SMART, international provider of educational technology, has announced plans to expand sales and marketing efforts in Europe and the Middle and Africa by hiring over 40 employees in the region. The move comes as SMART seeks to cater to the demand for interactive whiteboards and other collaborative products for the boardroom and classroom.

“Demand for interactive whiteboards and other classroom and meeting room products from SMART has been growing dramatically in EMEA, including the Middle East for the past several years, and the company anticipates it will increase even more in the future. During its 21-year history, SMART has successfully worked with distributors throughout the region. These new positions will allow those relationships to continue and enable SMART to dedicate significantly more resources to support its EMEA channel and end users in order to drive growth and offer superior customer service. All SMART products are currently available, or will be available in the region by the end of April 2008,” said Micheal Li, International Marketing Specialist, SMART Technologies.

Of course, increasing sales staff and product ranges is of no use if the technology does not fit the socio political milieu it may be deployed in. Cognizant of the fact, Li is quick to assert that all SMART products are Arabic ready. “SMART products operate using the Notebook software, which is available in Arabic as well.”

When asked by DIDACTICS WORLD about his expectations about the rate of uptake of educational technology in the region, Li was quick to commend regional institutions for a ‘rapid’ rate of adoption of technology. At the same time, Li noted that uptake was skewed towards tertiary or higher education providers, with public primary and secondary schools being considerably slower. He attributes this to a greater emphasis on evaluating strictly quantitative return on investment ratios before spending public funds.

Slow public sector uptake notwithstanding, SMART is launching a repertoire of new and upgraded products in the Middle East.

SMART classroom audio system

The system, designed to improve the audibility of teacher and student voices in the classroom, includes a teacher microphone, student microphone, charging station, two infrared sensors, an amplifier, and four ceiling- or wallmounted speakers. The system reduces teachers’ vocal cord strain by distributing their voices to all corners of the room. This enables students to hear clearly, which focuses their attention and helps keep them engaged.

Version 10 of Notebook™ collaborative learning software

Version 10 of Notebook™ collaborative learning software offers new features that make lesson creation and delivery even easier, and learning more exciting and fun. The latest version now includes access to more than 100,000 new pieces of educational content and an updated teachers’ resource hub, which connects teachers to hundreds of lesson activities and offers tools that help them use Notebook software 10 more effectively. Version 10 also offers support for five additional languages, which brings the total to 41. Notebook software currently offers support in Arabic and Farsi.

SMART Board™ 685 interactive whiteboard

SMART Board™ 685 interactive whiteboard is a wide-format interactive whiteboard with a 16:10 aspect ratio that measures 87 inches (221 cm) on the diagonal.

Next generation SMART Board 600i interactive whiteboard system.

The new SMART Board™ 600i interactive whiteboard system is SMART’s most convenient and affordable interactive whiteboard system. Launched in 2006, the SMART Board 600i interactive whiteboard system quickly became one of the most sought-after classroom solutions. Its short throw, high-offset projector reduced shadows cast onto the interactive whiteboard and also removed the need for complicated wiring.