SMART will be showcasing the following at this year's Bett conference in London:
- Hardware: In the UK, more than 60 percent of all interactive display purchases are now interactive flat panels. SMART Technologies is enjoying success with the SMART Board® 6065 interactive flat panel (a finalist for a BETT Award) and at BETT SMART will be announcing an expansion of that line – an expansion that will provide customers more choice in features, size and pricing. At SMART’s stand (F228), there will be no “traditional” projector-based interactive whiteboards on display – just interactive flat panels.
- Software: SMART has always been closely associated with interactive displays since they introduced the world’s first model more than 20 years ago. But the company is now putting more emphasis on its software in order to keep pace with changing learning styles. Educators are placing increasing emphasis on so called “soft skills” development. While proficiency in the basics of reading, writing and mathematics is and will always be important, increasing numbers of schools and educators see that the development of collaboration skills – working effectively in small groups in order to solve a problem – is gaining momentum because it’s the type of skill that employers value in the workplace. Over the past decade, the school model for technology amounted to an interactive whiteboard at the front of the class – essentially a digital tool that allowed the teacher to use a whole-class approach to lessons. Now with technology like tablet computers becoming more commonplace, SMART believes there is and will be increased emphasis on one-to-one and small-group learning. In recognition of that, SMART has developed a new collaborative learning software called SMART amp™. It’s a cloud-based software with vast amounts of rich digital content and it can work on virtually any device that has a browser. SMART is working with more than 20 content providers to continually add resources to SMART amp to make it an even better collaborative tool.
- SMART kapp: Earlier this year SMART announced a revolutionary new product – the SMART kapp™ digital capture board. It’s now shipping to North American customers and will soon be available in the UK and throughout Europe. Essentially it is a modern dry-erase board – a replacement for the flip chart. Users pick up a pen and start writing. The content appears immediately on the user’s mobile device and all remote participants can also see the content as it unfolds. The handwriting can be converted to text on the mobile device. SMART is shipping a 42-inch model now and at BETT it will be on display for the first time in the UK.
Stop by stand F228 to check out these products, and get the latest Bett news at live.techlearning.com
