Apple launches the Education Community, a hub for free educational resources.

Apple has announced the launch of its new Education Community site, which was designed for Apple’s professional learning tools and as a collaborative platform for educators to interact and share ideas by assisting educators in using the iPad, iPhone, and Mac in the classroom. 

The community adds more resources to the existing Learning Center and builds a new Learning Center. Furthermore, it offers a Forum, currently in beta, which will act as the Community’s social hub for educators to interact and share ideas. Teachers, digital learning professionals, IT administrators, and school leaders will all find something beneficial within the Community.

In fact, there is no cost associated when using it and no need for a login or special credentials for educators. It’s accessible to everybody, but it’s written in English only. Due to the Learning Center in beta version, at this time only teachers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand are able to sign up and contribute to the Forum, as reported via The Journal. 

“At Apple, we believe that education can be a powerful force for equity, and that supporting educators is one of the most important things we can do to help learners unlock their potential,” Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Education and Enterprise Marketing, told The Journal. “We’ve worked alongside teachers in the classroom for more than 40 years, and we’ve seen firsthand how passionate, engaged educators can increase student engagement and enhance learning outcomes through the meaningful use of technology. This is what motivated us to introduce the Apple Education Community — our new hub for professional learning, which provides a collaborative space for educators to connect and learn from one another.”

In the Education Community, there are more than 120 lessons that can be referred by educators to learn how to use the built-in Apple apps and features on their iPad and Mac. The purpose of lesson plans is to motivate teachers to impart skills to their students, such as critical thinking.

There are many sub-forums inside the Forum, such as General Topics, Teaching & Learning, Coaching, Leadership, Deployment & Management, and Apple Groups.  It will swiftly appear as the most effective way for educators to exchange ideas, work together, and advance their careers.

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