Growing the Australian SMART Community

During the summer schools holidays, another group of outstanding educators was trained to add to the Australian community of SMART Certified Trainers. Teachers from Early Childhood to Higher Education came together to learn the latest from SMART and how to provide professional learning for the thousands of teachers who use SMART hardware and software in their classroom every day. These trainers each bring to the table exciting an innoative ideas for implementing tehcnology.

This is the first in a series of posts from Andy Cargile, Senior Director, User Experience at SMART. Andy leads a team of user experience designers and researchers who spend hundreds of hours in classrooms every year, delving into teaching, learning, and how technology can enhance them. In this series, Andy shares some of the key insights his team has uncovered, and what they mean for education.

Nestled in the heart of London, alongside the British parliament buildings, lies a school built in the 12^th century that continues to not only educate, but inspire students today.

This blog post was written by SMART Exemplary Educator Mark Hartwright, and initially appeared on his personal blog here. 

When game-based learning and high-level thinking come together, what emerges are highly engaged students, meaningful discussions, and relevant learning.

This blog post was created by SMART Exemplary Educator Julie Kuzma.

Rita Della vale is a High School Mathematics teacher in Newark, New Jersey. Rita and her student teacher Jennabel Reyes recently participated in an implementation study with SMART to address the challenge of students struggling to move beyond computational learning of math concepts.

Every day, teachers across the world use SMART software to create and deliver lessons. When you sit down to create those lessons, when you stand in front of your students to present those lessons, and when you want to share those lesson with your students, we want your experience to be stress-free.

Technology is everywhere and entwined in our daily lives so when technology in the classroom is used correctly it opens up possibilities for more student learning. I strive to make my classroom a fun, engaging place to learn every day. By integrating technology into the classroom in a meaningful and purposeful way, I am able to hold and sustain a student’s love for learning. Using technology in the classroom has transformed me into an educator that is a conceptual thinker, generator of ideas, and a self-starter.

Can you see the BIG picture?

What’s your big picture as it relates to using technology in your classroom? Do you strive to empower students to become 21st century learners that can more easily navigate and actively participate in today’s information superhighway? Unless you’ve been sleeping in a cave for the past 15 years, the 4 C’s, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration and Critical Thinking are on every teacher’s mind.