Overview
This resource highlights the tools and resources available from Apple Education1:
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Get an overview of the wide range of education apps, books and courses available from iTunes U.
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Discover accessibility features you can use to differentiate for a range of student learning styles and levels.
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Learn how to use iTunes U to create and manage iPad-based learning for your students.
Visit the Teachers2 page on the Apple Education website for a selection of tips, stories and other useful materials for teachers.
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An iPad or Mac computer. The iTunes U links in this teaching resource won’t work on a Windows device, even with iTunes installed. Update your OS X3 or iOS4 operating system and apps.
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Create a free Apple ID5 to access Apple services such as iTunes U.
About iPads
The portability of iPads makes them a flexible learning tool. For general use information, download the iPad user guide8 for your iOS version.
About Macs
Mac desktop or laptop computers run on the OS X operating system. Macs are suitable for working in more complex apps that require processing or larger amounts of data.
Display iPad content on a large screen
You and your students can mirror your iPad or Mac screen contents for the whole class to see on an interactive whiteboard, projector screen or high definition TV (HDTV).
To do this wirelessly:
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purchase a subscription to AirServer9, or
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purchase an Apple TV10 device and use AirPlay11 to mirror an iOS device’s screen to a projector or HDTV.
Support
Visit the Apple education support page12 to learn about the Apple School Manager13, which can help you manage your school’s devices, apps and accounts and for other support information.
Apps allow students to become creators of digital media as well as consumers of it. Apps can be used by individual students, for whole class activities, or to enhance your productivity.
Find iPad apps
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View a short summary of each of the pre-installed apps
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From the App store, browse apps listed in the Education14 category
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From iTunes, open iTunes U and open the ‘Learning for Every Grade15’ collection to browse apps sorted into different levels of schooling and subject areas.
The ‘Classroom’ app
Use Apple’s Classroom16 app during a lesson to do the following things on all iPads simultaneously or on selected students’ iPads:
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view students’ screens in real time
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launch a website or app and share documents
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lock iPads into a single app (useful if they’re taking a test on their iPad or to help them stay focused on a set task)
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instantly lock and unlock iPad home screens to restrict/enable their use.
Use the App Store from within OS X to download apps.
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With iBooks Author17 (free) you can create interactive multi-touch books which can be viewed on Macs and iPads. You can easily insert interactive images, image galleries, scrolling sidebars, 3D objects, pop-overs and other HTML widgets into these books.
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Pro apps have powerful features which give students full creative control of their projects. Examples include Final Cut Pro X18 for video editing or Logic Pro X19 for music production.
iTunes U
One location for Apple’s digital resources
Use iTunes U to download resources for your students or to further your professional development.
Resource types
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iBooks are digital books, made for reading on iPads or Macs.
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iBooks textbooks20 are books created in iBooks Author21 - a free, Mac only app. They can incorporate videos, photo galleries, interactive 3D objects and chapter reviews. Students can highlight text, take notes, search for content and access definitions in the glossary. You can also access iBooks and iBooks textbooks from the iBooks app.
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Courses can incorporate a range of rich learning materials. Sort courses by grade level, subject, or alignment to the Australian Curriculum. Find units of work created by Australian schools and professional learning courses.
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Videos, lectures and podcasts are also available.
How to find resources on iTunes U
On an iPad: Open the iTunes U app and click on the ‘Featured’ menu item.
On a Mac: Open iTunes. Select the ellipsis icon at the top left of the iTunes window and choose ‘iTunes U’ from the dropdown menu.
The For Educators22 category is the best place for teachers to start. It’s been curated by Australian educators and mapped to the Australian Curriculum. Browse the various collections to find a wide range of resource types relevant to teaching and learning.
Resources by Apple
The Apple Education23 website can help you get the best out of Apple hardware and apps and contains resources to help students learn to code in Swift - a programming language for developing apps.
App-related
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Tools for teachers24 - app suggestions for teacher productivity and to use with your students
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Lesson ideas25 – for specific apps including apps suitable for real world learning and apps that allow students to show what they know
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Tools for Formative Assessment26 – apps you can use to monitor and assess students’ progress
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Learning at Every Grade15 – apps sorted into different levels of schooling and subject areas
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Education collections27 – apps sorted into different subject areas
Books
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'One Best Thing' book collection28 – a series of free Multi-Touch books by Apple Distinguished Educators that contain units of work, lesson plans and best practice ideas for integrating Apple products into the classroom.
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Multi-touch books by Field of mars Environmental Education Centre29 – 6 free third party books about nature.
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Common Sense Media iBooks30 – support your teaching of digital citizenship.
Accessibility
Support all students with the accessibility features31 Apple offers. Accessibility features can benefit a diverse range of learning profiles, such as young students or those learning English as a second language. They can also be used to scaffold literacy tasks.
You can take advantage of these features to ensure every student is appropriately supported and challenged, including those with disabilities.
Read these accessibility tips for teachers for ideas that can benefit a wide range of students.
OS X
Visit the OS X accessibility32 and OS X for special education33 pages.
iOS
Visit the iOS Accessibility34 and iOS for special education35 pages. Many of the OS X accessibility features are available, as well as some iOS specific ones.
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Accessibility app suggestions38 – in iTunes U, sorted by different needs.
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Getting Started: Apple Technology for Diverse Learners (PDF, 9.5MB)39 – the last chapter gives examples of specific student profiles with ideas how accessibility tools could be used to support their specific strengths and weaknesses.
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Is Apple transforming special education? Assessing the efficacy of the iPad as an assistive technology for students40 – a research paper assessing recent research on the use of iPads in schools to support a range of students.
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Apple Technology: Uniquely Equipped to Let Every Student Succeed (PDF, 1MB)41 – a quick guide on assistive technologies for special education. It incorporates an ‘accessibility at a glance’ table which maps special needs to the accessibility features of OS X and iOS.
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Creating Inclusive Learning Environments42 – by Apple Distinguished Educators. This course includes tutorials in a range of accessibility tools and Universal Design for Learning.
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Accessibility Features for iPad43 – this course gives information about using built in iOS features and apps. It also lists other iTunes U courses related to special education.
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Special education app suggestions44 – in iTunes U, sorted into categories such as ‘communication’ and ‘dyslexia.’
Create courses
With iTunes U45 you can build tailor-made courses and units of work.
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You can create and deliver iPad-based lessons, distribute and mark student work and engage in group or one-on-one discussions within your course.
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All your teaching resources and planning are stored in one easy-to-access place.
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Incorporate iTunes resources into your course, or create your own.
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Once you’ve published a course, students have immediate access to all the materials, instructions, due dates, and grading information.
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You can duplicate your course and send it to your colleagues, who can use the course immediately with their class or modify it to suit their needs.
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Begin by opening the iTunes U app on an Apple device, or use the web-based iTunes U course manager portal46.
Using a PC, teachers and students can create and subscribe to courses, but cannot include or view any Apple-specific tools or resources (such as apps or iBooks) within the course. As an alternative to iTunes U, you might explore Google Apps For Education or Office 365 – access both through the department staff portal.
Visit the iTunes U section of the Education Support page12 and look for the ‘Publish your content on iTunes U’ link to download iTunes U course guidelines.
Library
The ‘My Courses’ section contains all the courses you have created or subscribed to. Click on the ‘Instructor’ section to create a new course or view and edit courses you’ve created. The posts, discussions, students and materials related to each course are also displayed in this section.
Course
Within a course, the ‘Info’ section gives an overview of the course content. The ‘Posts’ section contains the lesson sequence and may incorporate assignments and links to apps and other content. Students can create their own notes in the ‘Notes’ section, while the ‘Materials’ section lists all apps and digital resources used within the course.
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Use the integrated gradebook and homework hand-in features to see when a student has viewed an assignment, has completed their work, or to send them a reminder.
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Submitted projects are all organised in one place, making them easy to review and saving you from marking a stack of books.
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Add instructions or comments to PDFs with built-in annotation tools
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Send private messages to personalise instruction by giving students individual help and feedback. Or use group discussions so that every student can contribute to and see a conversation.
Additional resources
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Find Apple-related courses on the NSW Education Standards Authority47 site. Once logged in, click on the Teacher tab and then Courses Lookup. You could use keywords such as ‘Apple’ ‘iPad’ or ‘iTunes U.’
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Enrol in courses on topics such as ‘using iPads outside’ and ‘using iTunes U’ on the Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre Professional Learning48 page.
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Download the current APD Offerings Catalogue from Apple Professional Development49.
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View the Apple Learning Series50 iTunes U courses by Apple Education.
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Visit the Learning Exchange Teacher Learning51 page to view their iPad and iTunes U courses.
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Join the Apple Teacher Program52 to gain access to the Apple Teacher Learning Center.
Buy Apple products for use in schools
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Order Apple computers and accessories from the department’s Technology53 section website.
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Apple’s Volume Purchase Program54 allows educators to purchase many apps and interactive books at a 50% discount for quantities of 20 or more.
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Visit the Apple Education Store55 to get teacher discounts on Apple products for personal use.
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Find a range of resources on Kathy Schrock’s iPads4Teaching56 site.
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Visit the iPads for Learning57 page from the Victoria Department of Education.
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Visit Jane Farrall’s website58, which has pages on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and switch-accessibile app suggestions.
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Read Useful Apple and Apps-Related resources59 article by Spectronics, an inclusive learning technology company.
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Subscribe to the Inclusive Design for iBooks Author60 iTunes U course.
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Maggot Moon61 is a multi-touch iBook that shows what it’s like to be dyslexic.
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Visit the East Hills Girls Technology High School site62 to download their iPad Learning Project PDF. This school teaches with iPads and iTunes U.
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Visit the Real Stories63 page on the Apple website to read inspiring stories about how teachers around the world are integrating Apple products into their teaching.
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Read An Apple for the teacher: are iPads the future in class?64 article from The Guardian for a teacher’s review of iPad use in his school.
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Teachers outline how they’ve used Apple products to transform their teaching: Part 165 and Part 266
Links
- http://www.apple.com/au/education/
- https://www.apple.com/au/education/teachers/
- https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201541
- https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204204
- https://appleid.apple.com/account
- https://pixabay.com/en/macbook-ipad-office-computer-605438/
- https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en
- https://support.apple.com/manuals/ipad
- http://www.airserver.com/Usage/Education
- http://www.apple.com/au/tv/
- https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204289
- https://support.apple.com/education
- http://www.apple.com/education/it/
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGrouping?id=25163&mt=8
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?id=929845495&mt=8
- https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/classroom/id1085319084?mt=8
- http://www.apple.com/au/ibooks-author/
- http://www.apple.com/au/final-cut-pro/
- http://www.apple.com/au/logic-pro/
- http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipad/ibooks-textbooks/
- https://www.apple.com/au/ibooks-author/
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGrouping?cc=au&id=168605&mt=10
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?cc=au&fcId=1084254187&mt=10
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?cc=au&id=978582687&mt=8
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?cc=au&id=1030674678&mt=8
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?cc=au&fcId=1039570910&mt=10
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?app=itunes&id=651073241&ls=1&mt=8
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?cc=au&fcId=845634654&mt=11
- http://fieldofmarseec.nsw.edu.au/digital-learning/multitouch-books/
- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/ibooks-lessons
- http://www.apple.com/au/accessibility/
- http://www.apple.com/au/accessibility/osx/
- http://www.apple.com/au/education/special-education/osx/
- http://www.apple.com/au/accessibility/ios/
- http://www.apple.com/au/education/special-education/ios/
- https://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/accessibility
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?cc=au&id=1018438149&mt=8
- http://images.apple.com/education/docs/L360989C-US_L360989C_DiverseLearners_ff_acc.pdf
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289530393_Is_Apple_transforming_special_education_Assessing_the_efficacy_of_the_iPad_as_an_assistive_technology_for_students_with_special_education_needs
- https://images.apple.com/education/docs/L417450B_US_Uniquely_Equipped.pdf
- https://itunes.apple.com/au/course/speech-dictation-in-os-x-mountain/id580283794?i=126123715&mt=2
- https://itunes.apple.com/au/course/accessibility-features-for/id689773529
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?cc=au&id=1016565218&mt=8
- http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipad/itunes-u/
- https://itunesu.itunes.apple.com/coursemanager/
- https://etams.bostes.nsw.edu.au/web/login/
- http://fieldofmarseec.nsw.edu.au/professional-learning/
- http://www.apple.com/au/education/apd/
- https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/DZR.woa/wa/viewGenre?a=680711169&id=40000109
- http://www.learningexchange.nsw.edu.au/teacher-learning
- https://www.apple.com/au/education/apple-teacher/
- https://education.nsw.gov.au/technology
- https://volume.itunes.apple.com/au/store
- http://www.apple.com/au-hed/shop
- http://www.ipads4teaching.net/ipads-in-the-classroom.html
- http://www.ipadsforeducation.vic.edu.au/pubs/ipads-for-learning/ipads-for-learning
- http://www.janefarrall.com/
- http://www.spectronics.com.au/blog/apple
- https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/inclusive-design-for-ibooks/id965622707?mt=11
- http://www.maggotmoon.com/ibook.php
- http://www.easthillsg-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/yr-9-laptops/parent-information-sessions
- https://www.apple.com/au/education/real-stories/
- http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/aug/13/schools-secondary-schools
- https://www.jamfsoftware.com/blog/how-has-apple-transformed-your-classroom-part-I/
- https://www.jamfsoftware.com/blog/how-has-apple-transformed-your-classroom-part-II/