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Apple Revamps and Expands its Education Page Ahead of iOS 7 Launch

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Apple has launched (via The Loop) a newly redesigned "Apple and Education" page on its website, with a simplified design and re-imagined categories that tout iPads, Macs, Special Education, and "Real Stories."

educationredesign.jpg
"We believe that technology has the power to transform the classroom. It can pave new ways of thinking. New ways of sparking ideas. Yet the foundation never changes: A dedication to learning that's always been part of our DNA. We've been proud to work alongside educators and students to reinvent what it means to teach and learn. And together we're going things we never thought possible."
Click to expand...
Each individual section on the site offers resources for both teachers and parents. In the iPad section, for example, Apple shares information on teaching with the iPad, apps for lesson planning, and teacher stories. The Mac section highlights productivity apps in the iLife and iWork software suites, along with the Mac App Store.

In its Special Education section, Apple promotes the accessibility options available with both iOS and OS X and the Real Stories portion of the site offers up teacher experiences and profiles of schools that have successfully incorporated Apple products into their classrooms.

Apple's revamped education site comes as the company prepares to implement sweeping changes to its educational program with the introduction of iOS 7. As part of its efforts to increase device usage in schools, Apple will permit children under age 13 to own and operate individual iTunes accounts for the first time. The company is also adding a number of new tools for teachers, including new Mobile Device Management options.

In recent months, Apple has been involved in several large deals that will see expanded iPad use in classrooms. In June the company won a $30 million contract from the L.A. Unified School District and Tim Cook has also been in talks with the Turkish President over a $4.5 billion educational deal.

Article Link: Apple Revamps and Expands its Education Page Ahead of iOS 7 Launch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/22/apple-revamps-and-expands-its-education-page-ahead-of-ios-7-launch/
Squilly

Squilly

macrumors 68020
Nov 17, 2012
2,260
4
PA
It's great they're really promoting education in their products. Different way of marketing.
 
A

arbitter

macrumors regular
Nov 12, 2010
109
1
Belgium
What I still don't understand is why Apple uses images for headers and such. I mean, they don't even try to make it efficient by putting it in sprites or so.
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,142
31,195
But Microsoft is giving away Surface RTs. Tough to beat a company dumping product.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,789
7,525
Los Angeles
Two weeks into the school year, the iPads from the L.A. Unified School District contract are already on their way to the first district schools, and initial teacher training sessions have already taken place, although it'll be late 2014 before all district schools have them.

The contract provides iPads for both the students and their teachers. The trick will be for teachers to quickly learn the best way to teach with these devices, not to use them as toys or depend on them to simply replace books, but to lead students to new ways of learning and new sources of inspiration.

I'm hoping that Apple will provide ongoing resources to teachers as they search for the best software and teaching methods to fit their students and curriculum.
 
R

Rosco

macrumors newbie
Sep 26, 2002
2
0
Vancouver
New but old

I like the design but the site in general needs an overhaul. It's funny how long they have been making mobile phones but they still don't have a responsive/mobile site.

The use of images for headings is also strange and not very SEO friendly. :confused:

Maybe they have something in the works around the time iOS7 comes out.
 
Krazy Bill

Krazy Bill

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2011
2,985
3
Awww.... that's pretty cute. Apple needs to get some "big people" in the enterprise market using iOS and show them getting some serious things done on their devices... things that pay the bills. Oh wait... that market is hard to find. :eek:

Seriously. This is what happened to Apple in the 90's. They theorized that if you focused on the little kiddie school market, they in turn would grow up using macs. Well, I guess that 10% market penetration really paid off big time. :eek:
 
macs4nw

macs4nw

macrumors 601
Sep 21, 2010
4,336
1,933
Next-door from the little old lady from Pasadena..
In spite of some of the nay-saying, overall a no-brainer really. This renewed education initiative is a huge opportunity for Apple. Not vigorously addressing this market, with all their hardware, software, a plethora of available accessories for their devices, iBooks, the App store and iTunesU, would be a golden opportunity missed by Apple, and a serious abdication of their vision for continued growth.

Many education depts, the world over are following with great interest, eEducation initiatives planned for the near future, or currently under way, and Apple could, and certainly deserves to be, at the forefront of this education 'evolution' of sorts.
 
T

tumtumtum

macrumors member
Sep 16, 2012
80
94
Considering the design inconsistencies and decreased usability in iOS7 they're going to need schools to teach people how to use it.
 
musika

musika

macrumors 65816
Sep 2, 2010
1,285
459
New York
Hey kids! You ready to see what it looks like when you rush and stick the marketing team in charge of iconography!? :D:D:D
 
I

iKane

macrumors member
Apr 29, 2013
30
14
Rosco said:
I like the design but the site in general needs an overhaul. It's funny how long they have been making mobile phones but they still don't have a responsive/mobile site.

The use of images for headings is also strange and not very SEO friendly. :confused:

Maybe they have something in the works around the time iOS7 comes out.
Click to expand...

They were also the first people to make a decent mobile browser able to display desktop sites properly; mobile websites aren't always necessary.

Personally I like that I can scan the page and then zoom in, rather than endlessly scrolling an "optimised" page only to find the information I wanted actually isn't on that page so I have to try another one.
 
pubwvj

pubwvj

macrumors 68000
Oct 1, 2004
1,901
208
Mountains of Vermont
The biggest thing Apple could do for Educational users (and Small Business) is to support MacClassic, Rosetta, PPC, 68K. There is a tremendous amount of excellent quality software that they have made obsolete by abandoning these technologies. Apple is huge. They have money coming out their wazoo. They could easily do this and make a difference.
 
G

gm713

macrumors newbie
Sep 19, 2012
19
0
What's up with the inconsistency. The home page hero shot and other images have rounded corners, wherein the linked/sub-pages have hero images with square corners. May seem trivial but Apple's success was attributed to uniformity, consistency, and attention to detail.
 
cgmaster

cgmaster

macrumors newbie
Jul 17, 2002
18
1
If you've struggled with Lion/ML Server in any kind of heterogenous network environment (which school/university networks tend to be), then you know how flawed this myopic iphone/ipad everywhere campaign is. If you can't get your lab machines (the ones that actually do real work) on the network reliably without installing, configuring, wiping and reinstalling over and over, then who cares about iOS?
 
dysamoria

dysamoria

macrumors 68020
Dec 8, 2011
2,244
1,866
cgmaster said:
If you can't get your lab machines (the ones that actually do real work) on the network reliably without installing, configuring, wiping and reinstalling over and over...
Click to expand...

Sounds like every institution I've worked at with Windows as their primary platform.
 
Last edited:
cgmaster

cgmaster

macrumors newbie
Jul 17, 2002
18
1
dysamoria said:
Sounds like every institution I've worked at with Windows as their primary platform.
Click to expand...

I'm the last person to defend Windoze, but it's reality, and versions of OSX Server prior to Lion worked just fine in mixed environments.
 
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