Puerto Rico standardizes on SMART Board interactive whiteboards for high-tech learning initiative
More than 100 sites and 1,640 teachers nationwide participate in technology pilot project
CALGARY, Alberta --- May 26, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that the Puerto Rican Department of Education (DOE) has standardized on SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards - with more than 100 participating sites and 1,640 teachers nationwide. The installation is part of the Distance Learning Satellite Network, a high-tech pilot project to improve K-12 education throughout the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The project has two components - providing professional development for teachers and delivering technology-based lessons to engage students. With technology grant funding from the SMARTer Kids™ Foundation (www.smarterkids.org), the DOE is working with primary integrator Vitacom Systems and SMART reseller IVS Computer Technology to achieve its vision of equipping Puerto Rican classrooms nationwide with SMART Board interactive whiteboards.
Before now, each school hosted its own local area network, with limited or no Internet access and not enough computers to accommodate every student. Today, each participating site has a touch-sensitive SMART Board interactive whiteboard, which provides a large computer display for whole-class teaching and is integrated with curriculum-based software, two-way videoconferencing capability, broadcast-quality video reception and high-speed Internet connections. Eighty-four of the sites are designated as Centros de Innovación Tecnológica para la Docencia (CITeDs or Centers of Technological Innovation for Teaching), which participate in videoconferences with training specialists at the Central Office in San Juan and the Federal Affairs office in Washington, D.C. The CITeDs provide standardized professional development to pre-service and in-service teachers, showing them how to integrate technology with curriculum. The remaining 15 sites are classroom installations in public schools located throughout the island. Through standardized testing, the DOE is currently examining how technology affects student performance in these 15 pilot schools over the next 12-18 months.
"School personnel prefer the SMART Board product because it is easier to use and offers more features valuable to classroom learning. Our teachers have responded well to the technology training and many have requested SMART Board interactive whiteboards for their own classrooms," says Luis Sepúlveda of the División de Innovaciones y Tecnología Educativa, Puerto Rican Department of Education. "The inclusion of SMART Board interactive whiteboards in our national education project has definitely increased learning possibilities for Puerto Rican schools."
"With this pilot project, the Puerto Rican Department of Education has made a serious commitment to engaging students with integrated classroom technology and providing a unified professional development program to enhance teacher training," says Nancy Knowlton, SMART's president and co-CEO. "This nationwide installation of SMART Board interactive whiteboards will help Puerto Rican teachers and students develop the high-tech skills necessary for a successful future in a digital world."
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-sensitive display. Connected to a computer and projector, the interactive whiteboard is like a giant computer screen that students and teachers simply touch to operate. Using their finger or a pen as a mouse, teachers and students can access and control any computer application, file or multimedia platform, including the Internet, CD-ROMs and DVDs. They can also write over applications in digital ink, then save their work for future study and review. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students with diverse learning styles by providing both immediate access to a wide range of digital materials and a common focus for the entire class - not something easily achieved with other technologies. It is the number one choice among primary and secondary school educators in more than 75 countries worldwide because the pioneering software interface captures the imagination of students of all backgrounds and abilities in order to help them learn together, understand better and achieve more. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com/smartboard.
About the Puerto Rican Department of Education
The Puerto Rican Department of Education is the public agency that covers primary and secondary education in the country. As with other government agencies in Puerto Rico, it is subject to legislation and direction from the U.S. Federal Government. Education is divided in Puerto Rico into 10 geographic regions, 84 school districts and a total of 1,538 community schools. For more information, visit www.de.gobierno.pr.
About Vitacom
Vitacom Systems, headquartered in Mountain View, California, supplies integrated satellite communications networks throughout the Americas. Applications include access to the U.S. Internet backbone, international private lines, distance learning education networks, support services to energy industries, corporate networks, videoconferencing, video broadcast and voice services. For more information, visit www.vitacom.com.
About IVS Computer Technology, Inc.
For more than ten years, IVS Computer Technology, a Microsoft Certified Partner, has been providing innovative, cost-effective technological solutions to clients in the public and private sector. IVS specializes in education technology integration - offering complete hardware and software advice, superior training programs and excellent service. Applications include Internet access for educational institutions, implementation of videoconferencing solutions and integration of distance learning networks. For more information, visit www.ivsct.net.
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For more information, contact:
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
1207 - 11th Avenue SW, Suite 300
Calgary, AB T3C 0M5
CANADA
403.802.2595
pr@smarttech.com
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