seems to be that the UK is some way behind, maybe in the second quartile and slipping down.
As mentioned previously, the Media Development Authority of Singapore is on stand D101