Recently, the SMART ANZ Team held a two-day training event at Sheldon College, Queensland. The College is an outstanding example of careful implementation of technology for learning and innovative practices. Set amongst beautiful grounds, the College has over 1400 students including, an Early Learning Centre and the LINQ Precinct where students learn in industry standard contexts of manufacturing, robotics, 3D Printing, the ability to create digital media products at broadcast quality, using business entrepreneur practices.

Sharpen those pencils! It’s testing season…again! As much as we teachers don’t like it, testing is here to stay. Let’s be real, testing stresses the teacher out just as much as the students! It’s tough to find the right balance when we prepare for high-stakes testing. There is always “one more thing” to teach. Just like cultivating a garden takes nurturing and attention, so does preparing our students for testing. So, it makes sense to equip our students with effective test-taking skills before testing begins to help everyone make it through the testing season.

This is the second 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. Find his first post here. 

Westminster School in Adelaide has begun the school year by focusing on the future of learning. The school is undertaking a refresh and their learning spaces and technology are being upgraded to meet the future needs of their students.

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.

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

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.