Getting reacquainted with my digital office after the winter break served as a useful reminder of how integral technology has become to the way UK consumers and businesses interact, work and access information. According to a recent trends report in Forbes, 2020 is hyped to be the decade when schools also embrace technology. I have already witnessed how new and powerful technology is driving major changes in the way students and teachers teach, learn, and interact, and am incredibly excited about what Dell Technologies has in store in the coming decade for education.
We’re off to a flying start this year with our presence at Bett – the first EDU-tech show of the year kicking off on 22 January, bringing together over 800 leading companies, 103 exciting new EdTech start-ups, and over 34,000 attendees.
Since Bett 2019 (the year we got a dinosaur on the stand thanks to our partnership with The Natural History Museum), we’ve been busy working on new ways to connect with educators and students attending the show, and we’ve hit on an exciting theme for 2020: Transform Teaching: Accelerate Learning. It’s a direct reference to esports within schools (more on that later), but more broadly it relates to how we can branch out beyond traditional education activities and embrace student passions to drive learning.
First up, we’re proud to debut the Latitude 9510 in the UK, following its announcement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I encourage all teachers and administrative staff at Bett to check out the newest edition to the Latitude line: the world’s smallest, lightest, most intelligent 15-inch commercial laptop. With a 15” InfinityEdge screen in a 14” size and Dell Optimizer’s built-in AI that adjusts to the way you work, the Latitude 9510 will allow education professionals to be more productive whenever and however they need.
We’ll be introducing more functionality to the new Latitude 3310 and Latitude 3310 2-in-1 to provide a smarter, faster and more durable end-user experience at an even more affordable price point. Students and teachers can collaborate and multitask more effectively with features like a world-facing camera and WavesMAXX Audio Pro, all powered by the latest generation of Intel Whiskey Lake Processors. To ensure students have the latest tech to support cutting edge computers, we’re also launching our new generation of wireless keyboard and mice, designed to work seamlessly across up to three devices and lasting up to three years with only one AA battery.
We cannot talk about the future of the classroom without calling out our seriously impressive 86-inch 4K interactive monitor (C8621QT), which also premiered at CES. If 2020 is the year when technology officially transcends the smart board, then this monitor with 4K UHD resolution, 20-point multi-touch, USB-C connectivity, and Dell’s exclusive Screen Drop Feature surely must be front and centre of the revolution.
We’re continuing to collaborate with Microsoft and Intel this year, unified in our mission to transform the education landscape through technology. Together with Greenwood Academies Trust, a not-for-profit organisation operating 35 open academies that educate approximately 17,000 students, we’re coming up with new and improved ways of supporting teachers and students in the classroom via the latest technology. As well as hosting daily live Skype for Classroom and Teams sessions with Greenwood Academies Trust pupils, CIO Stephen Sanderson will be on stage daily at the Microsoft Live Theatre from 12 to 12:30. He’ll be revealing how their modern learning approach has not only impacted student learning but improved the work-life balance for teachers as well.
As proud creators of the award-winning Alienware brand and accessible G-Series portfolio, Dell Technologies has always been passionate about gaming. Esports is reshaping entertainment, and now presents powerful new opportunities in the classroom. Students engaged in esports can develop critical thinking, analytic and 
leadership skills in an interactive environment accessible to varying skill levels and capabilities. For those able to join us at Bett, we’ll have dedicated Esports stations with Alienware devices pre-loaded with games to play, a McLaren profiling game ready to tell you the best job suited to your skills, and the McLaren racing simulator. Visitors can also get hands-on with an interactive programme that puts them in the driving seat of a Formula 1 car and mimics how the world-renowned automotive racing experts collect and analyse data from over 200 sensors, generating over 13,000 pieces of information.
We can’t wait to showcase our exciting new line up of products at Bett this year and demonstrate the transformative solutions already in place in schools across the UK. If you plan on visiting, please join the Dell Technologies stand at #NG43.