Collaboration

Smart Technologies Joins Google Education Partner Program

• By Leila Meyer
• 12/17/15

Smart Technologies, the makers of Smart Boards and other collaboration solutions, has joined Google's Education Technology Partner Program.

Google partners with companies that have optimized their products for the Google Apps for Education platform and devices. Google selected Smart Technologies for the partner program because of the "cohesive integration" between Google Classroom and Smart Amp collaborative learning software, according to information from Smart Technologies. By joining Google's Education Technology Partner Program, Smart Technologies will receive greater access to Google's development tools and support.

Google Classroom is part of the Google Apps for Education platform and lets teachers administer their classes and communicate with their students. Smart Amp is software that lets students create content and collaborate on devices such as Chromebooks. According to information on the Smart Amp site, students can use their Google Apps for Education user name and password to sign in to Smart Amp, so they don't need to sign in to the platform and the software separately. They can then use the software to chat with each other or draw and to embed images, video and Smart Notebook content into their collaborative workspace.

"SMART amp builds on the Google Classroom experience by providing a space for students to complete projects collaboratively," said Greg Estell, president, Education at SMART Technologies, in a prepared statement. "Teachers can use SMART amp to group students, take and pass control of the workspace and draw attention to what other groups are doing by presenting their material to the whole class. SMART amp includes formative assessment tools and allows for teachers or students to embed, extract and play a Notebook file on any device."

Further information about integration of Smart Amp with Google Classroom can be found on Smart Amp's site.