SMART amp - new platform for learning, anytime, anywhere…any device

CALGARY, CANADA: From the world leader in collaborative education software comes a powerful new platform designed to enhance teaching and learning experiences by simplifying how teachers, students, displays and devices come together.

SMART Technologies Inc. announced the SMART amp collaborative learning software, a revolutionary cloud-based solution designed specifically for education. As the ‘glue' that connects disparate devices, it allows for a seamless transition between learning environments, supports teachers with access to collaboration-rich resources and offers students greater opportunities to get the most from their academic journey.

As web-based software, it is accessible from virtually any internet-enabled device and eliminates deployment costs associated with operating, upgrading or supporting numerous proprietary operating systems.

"SMART amp provides a significant advancement for education and demonstrates our total commitment to providing a better teaching and learning environment for students, teachers and administrators alike," says Neil Gaydon, president and CEO, SMART Technologies.

"The use and cost of disparate devices on different software platforms is a serious dilemma. SMART amp collaborative learning software enables front of class displays, PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile devices to simply, seamlessly and cost effectively work together to deliver a better learning experience for everyone."

SMART is the leading provider of interactive displays worldwide and has developed exceptional insight into the needs of teachers and students. SMART amp provides teachers the flexibility to engage students in all learning modalities - from whole-class instruction to collaborative group work to individual student projects and presentations.

The browser-based software also helps teachers ensure that students have a consistent collaborative learning experience no matter what SMART Board system, PC, laptop, tablets or mobile device are available to them.

"Unlike most consumer electronics companies, SMART has over 20 years history in working directly with educators in creating solutions that support more collaborative teaching and learning practices," says Greg Estell, president, Education for SMART. "SMART amp offers robust functionality purpose built for K12. Once again, SMART is raising the bar for education in enabling teachers and students to collaborate in real time, ask and answer questions and manage documents anytime, anywhere...on any device."

SMART amp offers rich, collaborative teaching and learning experiences - providing educators with powerful new tools, a beautiful user interface and unlimited access to the SMART Exchange website with over 65,000 learning resources. Teachers can create lessons and store them for retrieval at any time, from any device.

Empowered with the ability to connect to Web-based learning materials regardless of location or device, students can take greater ownership of their collaborative learning experiences. SMART amp collaborative learning software will be available in commercial release in April 2014 and is already in early stage trials in a number of schools.