Apple brings new Teachers Portfolio, updates Classroom, Schoolwork apps

Apple's iTunes U Course is a popular platform for educators in the west to offer a custom academic curriculum to help students understand complex topics with fun activities and project work. It also gaining traction in India too.

Now, the Cupertino-based company has launched a new Teacher Portfolio, a special programme that allows educators to learn new innovative tools on Apple products at their own pace for free.

It offers 21 templates and lesson ideas inspired from the Everyone Can Create project (Apple Book) guides to help teachers become creative in terms of imparting education to the children with iPads and Macs with related learning applications in addition to iMovie, Clips, and GarageBand.

Besides that, Apple has updated its popular apps -- Schoolwork, Classroom, and the Everyone Can Create curriculum, to the advantage of the latest features of iPad and Apple apps.

With the Schoolwork app, teachers will be able to get more insights on students whether the latter is progressing with project work, how he/she is faring compared to peers, time spent on documents, videos, and links assigned in the app.

The latest update now allows teachers to share projects and assignments given to children on the Schoolwork app with colleagues.

Earlier Classroom app was used within the school and now with Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, online classes have become the new normal. Moving with time, soon teachers will be able to invite remote students to join a Classroom session.

"While connected, the same Classroom features that teachers are familiar with will enable them to guide students to specific apps, view their screen, and see a summary of their engagement," the company said.

Apple Classroom app. Credit: Apple

The Classroom app has received a facelift with a refreshed design and enhanced smart groups. This will give teachers a snapshot of students’ status at a glance, including whether they’re online, joining locally or remotely, using iPad or Mac, or whether a device has a depleted battery, Apple noted.

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