Springside School goes campuswide with SMART Board interactive whiteboards
125-year-old school appoints tech-savvy students to mentor students and teachers on effective technology use
CALGARY, Alberta --- January 24, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that Springside School in Philadelphia will be installing SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards in each of its 80 classrooms. Springside School chose the SMART Board interactive whiteboard for campus-wide installation based on ease of use and functionality. This technology initiative led to Springside's innovative mentoring model, in which a select group of students has been appointed to help familiarize fellow students and teachers on current uses of technology. With technology funding from the SMARTer Kids™ Foundation (www.smarterkids.org), the school worked with local SMART reseller Visual Sound to achieve its vision of equipping each classroom with leading-edge technology products to support curriculum and improve learning outcomes for its students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12.
Extensive research and support from senior administration at Springside led to phasing out traditional, stand-alone computer classes and integrating whole-class instructional technology with the school's curriculum at all levels. With professional development and technology mentoring as key elements of Springside's teaching philosophy, the school is committed to providing hands-on technology mentoring for teachers. Springside has also created a Center for Teaching and Learning through Technology. The center brings teachers and students together to generate new ideas for using technology, including SMART Board interactive whiteboards, and emulates Ivy-League best practices for technology-assisted learning.
"At Springside, we believe in offering as many learning options as possible to support each student's learning style," says Donna DeGennaro, PhD, director of teaching and learning through technology at Springside School. "We've created a peer-educator program, where tech-savvy students are appointed as 'technology leaders,' who help train fellow students and teachers on effective use of the latest technology tools."
"SMART Board interactive whiteboards help our teachers create a learning environment where everyone can work together and interact hands-on with curriculum and the wealth of online resources readily available," says Peter DiDonato, director of technology at Springside School. "The SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students - whether they are visual, auditory or tactile learners - so they can spend less time taking notes and more time asking questions and discussing ideas. For these reasons, the initiative was encouraged by faculty and funded unanimously by a board of trustees who clearly saw the value of the investment."
"Today's generation of students is growing up with technology as an integral part of everyday life. Increasingly, students will only know a world in which they have immediate access to digital information," says Nancy Knowlton, SMART's president and co-CEO. "Springside School understands where the future lies and has tapped into the talents of its tech-savvy students to assist in creating a cutting-edge collaborative learning environment."
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a touch-sensitive display, about the size of a standard whiteboard. Hooked up 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 simplicity of its design and 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 Springside School
The oldest girls school in Philadelphia, founded in 1879, Springside School is an independent, nonsectarian college preparatory school enrolling more than 620 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, where 100 percent of graduates go on to pursue post-secondary education. In addition to academics, students participate in 10 interscholastic team sports, extensive art, drama and music programs, and Philadelphia's longest-running cultural exchange program. Retaining its mission as a girls school and adding co-educational classes with the neighboring all-boys Chestnut Hill Academy in the upper grades, Springside offers a "best of both worlds" advantage to girls. Celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, Springside is accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Private Academic Schools and governed by a board of trustees composed of parents, alumnae and friends of the school with expertise in education, business, finance, medicine and law. For more information, visit http://www.springside.org.
About Visual Sound
Visual Sound, Inc. (VSI) is in its 38th year of designing, building and integrating audiovisual, broadcast video and videoconferencing solutions for the corporate, education and government marketplaces. VSI has over 80 employees and is located outside Philadelphia, with satellite offices in Baltimore, Allentown and Harrisburg. VSI is a leading integrator and rental provider of audiovisual, broadcast video and videoconferencing equipment. By fulfilling the ever-expanding needs of its customers, VSI has evolved into a total audiovisual solutions provider. To learn more about Visual Sound, Inc., visit www.visualsound.com.
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For more information, contact:
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
300, 1207 - 11th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB CANADA T3C 0M5
Phone +1.403.802.2595 Fax +1.403.228.2500
pr@smarttech.com
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