Orange County Public Schools Adopts Interactive Flat Panels To Support BYOD Program
The Orange County Public School District has adopted interactive flat panels (IFPs) and classroom software to complement its bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program.
Since December, 1,873 Smart
Board IFPs, along with the Smart Learning
Suite, have been installed in more than 240 schools throughout what
is the
10th largest school district in the nation with
nearly 200,000
students and 22,000 employees.
Since coming to an agreement
with Smart Technologies last year, the district has implemented the
Learning
Suite, in large part because it conforms to its BYOD program and can
accommodate
just about any student tablet, mobile phone, classroom interactive
display or
Chromebook.
The Smart Learning
Suite is an educational software platform that combines
lesson delivery,
assessment, student collaboration and game-based learning software into
one
platform. It includes:
- Smart Notebook, with thousands of free lesson resources,
subject-specific tools and
compatibility with any interactive display or operating system;
- Smart lab, which is designed to allow teachers to create lesson plans
and game-based learning
activities under five minutes;
- Smart amp, a web-based
learning platform that leverages Google Apps for Education to allow students to co-create assignments and
collaborate on mobile
devices; and
- Smart response 2, assessment software that teachers can use to
create
question sets to complement lessons in less than five minutes.
"We envision a learning environment where we can
support
a child's natural curiosity and affinity for technology through
innovative pedagogy
and classroom tools," said Smart Technologies President and CEO Neil
Gaydon,
"which aligns well with Orange County Public Schools' goals of
increasing
collaboration and learning outcomes in the classroom."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.