Apple is latest tech company to offer tools for teachers in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Apple wants a bite of the education pie and is making a concerted effort to woo educators to use its tools.

As technology increasingly makes its way into classrooms, technology companies want to make their presence felt there too. And Apple is no different. Earlier this week, Apple Teacher made a quiet entry to the Singapore on Wednesday (Feb 21).

The programme offers are free resources for teachers to improve their digital literacy, while also guiding them on how to expand the use of technology in their classrooms.

There are starter guides that introduce teachers to existing Apple software and products that can be used for class presentations and interactions, creative lesson ideas and material shared by a global online community of teachers. In addition, the professional learning platform also offers tech tips that teachers can use in and out of the classroom to organise their lesson plans and work day.

And to entice teachers to get with the programme, Apple has added a gamification element. Teachers can earn badges upon completion of quizzes related to the use of technology in the classroom. When they have reached a certain level, they will be able to unlock the ‘Swift Playgrounds’ tool, which teaches them how to code, and subsequently teach their own students to code as well.

So far, three schools in Singapore have begun using the Apple Teacher programme: The School of Science and Technology (SST), St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) Junior, and My First Skool. Teachers at these schools were given access to the programme about one week before the official launch in Singapore on Wednesday.

With tools from the programme, Ms Ang Su Juin, a Chinese language teacher at SJI Junior said teachers at SJI Junior are able to track students’ progress by getting them to apply their learning via video or audio recordings.

Another function of such technology, she said, is to provide more illustrative visualisation of concepts and tools to help students organise their thoughts and retain knowledge.

“We also find that the immediacy of the technology helps to keep the momentum of a lesson going and therefore help students be more engaged. Technology also allows the students to see what other students are thinking and also allows them to work together on learning tasks.”

Ms Arfah Buang, who teaches secondary school level Malay at SST, added that having the option of a variety of digital tools gives her the flexibility to “redesign lessons” easily.

Furthermore, she added: “I feel that students are more engaged when what goes on in the classroom is relevant to their daily lives; and my students, being the digital generation, connect better when they use technology in the classroom just as how they would be going about in their daily lives.”

Apple Teacher was first launched in the US in Sept last year when Apple unveiled the new iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2 to much fanfare. CEO Tim Cook had said then that the Apple Teacher programme could be “a powerful force for change, for good”.

With other tech companies like Microsoft and Google offering similar professional learning programmes for a long time now, it remains to be seen how Apple will compete to gain market share.

Microsoft’s professional learning programme for teachers in Singapore, for example, has run the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) programme for several years and offers not just learning resources but also work attachments for teachers to have stints within the company.

In addition, Microsoft also sends two teachers from Singapore to represent the country to participate in the annual Global Educator Exchange event that brings together other “innovative and passionate educators” from around the world to showcase how technology can be used effectively to “transform education, revitalise learning and empower students”.

There are currently 84 educators in Singapore who have gone through the MIE programme, and another 18 who have completed the MIE Experts (a higher achievement that teachers can receive) programme here.

Meanwhile, Google too, has its own Certified Educators programme here for teachers to develop skills necessary to implement technology in the classroom.

There are performance-based live exams and training videos that show teachers how to effectively use Chromebooks and/or Android Tablets in the classroom.

Google Classroom - part of its education-based apps that have been offered for free since 2007 - for instance, allows teachers to give assignments to individual students and track their progress via the app. And, instead of assigning a piece of homework to a whole class, the app also allows teachers to discreetly set different levels of questions or quantities of assignments to any particular student based on the individual’s abilities.

Teachers TODAY spoke with said having a variety of tools available not only helps make classroom lessons more effective, it also helps in their professional development as educators.

As Ms Arfah Buang said: “In the use of ICT, the motivation for me, as a teacher is ‘how can I do something better with technology’.”