Company History and Company Background 

How Smrt English was Founded

  • CCEL/ President-Jim Clark owned and operated the School, the Canadian College of English Language for over 25 years in Vancouver, Canada. The school is the environment where the idea, concept and first creation of smrt English began. The school employed all of the founding members of Smrt English and grew too large to run within the walls of the school simultaneously. The school, CCEL now has new owners and is led by Lane Clark, Jim’s son. Current Team. 
  • Company Hierarchy and Sales Scope 
  • Smrt Creation : video
  • The Early Years
    • Created within the walls of CCEL for one E-Green (environmental awareness) class and expanded to one full level and from there a decision was made to make a change in education. 

History of Smrt Brand

  • History of Smrt 
    • Smrt started out as a pilot project to gain more traction and be seen as different to the many other ESL schools in Vancouver at the time (2012-13). The E- Green / Computer Class was born and  several tech savvy students signed up and loved it, word spread in the school and through staff and then more courses were developed. It came to a point where half of the school was using this new technology, online ESL(English as a Second Language) material housed on a Google Site. Textbooks were phased out and more resources were moved to developing this online LMS and curriculum.
    • CCEL would often host students from abroad and summer groups were common. Admin and students would try the platform and want to use it in their schools in their countries. This is how Smrt gained its first major client  (and is still a client today- over 10 years of partnership!). With the idea of Smrt being its own company aside from the school, this expansion of Smrt as a company was created. From this exploration, clients would visit and give testimonials on the platform. 
    • From this exposure, the Smrt  headed to Mexico with the idea to internationalize the use of the platform and with a small team and held extensive Smrt/ Presentation events in the state of Sonora in the north of the country with Ana Sesma, and her company Canada Possible. This partnership expanded and resulted in some of our long standing customers today. (UES/CEB/UTS).
    • Once a customer base was established a regional team was created and Smrt grew and had offices and regional teams in other areas around the world as well including; Brazil, UAE, Ukraine, and China. 
    • Regional teams fluctuated over the years and expanded and reduced based on political decisions and local client needs. With the pandemic beginning in 2020, most physical office spaces closed and moved to virtual.
    • Currently smrt is working on new tech advances in assessment, academic courses, and VR possibilities with new partnerships and long standing ones as well. 

Products Development Phases

  • The Brand
    • Versions of Smrt
      • Version 1- Google docs -1-2 courses in folders (1-2 teachers)
      • Version 2- Google Site- Added courses and material in one place.
      • Version 3- Platform 
      • Version 4- Platform and 5 core adult aged / learning level courses
      • Version 5- Platform with extended library of Core/ Electives
      • Version 6- Platform Core/ Electives/ Test Prep/ ESP+ App 
      • Version 7- Platform Core/ electives/ Test Prep/ ESP+ App -Kids/Youth/ Children/ Academic

Where We Are Now

    • The company is now expanding in various regions to employ more sales and have dedicated mega client teams. Leadership is working with a business coach on best practices and more logistical and analytics improvements are made and implemented weekly. The IT team has been expanding as well and there is an influx in interest from China for Kids/ youth resources and that is the current section with the most buzz.

Building your Story

      • What brought you to Smrt?
      • How do you feel connected to it or to education and technology?
      • As you grow and explore more of the platform, take note of items or areas that are difficult or come easy for you-this will help relate to clients better.

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