For many teachers, the British Education and Training Technology exhibition must be a bewildering experience.

The past few days have seen London's Olympia centre packed with stalls displaying the latest wares of hundreds of players in the information and communications technology (ICT) market.

But while many of the stalls are purely commercial, several have a more altruistic nature. One of these is the "ICT teacher training workshops" stall, set up by the exhibition organisers.

This provides a range of hands-on training for teachers visiting the show in areas such as using e-mail and the Internet.

Jane Black: "I really need to let children know how to do this"

Stephen Groom, a teacher at Burnwood County Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshrie, felt more confident about going online after attending a workshop.

"The workshops are probably more useful than the stands, because they're very specific," he said. "The Internet can be quite clogged - there's a lot of things out there, but it's knowing where to visit."

The government is allocating £230m of National Lottery money under the New Opportunities Fund to provide serving teachers with up-to-date ICT training.

The workshops aim to give teachers an idea of what to expect when the funding is made available to schools.

Mike Collett: "We've been encouraged by the teachers' response"

Jane Black, who is training to be a primary school teacher at Chichester Institute of Higher Education, was another satisfied customer.

"The workshop had really clear instructions on how to get onto the Internet and use it, and a few useful Website addresses," she said. "As a teacher I really need to let children know how to do this, so I've got to know how to do it myself."

Mike Collett, the manager of the workshops, said most of them had been fully susbscribed.

"The idea behind the workshops is to give teachers the opportunity to experience training from a range of providers," he said.

"Because of the extra money for ICT training that the government is providing, BETT felt it was appropriate to provide time and space for teachers to get online."