International panel of education experts cites pedagogical value of collaborative learning software
SMART Technologies has announced that SMART Notebook software version 10 has won the 2008 Worlddidac Award. Every two years, Worlddidac, a global trade association of publishers, manufacturers and distributors of educational material, presents the Worlddidac Award to innovative and pedagogically valuable products with strong potential to improve learning or teaching. Following a rigorous evaluation of the latest version of SMART Notebook software, an independent international panel of education experts congratulated SMART for the development of what it called an outstanding product in the category of Products - All General School Subjects.
Judging criteria for the award included overall quality, pedagogic value, ease of use, aesthetics, degree of realism in software, multi-functionality, adaptability, design innovation, pedagogical innovation, technological innovation, degree of interactivity and performance-to-cost ratio. This marks the second Worlddidac Award for SMART; the SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard was honored in 2004.
The Worlddidac Award is the most internationally recognized prize in the education sector. It was created in 1984 with the objective of encouraging manufacturers of educational materials and training tools to continuously pursue new standards in innovation. The award presentations will take place on October 28, 2008, in Basel, Switzerland, in conjunction with WORLDDIDAC 2008 BASEL. SMART will be exhibiting at this global education trade show, which includes all types and levels of education and training, and participants from 80 countries.
"Teachers around the world consistently tell us how much they value SMART Notebook software as a primary teaching tool in the classroom," said Nancy Knowlton, SMART's CEO. "This award confirms their appraisals and makes us proud to deliver a product that leads the way in helping teachers improve student engagement."
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About SMART Notebook software 10
Every school day, millions of teachers and students around the world experience the seamless integration between SMART Notebook software and the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. SMART Notebook software 10 offers over 30 new design and delivery features that make learning more fun and engaging. The software also includes access to an updated teachers' resource hub, which connects teachers to hundreds of lesson activities and offers tools that help them use SMART Notebook more effectively. Since the launch of version 10 in April 2008, more than eight thousand customers a week, on average, have activated the software.
About SMART
SMART Technologies is an industry pioneer and global education market segment leader in user-friendly ICT products and group collaboration tools. The award-winning line of SMART Board interactive whiteboards is the most widely installed in the world because of its unsurpassed product quality, versatility and ease of use. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is used to teach over 18 million students in more than 600,000 classrooms in more than 100 countries around the world.
SMART is a private company founded in 1987. Employing more than 1,100 people, SMART is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with assembly facilities in Ottawa, Ontario and offices in Bonn, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York City, Chicago and Washington, DC. SMART has been issued and maintains a broad portfolio of patents with numerous U.S., Canadian and other patents pending. In 1992, SMART formed a strategic alliance with Intel® Corporation that resulted in Intel's equity ownership in the company. SMART products are sold through dealers across North America and distributors worldwide. To learn more about SMART, visit www.smarttech.com.
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© Press Release 2008
