SMART ANZ Blog

SMART Technologies advances its vision of inspiring greatness in students and teachers around the world to achieve better learning outcomes.

From America to Australia and everywhere in between, the value and importance of game-based learning is only growing. Discovering unique ways to engage students with their learning, including through the use of gamification, has been shown to have a positive impact on learning outcomes.

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.

We were delighted to participate in the New South Wales Department of Education's recent Inspire Integrate Conference at Sydney Olympic Park. This event gives teachers with a passion for ICT the opportunity to learn more about integrating it into their teaching and learning practices.

Last week the National Future Schools Expo + Conferences were held at the Melbourne Convention Centre where 4000 educators attended the event over two days.

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.

Teachers from Sydney and Newcastle were invited to attend a free TeachSMART event hosted after school. SMART ANZ team members Helen Lacey and Sue Beveridge presented at the events giving teachers an overview of global trends, the research that SMART has undertaken, and the current information published by the OECD about the importance of SEL skills.

The way we visit museums has changed, right along with the way we deliver education. What cues can teachers take for their classrooms from the evolving museum landscape? Lots, especially when it comes to STEAM education, as some Australian teacher decently discovered.

During the recent Inspire Greatness Conference held by SMART Technologies in Australia, a group of education thought leaders met to discuss the tie between education technology and learning outcomes and how we can all work toward improving what is currently a flat outcome line.

This post was written by Sue Beveridge, SMART ANZ Education Advisor. 

Over two days of the fall 2017 Australian school holidays 150 teachers, educators and thought leaders joined together to discover how to Inspire Greatness in our students and prepare them for their future.

Placing technology in classrooms is an investment on many different levels. The teams that choose and implement education technology invest not only funds; they put immense effort, faith, and dedication into initiatives in order to improve learning outcomes for the students in their classrooms.

Across the world, SMART has a community of educators called SEEs, SMART Exemplary Educators. These educators are a group of around 1600 individuals from 40 different countries around the world. This group includes teachers, professors, librarians, school administrators, principals, and others. They all have one thing in common: they’re passionate about SMART technology and how it enhances learning.

SMART Notebook^® is a key piece of education software available as a part of the SMART Learning Suite. Its features are almost endless, and include the ability to build interactive games and activities with SMART lab, and create quick and easy formative assessments with SMART response 2.

Located in Melbourne, Sholem Aleichem College is one of the pre-eminent Jewish schools in Australia. Catering to preschool and primary school-aged children, the college prides itself on its ability to cultivate in its students a pride in their Jewish identity, and a sense of belonging to the worldwide Jewish community.

Over the last 18 months, the SMART ANZ team have been very busy connecting with SMART customers throughout the region. Many of you have seen great success inspiring your students with SMART Learning Suite and SMART Boards with iQ, and it's been wonderful to witness.