The BETT Show is the biggest event of its kind in the world. Once a year for 4 days, almost 30,000 educationalists from all over Europe attend the show to seek inspiration and innovation from the vast array of educational products on display. We believe that Moodle should be represented at the BETT show.
We want to promote Moodle as the first choice learning platform for UK schools, by presenting it as a viable, and we would argue preferable, alternative to the commercial learning platforms on show at BETT. To do this we will host a stand ourselves, and in the meantime demonstrate what a community of dedicated users and developers of open source software can achieve.
We believe that ours is a unique initiative in the History of BETT, in that we are the users of the software, with no financial interest in the product. We see our role as informing others about its potential to transform learning. Such is our passion to tell others, that in order to have a stand at the BETT show, we are giving freely of our time and expertise and hope that others can help us to find the funds to support this.
Why we are trying to do it
As Moodle is open source software, schools using it have a flexible and powerful tool that can be extended to meet all their e-learning needs. It also promotes a genuinely collaborative approach to learning, is easy to administer and use, and, best of all, is free. Yes, free. Entirely free. What’s more, Moodle benefits from having a wider installed base, as its users contribute to making Moodle what it is.
This collaboration is no more in evidence than this very intitiative. The whole HelpUsGetToBETT initiative was founded within the Moodle community, with decisions arrived at through the consensus of us volunteers. Tools such as Wikis, Forums and Blogs have facilitated the team’s decision making, despite the fact that members live all over the world. We hope this initiative will serve as an inspiration to others as to the how technology can be harnessed to serve the common good.
How are we going to do it
We’re giving our time and expertise for free, as our way of saying thanks for how Moodle has transformed learning in our schools. Unfortunately, BETT aren’t giving us the stand for free, so we need your money to help us promote this software. We’d also like lots of existing Moodlers to come and help on the stand. This is no small undertaking, and as a result it reinforces the Team’s commitment to Moodle.
We are looking for support from the rest of the Moodle community in order to HelpUsGetToBETT. This support can range from offering services or time to complete tasks, helping to man the stands, or sending money to help us pay for the stand.
What we expect to happen as a result after taking Moodle to BETT
We expect teachers, advisors and other members of the educational community to sit up and take notice of Moodle and, by trying it for themsleves, they will see that this is a truly exceptional tool. We’ll be giving away installable copies of Moodle on the stand, and expect there to be queues round the block for these discs.
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Hope i am ok to post this here, i feel this forum could benefit a lot to HUGTOB (Help Us Get to BETT) It really does deserve to win the award!
More information can be found at: http://www.helpusgettobett.com
Thanks,
