Apple held what they called a "Special Event" on March 27, 2018. From Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois. The key highlights they had from this event included:
Out of all these announcements, the features that most excited me as an educator were the single sign-on and the Apple Pencil support. As an educator I feel allowing the use of the Pencil on the cheaper iPads was a smart move as there are so many creative apps out there that students can use for note taking and creating. (www.apple.com/education/products/) With the single sign-on as an elementary teacher this would alleviate a lot of headaches trying to help a younger child get signed on to see their work in whatever service they would use. I currently work for a Google Apps for Education District, so my students are very comfortable with the idea of signing into their Google accounts. The idea of using that feature on an iPad would help open up the use of a single iPad in the classroom. This would also help districts who are strapped for cash make an argument for a small amount of iPads for classrooms as all their students could use the same iPad. Now you may ask why I didn't mention Apple's new Schoolwork app as one of my highlights. Having used Apple Classroom in the past I personally felt it wasn't a "fully-baked" app to begin with. Not enough of my classroom resources could be connected with the app for it be useful. If Apple could figure out a way to integrate more teaching resources (Pearson's eBook resources) into their apps I think that would help them compete more with Google Classroom. I still have hope though... Resources: yohann.com/blog/best-drawing-apps-apple-pencil/ https://www.apple.com/apple-events/march-2018/
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AuthorBenjamin's educational experiences include teaching both 3rd and 4th grades all around the state of Iowa. His commitment to students has led to various local and state awards and honors such as being named the 2014 Iowa Technology Educator of the Year and authoring a section of a chapter in Dr. Todd Whittaker's book Start. Right. Now.: Teach and Lead for Excellence on maximizing student potential. |