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Texas School District Purchases 1,300 Interactive Smart Flat Panels

Smart Technologies has entered a major software contract with United Independent School District.

• By Sri Ravipati
• 05/03/16

Smart Technologies is now the standard provider of classroom interactive flat panels (IFP) for the Texas-based United Independent School District (UISD), which has purchased 1,300 Smart Board IFPs that will be installed in K–12 classrooms over the next year. Funding for the purchase comes from a $408.7 million school bond that passed in November 2013. The IFPs were chosen after a committee of more than 50 individuals from the district compared top vendors.

"Smart was selected not only for their easy-to-use software, but for their excellent hardware, which allows for natural interaction for users of all ages," said Judith Garcia, director of instructional technology at UISD, in a prepared statement. "The IFPs are easy to use, minimizing the learning curve and simplifying trainings for district and campus staff."

All Smart Board IFPs include Smart Learning Suite, an educational software platform that combines lesson delivery, assessment, student collaboration and game-based learning software into one platform. It includes:

• Smart Notebook — offers thousands of free lesson resources, subject-specific tools and works with any interactive display or operating system;

• Smart lab — allows 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.

Further information about Smart Board IFPs and Smart Learning Suite is available on the Smart Technologies site.