As many of you enter another week of distance learning, you may be wondering how to adapt the lesson materials you already prepared for the year. Luckily, there are wonderful (and free) resources available that can help.

SMART Learning Suite Online for distance learning

SMART Technologies has made SMART Learning Suite Online (SLSO) free for all educators who have Google or Microsoft accounts. For those unfamiliar with SLSO, it is the online version of SMART’s desktop software, and fear not — you do not need a SMART board to use this with your students.

With SLSO, you can

• Create new lesson pages
• Add activities your students can interact with
• Distribute lesson material and assignments
• And more (click to read “Top Ways to Enhance Your Lessons Using the SMART Learning Suite Online”)

Adapting Your Pre-Created Lesson Material

The greatest thing about SMART Learning Suite Online for educators who have never used it before is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to your lessons. You can simply input your pre-created content into the platform and use the SLSO tools to enhance that lesson for remote learning. Some of the files you can import include SMART Notebook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and PDF files.

From there, you can enhance your files by easily adding

• Youtube Videos
• New Pages
• Game-Based Activities (11 different templates available)
• Shout it Out Activities (an excellent tool if you are running a live lesson)
• SMART Response (for assessment)
• Question and Reflection activities

Teacher-Led or Student-Paced

With SLSO, you have the choice of delivering remote lessons how you’re most comfortable.

For those who prefer having students simultaneously go through the lesson, students can simply enter the digital classroom using the SMART class code. From there, you can virtually control the pace of the lesson. Pair that with Google Meet so you and your students can virtually “facetime” as a class.

If you’d rather have your students go through the lesson in their own time, student-pacing is available as well. Students can again enter the virtual classroom via the SMART class code and complete the activities for at their own pace.

(Click for more information on teacher-led vs. student-led instruction)

For More Information

For more information, check out our PD Remote Learning with SMART Learning Suite Online, available on OTIS for educators. If you do not have an OTIS for educators account yet, you may sign up for a free account today. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, Teq has made all OTIS accounts free for educators and schools. To access your free account, visit our Remote Learning website.