Hands-on with Apple’s new Schoolwork app on iPad [Gallery]

Chance Miller | Apr 12 2018 - 8:51 pm PT

At its education-focused event in Chicago last month, Apple showcased a new app called Schoolwork. Essentially, Schoolwork is Apple’s take on a classroom management app, allowing teachers to assign tasks to students and for students view those assignments and submit their work.

Schoolwork is slated to be available to everyone in June, but the app recently entered beta testing. Head below for a quick look at Schoolwork…

These images, provided to us by someone in the Schoolwork beta, show various parts of the application from both the teacher side and student side.

Apple touts during the on boarding process that students have a few capabilities in Schoolwork:

See what’s due this week: Focus on what you need to do for all your classes, and check off what you’ve done.

Share your work: Submit work directly from Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, or share from any app.

Check your progress: Use your student page to find work you’ve created ands see your progress in apps.

The interface itself is relatively simple. The homepage of the app shows students a broad overview of the tasks due within the next 7 days, then below that are assignments due further down the line.

Furthermore, on a standard class page, students see a list of tasks assigned to them and the due date for each assignment. Once an assignment is complete, it will be checked off.

From a teacher perspective, there’s a bit more going on. Here’s the message Apple displays to teachers:

Create handouts: Share announcements, homework, or a quick reminder.

Guide students in apps: Direct students to an activity in an app, or collaborate with students in just a few taps.

Personalize learning: Send a handout to a single student or the entire class, based on student needs.

Review student progress: See student work and progress in apps all in one place.

Provide instant feedback: Review work in any file, and give students feedback while they work.

Focus on teaching: Let schoolwork help you focus on students.

Teachers can see detailed information about the progress of each student, viewing what assignments they’ve completed and what assignments they have not completed. Furthermore, they can see how many students in their class in total are done and how many are not.

In terms of creating a handout, teachers have the ability to choose which class or students to which they make the assignment available and can set a due date. From there, teachers can add activities in any third-party app, or upload files, add links, add bookmarks, and add photos and videos. Instructors can also request items from students, such as a file upload.

In terms of app integration, an example shown here is with Pixelmator for a geometry class. “Learn the basics of geometry by drawing and measuring different shapes in Pixelmator.” Interestingly, Schoolwork supports applications that do not have ClassKit integration, though it is the student’s responsibility to do the work as progress is not tracked.

Apple says that Schoolwork will be available in June, just in time for the 2018-2019 school year. It’s easy to assume that the interface and features shown in these screenshots could evolve throughout the beta period leading up to the June release.

What do you think of Schoolwork? Will it be enough to convert schools to Apple’s platform from others such as Google Classroom and Canvas? Let us know down in the comments!