Apple today launched its Schoolwork app for teachers and students as part of its ongoing commitment to education.
According to a new press release from the company, the free app allows teachers to create assignments, collaborate one-on-one with students, tap into the power of apps for learning, and view and understand student progress. It was announced earlier this year at Apple’s education-based “Field Trip” event held in Chicago.
“Schoolwork makes it easy to create and send announcements and assignments with almost any type of content, from web links to PDFs and documents, and even specific activities in apps,” explains Apple. “Students can use Schoolwork to stay organized and keep track of the work they need to complete and when they need to hand it in.”
By integrating features for teachers and students, the app is meant to serve as a central location for coordinating assignments and collaborating, reads the press release. The free iPad app allows teachers to distribute announcements and assignments to students as well as materials like links, PDFs, and other documents. Teachers can also create assignments that take students to specific activities within apps that support Schoolwork.
“Schoolwork and the apps supporting it give teachers new insight into how their students are performing, helping them tailor their teaching to the needs and potential of each student,” reads the press release. “Teachers have a snapshot of class performance and can check on an individual student’s progress across activities — progress within apps or projects they’ve created.”
Using the app, teachers can assign a specific activity within an iPad app and direct their students directly to the specific point within the app. Popular education apps like Nearpod, Tynker, and Kahoot are already integrating support for Schoolwork.
With Schoolwork, teachers have a snapshot of class performance and can check on an individual student’s progress across activities — progress within apps or projects they’ve created. Apple says privacy and security features are built-in so schools get to create, own, and control the accounts used by their students and decide when student progress information is shared.
Schoolwork should be available on the App Store soon. In the meantime, teachers can learn more about Apple’s educational tools on its dedicated site here.
