Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

BECTA’s closing sends ripples throughout ed tech

The move is part of the government's larger plan to cut 6.2 billion pounds for fiscal 2010-2011.
The move is part of the U.K. government's larger plan to cut 6.2 billion pounds for fiscal 2010-11.

In a move that has sent shock waves throughout the education technology world, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA), which has been a leading international voice in research and support for using information and communications technology (ICT) in schools, is shutting its doors—a victim of the new U.K. government’s cost-cutting measures.

BECTA’s closing could leave many U.K. schools on their own as they struggle to integrate technology effectively into teaching and learning, and its absence could be felt in the United States as well, observers say.

A “quango,” or non-departmental body, BECTA is the U.K. government agency that has led that nation’s drive to ensure the effective and innovative use of technology in teaching and learning. Through BECTA’s work, U.K. schools have received expert advice on ICT purchases and applications in the classroom. BECTA also led the U.K.’s Home Access plan, an ambitious national initiative that sought to offer certain low-income families with children a free laptop computer and internet access.…Read More

New standard makes whiteboard content more accessible

"CFF, and open source in general, is where the entire world is going," said Hedrick Ellis, senior project manager for RM Education.
"CFF, and open source in general, is where the entire world is going," said Hedrick Ellis, senior project manager for RM Education.

In what educators and vendors are calling a giant step forward in education technology, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) recently announced that all major interactive whiteboard vendors have agreed to make their educational content available in the U.K. in a common file format (CFF).

By making these educational resources more shareable and accessible, many say, BECTA is setting a powerful example for change that could go global. Now, some in the United States and Canada — where such software still is mostly proprietary and incompatible — want to know when these same vendors will adopt the common file format in North America.

In 2007, BECTA—which is leading a national drive in the U.K. to ensure the effective and innovative use of technology in learning—teamed up with the RM Group, one of Europe’s largest suppliers of technology-based curriculum products for education, to address the issue of multiple interactive whiteboard (IWB) solutions each having their own proprietary software.…Read More