Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Pranav Mistry at TED India November 2010


As many UK teachers prepare to head to the BETT2010 Show at Olympia in London I happened upon the video above delivered by Pranav Mistry at TED India late last year.
Pranav was showing the 'Sixth Sense' device which appears to offer cheap(er) devices allowing us to interact with the world around us. I was particularly struck by the paper based laptop which uses the microphone from a webcam attached to the paper to act as the receiver and the webcam to fix the image this is then projected onto the paper as a functional laptop and gaming device ( watch the driving game on the paper laptop!).
My mention of the BETT Show is that even though it does promote the innovative use of simple technology by teachers in the UK this is sadly swallowed in the horribly over the top commercialisation of the main show halls - I rather feel that Pranav would be pushed to the side by the likes of Promethian and Smart and MS with their new and expensive 'Interactive Table' ( unless there was a market and they could then push product).
There is a need in the UK for a series of conferences perhaps at the NCSL in Nottingham and other venues for the specific promotion of simple technology to schools - I know that this has been attempted by NAACE however I think there is the need now to develop this from grassroots teachers similar to the Isle of Wight conference organised by Joe Dale.... come on BETT it is time to evolve!

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