New version of SMART notebook featuresiIncreased web integration

SMART Technologies Inc., a leading provider of collaboration solutions, announces SMART Notebook 11 collaborative learning software. Version 11 of SMART Notebook will enable teachers to integrate online resources into SMART Notebook files, enhancing instruction and increasing classroom efficiency. A new embedded web browser allows teachers to insert a live browser page directly into a SMART Notebook file. Users can then write, draw, and drag and drop content on the page. Version 11 includes widgets such as a dictionary and translator, which will let users handwrite a query, receive the answer and move that answer to the SMART Notebook software page. An avatar widget will let teachers bring their dynamic talking avatars into SMART Notebook 11 and save them to the Gallery. The widgets can be downloaded from the SMART Exchange website (exchange.smarttech.com), where educators can find over 51,000 learning resources and lessons, and used directly in a SMART Notebook 11 file. A software development kit (SDK) for SMART Notebook allows educators and third-party developers to create an unlimited number of custom web-based widgets. SMART Notebook 11 software will be available as a free download for existing license holders of SMART Notebook or for purchase in spring 2012. 

Over six million teachers have activated SMART Notebook software to create and deliver engaging lessons for more than 40 million students in 175 countries around the world. Version 11 builds on that success with many new features that offer creative and efficient tools for increased interactivity. Students can be more engaged with tools that allow them to customize interaction with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. The crayon feature allows students to create authentic crayon drawings on the interactive whiteboard, and the customizable creative pen builds individual pen types based on any image. New features allow teachers to create activity objects with the activity builder tool that reacts to actions made by students or teachers with animations or sounds for engaging interactions. The enhanced contextual toolbar responds to actions by changing when users choose a certain object, giving them the required tool choices. The reset page function brings the SMART Notebook software page back to its last saved state. SMART Notebook 11 also features new gestures, supporting four-touch capability for the SMART Board 800 series interactive whiteboard and the SMART Board 8070i interactive display. SMART Notebook 11 supports Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows XP and both Mac Snow Leopard and Mac OSX Lion operating system software. For more information on SMART Notebook 11 software, visit smarttech.com/notebook11.

“The new software development kit has allowed us to create our own widget, which provides direct access to our student information system data, within a SMART Notebook lesson,” says Daniel Gratton, Director of Information Technology, Conseil scolaire de district catholique de L’Est ontarien (CSDCEO), Ontario, Canada. “Having access to that student data within SMART Notebook provides numerous opportunities for our teachers to create lessons that match the needs of specific students.”

“SMART Notebook software is increasingly being used as a standard lesson creation and delivery tool in classrooms around the world,” says Linda Thomas, Vice President, Products, SMART Technologies. “SMART Notebook 11 makes collaboration with online resources more interactive and comprehensive, benefiting both teachers and students, and enhances creativity for increased student engagement.”