New SMART Exchange™ offers easy access to content and community
LONDON, UK --- January 12, 2010 --- SMART Technologies announces the international launch of its redesigned SMART Exchange online community for teachers. The website (exchange.smarttech.com) houses community forums and teacher support networks, and organises content by country to provide local standards-correlated resources so teachers can quickly and easily add relevant digital content, in a variety of formats, to their SMART Notebook™ lessons. The new design was extensively tested by educators and includes feature and navigation enhancements, including full previews of digital assets. A custom-designed search function searches not only titles but content, so educators can quickly find and evaluate relevant material. Educators around the world have easy access at no charge to high-quality resources and an active community of voluntary members.
In recent months, SMART has increased the volume of education resources available on the SMART Exchange from 25,000 to over 30,000, supported by contributions from its global community of educators. Teachers can now also highlight themed material in the Featured Content area, and a Recommend button allows them to highlight their favorite resources. The SMART Exchange offers country-specific support for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. The new SMART Exchange and can be accessed at exchange.smarttech.com . The website is expected to be completed by mid-2010 and will be continually updated and added to as resources become available.
“Teachers today need high-quality digital resources to use in technology-enabled learning environments,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “SMART Exchange provides quick access to a wealth of resources that engage students and help teachers easily maximise the use of classroom technology products.”
Features
Quick search – Efficient search function for quickly finding relevant educational content
Preview – Content details and a full preview before downloading
International support – Country-specific resources and support for 19 countries – England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada
Standards-correlated lesson activities – Easy access to standards-correlated lesson activities
Advanced search results – Enables refined searches by subject, grade, media type, number of downloads and teacher recommendations
SMART Notebook lesson activities – Ready-to-use and customisable lesson activities created by teachers and SMART education specialists
SMART Response question sets – Ready-to-use and customisable assessments created by teachers and SMART education specialists
Resource sharing – Simple sharing of SMART Exchange resources with other teachers
Open access – Easy access at no charge to high-quality resources and an active community of voluntary members
SMART integration – Ensures SMART Exchange resources can be opened in SMART Notebook collaborative learning software
Discussion forums – Professional learning community for gathering insight and exchanging ideas and best practices
About SMART
SMART Technologies introduced the touch-sensitive SMART Board interactive whiteboard in 1991. It was just the first of many innovative, easy-to-use products that have earned SMART worldwide recognition and made it the undisputed global leader in the interactive whiteboard product category. Its strategic alliance with Intel Corporation and strong commitment to research and development have accelerated SMART’s growing line of products. Thanks to their simplicity and powerful ability to connect people, SMART products have transformed learning for more than 25 million students around the world.
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For more information, please contact:
Sue Murray
Mango Marketing Ltd
E-mail sue.murray@mangomarketing.com
Tel: 01932 829077
Web www.smarttech.com
© 2009 SMART Technologies ULC. smarttech and the SMART logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SMART Technologies ULC in the U.S. and/or other countries.
Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters.