SMART expands lesson activities for educators
CALGARY, ALBERTA --- December 19, 2006 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces the availability of 50 new, highly interactive SMART Lesson Activities for Notebook 9.5 built for K–12 teachers. These are in addition to its collection of hundreds of educator-created lesson activities already available. The next generation of SMART lesson activities for Notebook 9.5 incorporates more interactive Adobe® Flash® objects, which bring lessons to life and enhance student engagement. The activities allow for direct feedback, a feature that checks if students’ answers are correct. The lesson activities are also flexible enough for student-directed learning or to be used by specialist or non-specialist teachers. Lesson activities for Notebook 9.5 are created based on, and correlated to, the National Curriculum in the UK and curriculum standards North America.
The new lesson activities for Notebook 9.5 include interactive title pages with teacher and lesson notes, giving educators a quick reference to the lesson’s objectives and ideas for differentiation. Interactive title bars provide information about each lesson page and help with how to use it in the lesson. Flash objects are versatile and can be used within the original lesson activity where they were created, or they can be moved into Notebook™ software’s Gallery or another lesson activity. SMART has 6,100 learning objects in its Gallery that now come with SMART Board software. Another 500 will be added by the end of January. All new lesson activities have a consistent color-coded design specific to the subject area and grade level, and primary lesson activities feature a fun and friendly new character called “Scout.” Science lesson plans are in green, English in orange, history in purple, math in blue and geography in brown.
“SMART lesson activities provide educators with easy-to-use highly interactive instructional resources,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s president and co-CEO. “Using tools such as the SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard, SMART’s Notebook software and SMART lesson activities, teachers can help students become actively engaged in the lesson, ultimately improving their retention and understanding of the subject.”
About SMART lesson activities
SMART’s new lesson activities for Notebook 9.5 can be viewed and downloaded with the latest version of SMART Board software 9.5 for Windows®, Mac OS and Linux® operating systems. SMART customers can download version 9.5 at no additional cost at smarttech.com/support/software. To see the latest lesson activities, visit the SMART BETT website at bett.smarttech.com, or SMART’s education website at education.smarttech.com. SMART Board software 9.5 is included with all new orders of SMART Board interactive whiteboards, Sympodium™ interactive pen displays and AirLiner™ wireless slates. For additional information or specifications, visit smarttech.com.
About SMART
SMART Technologies Inc. is both the industry pioneer and global education market segment leader in easy-to-use interactive whiteboards and other group collaboration tools. The award-winning SMART Board interactive whiteboard is the most widely installed interactive whiteboard in the world. Many school jurisdictions have standardized on the product, which is used to provide interactive learning opportunities and enhance student achievement. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is used to teach over 15 million students in more than 450,000 classrooms spanning every U.S. state, every Canadian province, every Local Authority in the UK and in more than 100 countries worldwide. SMART products also include interactive pen displays, interactive digital signage, wireless slates and software. Using SMART products, teachers can access and share the information they need to improve student learning outcomes and streamline lesson planning. SMART’s education customers include New York City Board of Education (U.S.), Oxford University (UK), Kobe City Board of Education (Japan), Barnier Public School (Australia), University of Ottawa (Canada), United World College (Singapore), Stephen-Hawking-Schule Neckargemuend (Germany), Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (U.S.) and Harvard University (U.S.).
SMART is a private company founded in 1987. Employing more than 800 people, SMART is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with assembly facilities in Ontario, and offices in Bonn, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York City, Chicago and Washington DC. SMART has been issued and maintains a broad portfolio of patents with numerous U.S., Canadian and other patents pending. In 1992, SMART formed a strategic alliance with Intel® Corporation that resulted in joint product development and marketing efforts, and Intel’s equity ownership in the company. SMART products are sold through dealers across North America and distributors worldwide. To learn more about SMART as a company as well as SMART products and programs visit smarttech.com and education.smarttech.com
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For more information, contact
Corinne Cryan
Public Relations Specialist
SMART Technologies Inc.
1207 – 11 Avenue SW, Suite 300
Calgary, AB T3C 0M5
CANADA
Phone +1 403 802 2595
Fax +1 403 228 2500
CorinneCryan@smarttech.com
www.smarttech.com
© SMART Technologies Inc. Sympodium and AirLiner are registered trademarks of SMART Technologies Inc. in Canada, the U.S. and the EU. SMART Board is registered in Canada and the U.S. Notebook, SMART Board, Sympodium, AirLiner, smarttech and the SMART logo are trademarks of SMART Technologies Inc. All other third-party company names and products are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters.