Apple put students and teachers center stage at an education event in Chicago on Tuesday.
The presentation was a decidedly software-focused affair, with just one new device, an updated iPad, unveiled. Instead, Apple focused on software and services for schools as it tries to compete with Microsoft and Google, which are also doubling down on the education market.
In fact, throughout the event, Apple threw some jabs at its competitors, saying that its hardware and software are the best for students and teachers. Of course, that conclusion is debatable.
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Here’s a brief rundown of Apple’s education-focused announcements:
Everyone Can Create
Everyone Can Create is a new collection of free learning resources and teaching guides for the company’s newly announced iPads. It’s designed to encourage students to learn about and develop skills in drawing, music, filmmaking, and photography, the company said in a statement. The service, which is freely available to teachers, will also use Apple Pencil, a stylus, so students can draw and sketch on iPads.
Schoolwork
Apple also unveiled a new iPad app called Schoolwork for teachers to create assignments and track how students are performing. It also includes a Handouts feature, so teachers can send assignments digitally to their students.
So far, several education-focused apps work with Schoolwork, including Nearpod and Tynker, Apple said. The company also announced a new feature called ClassKit that will allow developers to integrate Schoolwork compatibility into their apps.
Classroom for the Mac
Classroom is an Apple app that’s designed to help teachers manage all iPads in a classroom and lets them decide what’s shown on the screens. During a lesson, for instance, teachers can open an app on all the students’ iPads or show them all the same documents.
Apple on Tuesday said that a test version of the app would be available on Macs starting in June.