SMARTer KidsFoundation announces US$15 million in funding for 1998/1999 school year

Foundation received grant applications from all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the US and more than half of the provinces in Canada for the 1997/1998 school year

Calgary, Alberta --- July 27,1998 --- Following its mandate to advance improved computer-based teaching and learning among instructors and students, the SMARTer Kids Foundation today announced it will make US$15 million in Grants available to public and private schools, colleges and universities across North America for the 1998/1999 school year. Grants from the Foundation can be applied towards the purchase of SMART Boards. The new grant program will start August 1, 1998, and unutilized Grants from the 1997/1998 school year will be funded through the new program. The Foundation also administers a research and development program involving several ongoing projects in the area of technology and learning.

During the 1997/1998 school year, the Foundation received grant applications from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than half of the provinces in Canada and awarded Grants to help equip schools with SMART Boards, interactive whiteboards that facilitate computer-based teaching and learning.

Margaret Johnson, instructional technology coordinator with the Palos Community School District 118 in Palos Park, Illinois, purchased SMART Boards for the two elementary schools in the district as a result of receiving a SMARTer Kids Grant. The teachers and students are currently using the SMART Boards to create multimedia presentations and build electronic portfolios to archive and display student work.

"We wanted to provide our students with access to the information and technology they need to compete and become productive citizens," said Johnson. "We have a number of large presentation monitors that work well for small groups and single classrooms, however both schools experienced a growing need for larger displays to conduct presentations for larger groups, including parents, grandparents and several classrooms of students. In addition, the interactivity of the SMART Boards adds a dimension to classroom presentations that is not possible with regular monitors of any size. Since our district operates primarily on local funding, the SMARTer Kids Foundation Grant made it possible for us to stretch our technology funds to benefit from the exciting capabilities of the SMART Boards within our limited budget."

"We were overwhelmed with the response we received during the inaugural year of the Foundation," said Tierney McGoldrick, research and program manager of the SMARTer Kids Foundation. "Schools see a world of information that is within easy reach of students, but they need tools to access and interact with these materials in meaningful and productive ways. We're committed to helping schools use tools like the SMART Board to access today's dynamic and ever-changing learning landscape."

Grant Amounts
The SMARTer Kids Foundation will provide Grants of 30% of the list price for the purchase of qualifying SMART products. Grants are awarded on a per unit basis, and there are no limitations on the number of Grants that may be provided to a single educational institution and school district.

Applying for a SMARTer Kids Foundation Grant
Educators can apply for a grant by completing an application form outlining how they intend to use a SMART Board in their classroom. Schools can visit the SMARTer Kids Foundation's Web site at www.smarterkids.org and complete the necessary form on-line, or they can call the Foundation at 403.228.8565 to have an application sent to them. All grant applications must be received by midnight on July 31, 1999.

The SMART Board in Education
The SMART Board transforms a desktop computer into a group computer that can easily be viewed by the entire class and used to deliver interactive, dynamic lessons. Educators and students use their fingers to press on the SMART Board to control projected Windowsor Macintoshsoftware and multimedia materials, such as CD-ROMs, directly from the Board's touch-sensitive surface. Instructors and students can write over top of any application and save the notes to a computer file. Notes can then be printed from a computer printer, e-mailed, posted to a network or saved as HTML pages that can be viewed from a Web browser. The SMART Board also supports a range of distance learning activities when combined with any of the leading conferencing applications.

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Please note that SMART is in all capital letters.