Apple takes Google fight into classrooms with new iPad

Just how much should an iPad be central to a child’s education? The launch of a new iPad and classroom software raises the question.

A demo of the Froggipedia App using the Apple Pencil on the new 9.7-inch iPad. Picture: AP

Just how central should an iPad be to a child’s education? That’s an issue Apple is looking at more closely with the launch of a new iPad and classroom software.

The new tablet is much the same as the existing 9.7-inch iPad at the existing $469 price tag. The difference is that the Apple Pencil, which until now needed the $969 iPad Pro, now works with this new iPad. The Apple Pencil isn’t free and costs an extra $145, or $129 with a school discount.

Apple’s education assault should help it compete more ­effectively against Google, which around four years ago offered teachers software to help them distribute and grade assignments digitally with Google Classroom — teachers and students can connect within the school and after hours.

Last week Taiwan firm Acer announced what is the first tablet that uses Google’s Chrome operating system, and starts at $US329. Australian pricing hasn’t been revealed but it should work out significantly cheaper than iPad as the stylus doesn’t cost extra.

Apple and Google’s push into education puts pressure on schools which need to decide how effective tablet computers are as teaching aids.

We all need to master using phones, tablets, and notebooks in the digital age, but in this decade there are plenty of three-year-olds that already can poke and prod a tablet. For many, a tablet computer has become a childminding device.

There are obvious uses for tablets in a teaching environment. Whole classes can access ebook textbooks, use videos as learning aids, do projects together, and ­receive and submit assignments directly to their teacher.

To lure schools and students to their new iPad ecosystem, Apple has announced a swag of supporting software that targets kids learning the visual arts — video shooting and editing, photography, creating music and drawing skills. Indeed software is key and there is a wealth of opportunity for learning.

The experience is bundled under the title “Everyone Can Create” and makes use of well-known apps such as iMovie and Clips for video, Photos and Camera for photography, GarageBand for creating music, and Pages and Tayasui Sketches for drawing.

Studying anatomy using augmented reality.

There are teacher and student guides, lessons, ideas on developing creativity and communication skills.

I can see its relevance to learning visual arts in the 21st century, as long as students learn the concepts and are not just locked into Apple’s apps and ecosphere.

Given most of us take photos with our smartphones, framing subjects, experimenting with light and shadow are skills worth having, as is composing, lighting, camera angles, pacing and how to construct narratives for video.

Music lessons at school can be much more fun recording vocals, mixing audio and arranging tracks using GarageBand. So is learning to use different lines, shape, colour and texture when drawing.

Apple has also announced a Classroom app which lets teachers control all of the iPads in use so they can track individual student progress. They can distribute and collect assignments and collaborate with students no matter where they are. Assignments automatically appear on the iPads, organised by class, due date and priority.

Much of this will be a massive help to teachers and students, but schools will need to be discerning about the use of iPads, which are there to enhance a student’s education and not the end goal.

Apple CEO Tim Cook with a new iPad at its launch at a Chicago school. Picture: AFP