I attended a one day SMART workshop at Appleby College in Oakville on Saturday. The day began in the gym with 450 attendees, a full house. Applications closed early and a second session has been scheduled for April 5 I believe. The SMART people talked about how their products could leverage 21st century learning for students. There was a great deal of excitement in the room. After two hours we split into small groups for the rest of the day.
In case there are readers of this I don't know about, a SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard that is touch sensitive and projects the image of a computer's desktop. To get a flavour for this technology in its educational application, here is a link to an article that appeared in the London Free Press on Saturday:
Tony Blair established the goal of getting a SMART Board into every classroom in Great Britain. That program has continued. Italy has a similar implementation underway.
The sessions I attended were exceptionally well done. Our presenter was brought in from Denver. She was knowledgeable in the area of Junior education, especially as it relates to the development of higher order thinking skills in children.
If there were an underlying theme it was that classrooms need to change in order to engage students and improve their learning. The world these kids will live in will be fundamentally different from the one for which schools were designed to educate them. If all one can do is read and write, he will not be able to compete.
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