Technology can help transform learning, but as numerous studies have shown, more technology in the classroom doesn’t automatically equate with better results. Most notably the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and John Hattie, Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute have raised concerns that education spending does not equate to better outcomes. Getting the conditions right is vital for the success of today’s learners and teachers.

Welcome to Did You Know?, a blog series dedicated to helping you maximize your use of SMART products with tips and tricks that you may not know about. We’ll regularly discuss new ways to leverage software and hardware to inspire greatness in the classroom. Leave a comment below if there is something you'd like to read about here! 

Universities across Australia continue to embrace SMART Technologies, investing heavily in interactive technologies and new software across many faculties to  creating truly innovative learning spaces. Many universities have used SMART for a very long time, and today are upgrading to the newest options in order to give their students and educators the best, most reliable and connected experiences possible. 

For instance, a South Australia university with responsibility for a large cohort of Pre-Service teachers recently rolled out 4500 SMART Learning Suite (SLS) licenses to their staff and students, as well as certified one of their IT Leads as a SMART Certified Trainer to ensure that the staff have an expert at hand and that students can benefit from his knowledge.

In Queensland an entire Languages Faculty has been provided with new facilities including SMART interactive flat panels and the SMART Learning Suite. At a training session these language experts who were familiar with SMART Notebook were impressed with the range of learning options they now had with the SLS. As all students come to lectures with devices, being able to interact with those devices by sharing content, gaining  feedback to key concepts and collaborating in virtual learning spaces enables new ways to engage students. These lecturers are keen to bring gamification to their learning designs to motivate their students in the language learning experience.

In New South Wales, one university has also rolled out SLS licenses for students and staff in the Faculty of Education. This enables these students to develop digital content for teaching and learning which they can use in any school setting regardless of the school’s technology infrastructure. SMART is device agnostic and therefore the digital content and lessons the pre-service teachers develop can be utilized in their practicums. It will also enable these pre-service teachers to have tools for learning when they are employed in schools. 

In my last blog post, I talked about game-based learning and how to bring it to classrooms at scale. This time I wanted to differentiate gamification and game-based learning, and focus a little more deeply on why they are valuable in education.

During the Inspire Greatness Conference 2018 in Sydney this past September, I had the privilege of chairing the Executive Round Table held in the Grace Cossington Smith Gallery at Abbotsleigh School for Girls. 

One of my roles as district digital resource teacher is to facilitate a cohort of secondary teacher leaders who support 1:1 digital implementation (DI) at their schools I
know that most of these blogs focus on how students use technology, but I want to share how these same tools can have an impact on teachers. When teachers engage with digital tools in meaningful ways, they are better able to implement them in their instruction in ways that matter to their students.

Thank you to our special guest blogger Michelle Flicek, first grade teacher in Green Bay, Wisconsin and SMART Exemplary Educator.  

In Part I of this post, I talked about the lessons we learned as we brought gamified learning to classrooms at scale, providing support for teachers and making it easier for them to use games in class. This time I’ll cover the other half of what we learned in doing this: the many interesting and fun ways to engage learners.

Research is discovering the impacts of game-based learning on learner outcomes, and finding correlating benefits. Teachers who have employed games in some capacity in their classrooms have seen how engaged and excited the learners are. The love of learning emerges. And of course, one of the core attributes of their learners – Generation Z, who are all digital natives – is that gaming is core.