Apple Spotlighting Teachers and Students Using Innovative Tech in Schools

[MacRumors]

Apple today launched a new article series in its Newsroom highlighting teachers and students who use innovative technology in the classroom.

The first article focuses on the Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts (APA) in California, which hosts an annual student-created show called "Playlist."

Students at Huntington Beach APA use Apple hardware and software to prepare for the show, such as Final Cut Pro to edit music videos and Logic Pro X to for audio production. Students get hands-on training in theater tech, audio recording, video production, and more as part of their curriculum.

An iPad Pro in the theater powers a Yamaha CL5 digital mixer for controlling sound levels, and students have access to a recording studio and other music creation spaces.

Many of the students are in the Music, Media, and Entertainment Technology program, designed to prepare them to succeed in the music industry. Jamie Knight, who runs the program, says it's imperative to focus on both technology and art, a philosophy Apple has always agreed with.

"We don't just focus on the technology," Knight says. "It's that performing arts experience that gives them leadership skills, confidence, team work, all of those soft skills that businesses want. You have to perform to get that, and then when you marry that with the technology and you give the kids the ability to have a real recording studio to work with, they're going to be the next Steven Spielberg, or the next Paul McCartney."

The school uses Apple products because they are "equipped with tools to teach," such as GarageBand and iMovie.

Apple's full dive into the Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts and its annual "Playlist" production can be read in the Apple Newsroom.

Article Link: Apple Spotlighting Teachers and Students Using Innovative Tech in Schools

 

[bbplayer5]

Apple is failing in education, chrome has taken over. Not a single district in my area has an abundance of Macs anymore.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Apple is failing in education, chrome has taken over. Not a single district in my area has an abundance of Macs anymore.

Kids in my district all get a chrome book to use in high school. I guess the days of going to a computer lab filled with macs are long gone.

 

[now i see it]

One school uses Apple stuff, another uses Windows stuff. Same old story since forever.

 

[m.x]

Two MacBooks shown in the article, two times the glorious MacBook Pro 2015.

Kids in my district all get a chrome book to use in high school. I guess the days of going to a computer lab filled with macs are long gone.

Whenever I'm studying in the university (here in Germany), I see less and less Macs around. Almost all of them are either the 2015 MacBook Pro or the 2015 MacBook Air (or earlier). No MacBooks with butterfly keyboard. Five years ago everyone had a MacBook Air or the Pro. It is sad to see, but understandable, given the high prices for recent Macs here in Germany and the continuous news about unreliability.

 

[joeblow7777]

Apple is failing in education, chrome has taken over. Not a single district in my area has an abundance of Macs anymore.

Funny enough, my (high school science) department just bought 10 new ipads to supplement the 30 we already.
However, we've also just purchased our first set of 15 Chromebooks, and we're very into the Google ecosystem, using Google Classroom, Google Drive, and Gmail quite extensively for both teachers and students.

 

[sracer]

Funny enough, my (high school science) department just bought 10 new ipads to supplement the 30 we already.
However, we've also just purchased our first set of 15 Chromebooks, and we're very into the Google ecosystem, using Google Classroom, Google Drive, and Gmail quite extensively for both teachers and students.

My daughter is a teacher up in Oregon and in her school they're nearly all using chromebooks. The things she's able to do with the kids using Google services and chromebooks is very encouraging.

 

[Col4bin]

Apple is failing in education, chrome has taken over. Not a single district in my area has an abundance of Macs anymore.

Limited educational funding is certainly a factor in my city's district. Wish Apple would provide better educational discounts. My thinking is that most kids getting trained on the Mac platform with that software will eventually will go to college and might be more likely to purchase a future Mac? (What I did at least.)

 

[RoelJuun]

The person in the picture never seems to have changed the default dock size…

 

[ctg7w6]

Innovative tech... Article can't be about Apple then, right?

 

[Plutonius]

Innovated tech is fine but I would rather schools focus on the fundamentals.

 

[simonmet]

One school uses Apple stuff, another uses Windows stuff. Same old story since forever.

Yeah, and I’d be concerned about going to a school that focuses on one platform, perhaps exclusively. That is hardly setting students up for the reality of professional work is it?

 

[magicschoolbus]

Google has managed to replace MS in classrooms, hardware, and even in business with their G Suite.

For Apple being such a hardware-focused company - they sure do like to release underpowered, lackluster, and overpriced updates. Their competition is simply providing better services at a more affordable pricepoint.

 

[BlargKing]

Innovative technology my rear.

The college I graduated from went from an all-mac environment in my first year to all PC the following year because Apple no longer makes desktop PCs capable of handling a professional content creation workflow for a decent price.

 

[brendu]

Hey Apple, give us an education focused mac with an education focused price tag and we can talk about how you care about education. Until then its all PR and smoke and mirrors.

 

[iop]

I think Apple won't be staying in schools much longer. Too expensive, too restrictive.

 

[BruceEBonus]

For rising obesity, poor concentration, reducing face to face social interactive skills and generally rampant dumbo-ism read “innovative tech”. “Find out what to think after the break!”

 

[projectle]

Technology should be about making things easier, doing more, extending the reach of those who use it, and enabling more to try.

For example, I have a traumatic brain injury, and lost the ability to play saxophone and clarinet. Since then, I was relegated to playing with computer controlled synths note by note. This last year, I found the Roli which let me play something very much like the saxophone again and feel like I could be a musician again.

I do far, far better when it comes to touch screen keyboards because they genuinely are more forgiving when it comes to placement and can adapt the hit boxes behind the screen. When typing on my iPad, I can type way faster than I can on a traditional keyboard.

This year, I am even planning on releasing my first album thanks to being able to "fast fail" by being able to play an instrument again in real time.

Yes, one of those products (including the one that is letting me record, layer and mix - or generally type without errors or frustration) is an Apple one, but I in no way feel like Apple is essential to get it done but rather is what I had around, and if I were using something else, I would be equally able as it is the passion that makes it happen. It is the passion of those who make the products who find new and innovative things that no one else has done before from following skeuomorphic design principles that need not translate to a piece of technology, those who use that technology to embrace their creativity, and a desire to do something big.

If I needed to put the essential label on anything, it would be Roli for showing me that it is possible to play music again and in me for learning a new way to find my voice.

 

[harriska2]

My hubby uses his ipad 12.9 to control mixers including various Behringers and an Allen & Heath. All with touch control. He has used a backup MBP for the same thing but it isn’t as nice. Educational pricing does give a decent discount for a $200 package that includes Logic and FCP. So there is that.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Innovative technology my rear.

The college I graduated from went from an all-mac environment in my first year to all PC the following year because Apple no longer makes desktop PCs capable of handling a professional content creation workflow for a decent price.

I work in TV and we're doing the same thing. Apples lack of updates while the takeoff of 4K, removal of ports, high price point is making us switch.

 

[mrgraff]

Apple is failing in education, chrome has taken over. Not a single district in my area has an abundance of Macs anymore.

Just look at the dock on the Mac in that photo. Chrome is running and Safari isn't on the dock; I'd bet the school IT folks removed it to "hide" the app from being preferred.

 

[nabru]

I'd rather have schools using Linux and free/open-source hardware and software rather than locking students into proprietary software.

But... this won't happen anytime soon.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Apple used to be the market-leader when it comes to 1 to 1 education (i.e. every student and teacher a device).

Google has taken over since 2017 (orso) and Microsoft (Office 365) is not far behind nowadays.

Apple tries to make iOS attractive by being able to fully manage iPads with an MDM combined with Apple School Manager.
Stuff like Classrom.app and Schoolwork.app (ClassKit) are add-ons to try to make iOS relevant again for teachers.

Trouble is that Apple School Manager and an MDM and good Wifi with Bonjour makes it too complicated for a large school to be able to work stable.
Chrome OS and G-Suite is easier to manage, ChromeBooks have keyboards, and are less expensive.

 

[mcfrazieriv]

Apple used to do this years back. It used to highlight Apple in the classroom and do an entire bio of the school. Nothing new. Why it chose this time to write about an academy that simply adds onto another high school's curriculum is beyond me. That's like writing a blurb about any acting class, coding class, etc you'd take after school... There are much better choices out there to write about like the Orange County School of the Arts, which acts as a full-time high school AND an arts conservatory under one roof.

 

[robjulo]

Your system is in the vast minority. Money is extremely tight and Apple's pricing has basically made them a non-starter at most schools. Chromebooks is where most schools are headed, if they aren't already there.

Funny enough, my (high school science) department just bought 10 new ipads to supplement the 30 we already.
However, we've also just purchased our first set of 15 Chromebooks, and we're very into the Google ecosystem, using Google Classroom, Google Drive, and Gmail quite extensively for both teachers and students.