Calgary, Alberta--SMART Technologies announces that the company has joined the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC), a leading nonprofit organization for the advancement of educational technology adoption and interoperability standards to support and enhance K–12, higher education and corporate education worldwide. As a contributing member, SMART will work with IMS GLC to advance global interoperability standards for interactive whiteboards and interactive response systems for classroom, school, district and online learning systems. As SMART Board interactive whiteboards and SMART Response£ interactive response systems continue to become more widely used in K–12 and higher education classrooms, interoperability with existing systems becomes increasingly important and offers significant benefits to educators and students alike.
- Educators around the world continue to adopt interactive technology products into their classrooms, lecture halls and meeting spaces. Interoperability with back-office systems, such as School Information Systems (SIS) and Learning Management Systems (LMS), provides teachers and administrators greater flexibility to track, monitor and assess student learning. Seamless integration between products ensures that student learning results are quickly and easily consolidated into SIS and LMS, enabling teachers, administrators and parents to develop a longitudinal assessment of student learning. Collaborating with IMS GLC members, SMART will work toward the development and proliferation of global interoperability standards to benefit interactive whiteboard and interactive response system adopters around the world.
“We are pleased to welcome SMART Technologies as a contributing member of IMS Global Learning Consortium,” says Dr. Rob Abel, chief executive officer of IMS GLC. “As a market leader in interactive whiteboards, and with an extensive history researching and developing interactive technology products, SMART’s membership will surely prove beneficial, not only to IMS GLC members, but to adopters of interactive technology, wherever they might be.”
“As classrooms are re-engineered to support technology-rich pedagogy, we continue to look to SMART as a leader in developing and refining interactive technology products,” says Tim Cliby, executive director of instructional technology, division of teaching and learning, at Rochester City School District in Rochester, New York. “With districts continuing to invest in technology products, training and infrastructure, interoperability between these complementary technology solutions is critical in extending investments and building the framework needed to create student-centered, active-learning environments.”
“As educators continue to adopt classroom technology products, they need to know that their purchases function with their existing information systems and learning management systems,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “We are pleased to join IMS Global Learning Consortium to advance global interoperability standards for the benefit of our customers and all users of interactive technology products around the world.”
