Collaborative learning software and digital content consolidated in online education community
WASHINGTON, DC --- June 29, 2009 --- SMART Technologies announces SMART Notebook Express – a light version of SMART Notebook collaborative learning software – and a new SMART Exchange. Together, they consolidate all of SMART’s education content, community forums and support networks in one place, easily accessible on the Web. These new collaborative tools will enable educators to find, evaluate, use and share high-quality digital resources in an open environment. Resources include lesson activities, images, manipulatives and interactive flash files. Teachers and students will be able to access thousands of free resources regardless of operating system, file type or brand of interactive whiteboard. Any teacher with access to the Web can freely use SMART Notebook Express and SMART Exchange to access the resources and download and edit engaging lesson activities. Both SMART Notebook Express and the improved SMART Exchange will be available in fall 2009.
Starting in the fall of 2009, SMART Exchange will add an intuitive search function that delivers targeted results, which teachers can quickly assess based on their needs. They can then download resources to SMART Notebook software or view them with SMART Notebook Express. SMART Notebook lesson activities are currently downloaded over 200,000 times per month, and SMART expects to have 10,000 high-quality resources by the fall. The SMART Exchange online forum currently has 60,000 registered members engaged in discussions ranging from SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard best practices to student engagement in mathematics, making it one of the most popular voluntary-subscription communities available to teachers, administrators and technology coordinators.
“With the integration of SMART Notebook Express and the SMART Exchange, SMART confirms its strong commitment to supporting teachers, students and education,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “It is our belief that greater access to quality content will improve education outcomes for students and make teachers’ jobs easier, both prime objectives since SMART introduced the world’s first interactive whiteboard in 1991 and started the now accelerating adoption of interactive whiteboards and other classroom tools by schools, districts, states and countries.”
About the SMART Notebook family
SMART Notebook software puts lesson materials at the fingertips of students and teachers. This award-winning collaborative learning application has more than 20 million users worldwide and sets the standard for creating, delivering and managing interactive lessons. In 2008, SMART announced additions to the SMART Notebook family SMART Notebook SE (Student Edition), SMART Notebook Math and the latest, SMART Notebook Express. All three are based on SMART Notebook and designed for the unique needs of their users.
