The Mac brings some of the world’s most advanced technology to the learning environment, but it’s also incredibly easy and intuitive to use. So the new tools you’re giving to faculty and students actually get put to work—and actually change the way they teach and learn.
Mac OS X makes working together less work.
With powerful tools for collaboration, Mac OS X sets everyone up to communicate. Students can start using blogs, wikis, and chats now, so they can build the collaboration skills they’ll need in college—and in the job market.
iChat
iChat lets students work together via text chats, audio chats, and video chats. They can even use four-way video conferencing to connect in a virtual meeting room, where they can show presentations, slideshows, or movies next to their own video image.*
iChat is also a great way for faculty to bring outside experts to the classroom. And it’s easy to save these sessions as podcasts for review or for future classes.
Screen sharing
You can use iChat screen sharing to provide virtual support. But faculty can also use it to monitor students while they’re working or to guide them through challenging problems. Even students can use it to work on shared projects, whether they’re in class or at home.
When a screen-sharing session begins, an audio chat starts automatically so users can communicate with each other. You also have full control over who can connect to whom.
Keeping a digital classroom on track.
In any classroom, it can be hard to tell when students are learning and when they’re lost. That’s especially true in a classroom full of computers. Students may be looking at the screen, but are they looking at the right material? Are they falling behind?
Apple Remote Desktop lets a teacher or lab manager observe, guide, and control each student’s activity—right from their own computer. They can keep individual students on task or walk them through complex problems. They can use text chatting to interact with a single student or a project team without disrupting what everyone else is doing. They can choose any student’s screen and share it with the whole room. Or they can simply drag and drop assignments and handouts to any or all of the computers in class.
Teacher’s Helpers, a free set of Automator workflows, do even more to leverage the power of Apple Remote Desktop in the classroom. They let teachers easily trigger all kinds of actions on their students’ computers, from launching an application to opening a web page to locking screens.
*Broadband Internet access required. Fees may apply.
Mac OS X Server — collaboration supercharged.
Mac OS X Server is a great solution for everything you expect from a server, including mail services, web hosting, directory services, file sharing, and more. But it also builds on the collaboration tools in Mac OS X, so you can deliver an even more powerful learning environment.
iChat Server
With iChat Server, you can have all chats take place behind the firewall — and thanks to Jabber support, faculty and students can chat across multiple platforms. All communication is encrypted, so everyone can safely share messages, files, and URLs.
iChat Server also allows for persistent chat rooms, which are perfect for teams that need to discuss their projects and get real-time updates. Students can join chat rooms at any time. When they’re done, they can log out, shut down, and come back later to review all communications since the chat room opened.
Weblog Server and Wiki Server
Mac OS X Server simplifies the process of creating and managing blogs and wikis as spaces for collaboration — once you set it up, faculty members can do the rest. Easy-to-use templates let them quickly construct even the most sophisticated wikis, complete with group calendar, mailing list archive, RSS support, and podcast hosting.
Faculty can easily authorize students to post and edit content or limit them to read-only access. And Wiki Server maintains a complete history, so faculty can always revert back to a previous page if they need to. It’s also easy to track student contributions and grade their work.
iCal Server
With iCal Server, it’s simple for faculty to share calendars, coordinate events, schedule meetings, and reserve resources. No client access licenses are required, so you can add users to departments or cover your entire institution at no extra cost. And iCal Server fully integrates with any CalDAV-based calendar program you’re already using.
Spotlight Server
Students or researchers working on collective projects can easily find their content anywhere on Mac OS X Server using Spotlight Server. It works with the file-access controls in Mac OS X Server, so users get only the search results they’re authorized to see. Now you can provide a powerful way to share information and assets at your institution — without lifting a finger.
