Apple has launched a new self-learning professional center called “Apple Teacher Portfolio,” which will assist educators by allowing them to bring their imagination to every lesson and topic, regardless of where learning takes place. Apple Teacher Portfolio can be accessed through the Apple Teacher Learning Center.
Apple will also include updates to its Schoolwork and Classroom apps, as well as the popular Everyone, Can Create curriculum (now available on the Apple Books) so that they can take advantage of the new iPad and Apple app features.
Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Product Marketing for Enterprise and Education, said, “For more than 40 years, Apple has worked alongside educators and created products that improve learning for every student.” “We established professional learning as an integral part of our education package to help schools get the most out of Apple products. The updated Apple Instructor Portfolio invites educators to reimagine their lessons and acknowledges them for the outstanding work they do on a daily basis. We want to continue to inspire every educator as much as they inspire us after this historic year.”
“Apple Teacher Portfolio is a new recognition badge accessible to educators through Apple Teacher Learning Center, a self-paced professional learning network. The free offering assists educators in making the most of Apple technology at each stage of their lesson planning in order to help students unlock prior knowledge, dig deeper into a subject, and apply what they’ve learned. Educators can improve their work with engaging daily lessons for students using apps like Keynote, GarageBand, and iMovie, according to 21 templates and lesson ideas inspired by the Anyone Can Build project guides.”
“For educators, Apple Teacher Portfolio becomes a collection of their most innovative and engaging lessons, a body of work that they can share with their colleagues and leadership. Reflecting on what worked — and what didn’t — leads to changes in teaching practice, and the portfolio serves as a record of those milestones.”
Felecity Treptow, a technology integration specialist at D.C. Everest Area School District in Wisconsin, said, “Apple Teacher Portfolio offers schools a voice to ask the right questions and help teachers focus on their job in meaningful ways.” “A portfolio is a way of showcasing your accomplishments or creations. My first educator portfolio is still on my shelf at home, and I enjoy looking back on it as a significant chapter in my career. I’m looking forward to distributing this tool to teachers throughout our district so that they, too, can be proud of the work they do during their careers and track their learning success through tangible artifacts.”
Apple’s Everyone Can Create curriculum has been updated to take advantage of the new iPad features and apps like iMovie, Clips, and GarageBand. The Drawing guide has been updated to include motion graphics and animation in Keynote, and the Photo guide has been updated to include the development of animated GIFs for Keynote as well as the Camera and Photos apps. The Video guide will go over how to make short films with a green screen and other special effects, while the Music guide will go over how to use GarageBand to make podcasts.
According to Gallup studies, “most teachers believe that students learn better when they are allowed to express themselves creatively. Students are more likely to consider tasks that involve their own imagination when teachers are granted the freedom to be innovative. The Anyone Can Create curriculum was created by Apple to make it fun and simple for teachers to incorporate painting, music, filmmaking, and photography into their existing lesson plans for any topic. The Anyone Can Create curriculum is now used in over 5,000 K-12 schools around the world.”
Also, educators will get more insight into student activity with support for progress data and time spent on documents, videos, and links assigned in Schoolwork. There are also new updates on the way to the app which will give teachers the option to share Schoolwork projects with colleagues, by exporting assignments created in the app, and the project can be imported back into Schoolwork or to other platforms.
There is also an enhancement made to the sidebar to improve navigation with quicker access to classes, assignments, and student accounts.
Now, the Classroom app can support learning beyond the walls of a school. “Classroom has always connected students in the same physical space with their teachers, and 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.”
