Live Blog: 9to5Mac coverage from inside Apple’s education event

Bradley Chambers | Mar 27 2018 - 6:44 am PT

It’s Apple Event day here at Lane Tech in Chicago. 9to5Mac is onsite, and we’ll be live blogging the event as soon as it kicks off at 10 am local. The Apple Store is currently down ahead of expected product announcements and there will be no live stream of the keynote so stay tuned for up-to-the-second coverage and much more!

Good morning, Chicago! We’re going back to school today for some exciting announcements in education. pic.twitter.com/7FhJ927reO

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 27, 2018

– Apple has sent a schedule of today’s event to people in attendance.

-Apple is showing off HomePod with the music in the media lounge.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978632129436413958

– We are heading into the event hall.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978635821757665281

– Here’s a photo of the stage.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978636904945061888

Former Vice President of the United States is onsite. Al Gore is also on Apple’s Board of Directors.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978645709401583616

– The event is about to begin

– A video is playing discussing creating and inventing. Key theme: make something

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978648149358194695

– “One person can change the world”. Tim walks on stage, and thanks everyone for being here.

– Tim discussing how Chicago is home to one of the most forward thinking school districts in the country.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978649001347215360

– Tim: “Education is a big part of who we are as a company”.

– Tim: “We created Wheels for the Mind to help educators use technology in the classroom”. He’s talking about how Swift Playgrounds makes it fun to learn to code at school and at home.

– “We are working with 40 STEAM organizations to bring coding to more kids of all backgrounds”. He mentions App Camp for Girls by name.

– Kathleen Richardson who works with ConnectEd for Apple is on stage.

– She’s telling a story of a teacher who is using iPad in unique ways in the history classroom.

– They are telling a strong story of how the iPad can engage students in a way that nothing else can.

– Tim is talking about how Apple loves to go into classrooms to see how iPad is being used.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978650710781804544

– Greg is on stage to talk about iPad. Greg is discussing benefits of the iPad (portability is key). iPads can be used on field trip to identify plants on a field trip.

– Kids love iPad because it’s super powerful. They love iPad because it comes with amazing built-in apps. There are over 1 million apps made for iPad.

– 200,000 apps made for education.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978651814894686208

– Cassey is discussing how she uses iPad in her classroom.

– “Students are creators of content, and not just consumers”. She’s giving practical examples of our her students do this. She mentions students for who English is 2nd language can even participate.

– New iPad 9.7-inch is announced with support for Apple Pencil.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978653074075070464

– All new versions of iWork apps with Apple Pencil support.

– Beta feature of smart annotation coming to Pages for iPad. Useful for teachers so they don’t have to print out documents. It’s not a layer of ink on top of document. If you edit the doc, the markup moves with the content.

– iBooks Author coming to iPad. It’s built right into Pages.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978653962483138561

– “This is a game changing version of iWork”.

– iPad is getting A10 Fusion chip. “It’s more powerful than every Chromebook”.

– Next up is Augmented Reality. The showing an app called Boulevard AR.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978654999810109441

– With the magic of AR, frog dissection is a lot easier.

– “AR is going to change the way this generation learns”

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978655341507497985

– New iPad 9.7-inch is $329 retail and $299 for schools. Available today. New iWork apps available today.

– GarageBand has a new sound pack for kids.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978655812951437312

– Discussing Shared iPad systems for non 1:1 schools. Apple School Manager is a one-stop shop for IT administrators.

-Apple ID can be created in mass or one-off by your school’s tech team.

-Managed Apple IDs now have 200GB of storage.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978656231178063872

– Discussing new low-cost accessories from Logitech.

– “The very best product ever created for students and teachers.”

– “Teachers are the heart of the classroom” “We want to help teachers use our product to create engaging learning experiences for all types of learners”.

– Apple is now discussing Apple Classroom app.

– “Apple Classroom is coming to the Mac with the same features”. It’s available in beta in June.

– “Schoolwork”: A new education app from Apple. It’s a cloud based app to assign handouts, tap into power of apps, and visibility into students progress.

– “It’s easy for teachers to assign students to a specific activity within an app”

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978657857863409664

– “This data stays private”. Apple cannot see student progress.

– Classkit is a new API. A few apps have had early access, and many more are on the way.

– Schoolwork app available in June

– Apple Teacher is a free and self paced online learning program for teachers.

– Teachers can earn badges. Apple loves seeing them shared on social media. Almost to 1 million badges handed out for training accomplishments.

– Nikole Blanchard is a teacher from Baton Rouge who has earned every Apple Teacher badge.

– “Teacher’s like Nikole inspire us”

– Apple is now discussing Swift Playgrounds and Everyone Can Code.

– Learning to code isn’t just for people who want to code. It teaches critical thinking and problem solving. “Kids can start with a real programming language to talk it all the way through”.

– Lessons go from basic coding concepts to building fully functional apps.

– AR Kit coming to Swift Playgrounds

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978660395979337728

– Using Apple’s supplied teacher guides, anyone can use Swift Playgrounds in the classroom.

– “Creative thinking leads to deeper student engagement”.

– New curriculum from Apple: Everyone Can Create

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978661166963716097

– Kids can use all the interactive features to take their creations further (Mic, stereo speakers, pencil).

– Key video concepts like setting and narrative can come to life.

https://twitter.com/bradleychambers/status/978661787901091841

– Student guides with real world examples to help build their skills. Robust set of teaching materials.

– Everyone Can Create is in preview today. More content this summer. It’ll be ready to use this fall in the classroom.