New version of software designed for teachers and students, not just network administrators
CALGARY, Alberta --- December 10, 2008 --- SMART Technologies announces SMART Sync 2009, the latest version of its classroom management software. SMART Sync builds on the features of its predecessor, SynchronEyes™ software, which automated many administrative tasks in the computer-enabled classroom and allowed teachers to monitor every student computer from their desktop. SMART Sync 2009 adds easier control and monitoring capabilities. Teachers can click a button to view a thumbnail image of each student’s computer. They can also lock or take control of any computer, either to highlight a student’s excellent work or to bring a student back on task. SMART’s dedication has led to the development of easy-to-use hardware and software products, and SMART Sync is no exception. These improvements, combined with the popular features of earlier versions, deliver a classroom management software designed specifically for teachers and students. SMART Sync 2009 is the eighth version of this award-winning software.
SMART Sync 2009 has a new user interface. It has been updated with a more efficient, user-friendly design that is similar to the interface in SMART Notebook and SMART Notebook SE (Student Edition). Leveraging the look and feel of SMART’s most popular software, SMART Sync steps up to take its place in the company’s family of education applications. All are designed to engage students and positively affect learning outcomes, and increasing integration between SMART’s software products simplifies wide-scale adoption and implementation. SMART Sync 2009 includes a new Administrator tool, which saves teachers time on administrative tasks. The tool works with a new class-list server that ensures the right students connect to the right teachers at the right time. The new Share Rules tool makes it easy for teachers to share rules about Internet or network access. The redesigned two-way secure chat function enables students to ask the teacher questions. Answers can be sent to individuals, groups or the whole class. When a lesson is complete, teachers can press one button to log off and shutdown all computers. With a practical set of features that enable smooth transitions between individual, small group and whole-class learning, SMART Sync 2009 simplifies classroom management. A special report on the benefits of SMART’s classroom management software was recently published by SMART and is available here.
“As classroom technology improves, products must become more versatile to suit a variety of learning needs,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “SMART Sync 2009 enables individual, small-group and whole-class learning while giving teachers a high level of control over computer use in their classes.”
Features
Monitor and manage student computers – Teachers can view student computer screens as thumbnail images, organize them into groups and take control of screens when needed
Lock computers – Teachers can push a button to lock computer screens and drive students’ attention to the front of the room
Student collaboration – Teachers can automatically and randomly place students in virtual groups so they can share screens, complete group work and make presentations to each other. Teachers can monitor activity in each of the groups.
Chat – Students can ask their teacher questions through the two-way secure chat function, which shows a visual cue when a chat is initiated or responded to. The teacher can also broadcast a secure chat to the whole class, if desired.
Announce button – Teachers can press a button that brings up a notification box, where they can create a message to broadcast to the whole class.
Share Rules tool – Teachers can create multiple rules to block different types of Internet sites. These rules can be saved and shared with other teachers.
Administrator tool – Administrators can create SMART school files quickly and easily. A SMART school file is a file type that includes all important information about students in a particular class, such as full name and student ID number.
Class-list server – This Microsoft® Windows® operating system service automatically connects the right teacher to the right student computers
Upgraded user interface – The user interface is easier to use, and has a look and feel that is similar to other SMART classroom software
Pricing and availability
The suggested education price for SMART Sync 2009 classroom management software is US$799, depending on class size. The software will be available in January 2009. For more information, specifications and a list of authorized SMART resellers, visit www.smarttech.com.
Image
To download an image of SMART Sync 2009, click here.
