SMART Technologies

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 organizes 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 maximize 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 customizable lesson activities created by teachers and SMART education specialists
 

SMART Response question sets – Ready-to-use and customizable 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