Apple eNews for Education: January 2007


	iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications devices with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small handheld device. Apple has reinvented the phone.


	Every child has a unique learning style and Apple has created a rich set of features built right into Mac OS X to help them learn efficiently and effectively. Text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition, screen zooming, and more are all available to help you give your students the classroom assistance they need. For more information download the new Diverse Learners Guide, a valuable teaching and learning resource written by Apple Distinguished Educators.


	In the Magnolia School District in Anaheim, California, Apple technology is everywhere, so the IT team doesn’t have to be. With Apple Remote Desktop, providing support to several widely distributed schools is easy and fast. According to network specialist Andy Fernandez, “with tools like Apple Remote Desktop, which allows us to install software remotely, we don’t have to drive around all day now. Yet we can provide great support for the schools.”
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Apple is currently accepting applications from American and Canadian educators for the Apple Distinguished Educators Class of 2007. The ADE program is focused on developing a global community of individuals who demonstrate educational excellence. ADEs are members of a select group of K-12 and higher education professionals with a recognized expertise in educational technology leadership. This group of more than 600 educators spans the globe with membership in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Asia.

Want to create a podcast but don’t know where to start? Check out Learn to Podcast, a series of eight short video tutorials that will show you how easy it is to join the podcast revolution. You’ll be introduced to the tools in iLife ’06 — GarageBand, iMovie HD, and iWeb — and before you know it, you’ll be in business.

When it comes to getting organized, we could all use a little inspiration. Inspiration 8 from Inspiration Software uses graphic organizers to help students represent concepts and relationships. As part of the Secondary Tools solution from the Apple Digital Learning Series, it aides students in information analysis, problem-solving, and decision making while at the same time improving their writing proficiency. Now that’s inspiring.

If you have students that are interested in making movies, iD Tech Camps offers weeklong, day, and overnight summer technology programs for ages 7-17 at 50 prestigious universities nationwide. Students film and edit movies, create blockbuster special effects, create 2D and 3D video games, design websites, build robots, and more. Additionally, teens can travel to Spain for a Documentary Filmmaking program.

Apple eNews for Education
January 2007
Volume 6, Issue 1

We hope you enjoyed reading this month’s issue of Apple eNews for Education. We’ll be back next month with more exciting news about Apple and the valuable role it’s playing in education.

Apple eNews for Education is a free, monthly email publication.

Event dates are subject to change. Some products, programs, or promotions are not available outside the U.S. Visit your local Apple site or call your local authorized Apple reseller for more information. Prices are estimated retail prices and are listed in U.S. dollars. Product specifications are subject to change.

Introducing the new AirPort Extreme Base Station, the perfect wireless solution for your school (or your home). It gives you and up to 50 colleagues or students a superfast, secure wireless network that offers up to five times the performance and twice the range of earlier networks based on the 802.11g standard.

And, in typical Apple fashion, it’s easy to use. The new AirPort Extreme has a completely redesigned setup utility. Take it out of the box, plug in it, and install the software. That’s it. In five minutes or less you’re ready to surf the web, chat with other classrooms, send email, or exchange photos.

You can access a shared hard drive (so all teachers can have access to the same information) or printers. You can even decide who can access your network and when they can access it. Plus it does it all in a small, elegant design that won’t take up too much desk space.

Now you and your students can learn where you live. Introducing Apple TV, which brings video, photos, and music to the big screen.

Apple TV connects to your classroom TV via an HDMI port or component video and audio ports. It has built-in, blazingly fast wireless capability that syncs your iTunes library to any Mac or PC. And anytime you change your library in iTunes, it changes on Apple TV, wirelessly and automatically.

It’s all there: those great podcasts, photos from your whale watching trip, videos from your field trip to the museum, music, audio clips. In short, all the content you have loaded on your iPod is now easily viewable on a widescreen TV.

If you’re in the market for value-priced, educator-recommended software applications for middle and high school students, look no further than the Secondary Tools solution from the Apple Digital Learning Series. These vital productivity and research tools assist students in collecting and analyzing information and help them organize, create, and communicate their findings.

This software is applicable for all subject areas, and includes powerful tools such as iWork ’06 (containing Keynote and Pages) and netTrekker d.i., an education-based search engine.

Also included is NoteTaker, an advanced information processor that makes it easy for students to take class notes, manage assignments, and organize information. And for language learning, there’s Visual Thesaurus, an interactive 3D reference program that creates visual representations of words. Students are encouraged to explore definitions, spelling, and pronunciation and to learn how related words may have very different meanings.

In education, a two- to three-point improvement in students’ performance on standardized tests is considered statistically significant. So when students in the Escondido Union School District (California) began boosting their exam scores by as much as 30 points, people took note. Now, educators throughout the district are clamoring to be a part of Project LIVE (Learning through Instructional Video in Education). And the award-winning program — which uses Apple digital media tools to foster critical and visual literacy skills — is truly helping the curriculum come alive for students … and their teachers.

Using an Apple notebook computer, a camcorder, microphone, and iLife, Project LIVE video projects reinforce key topics in specific subject and content areas where students are struggling. One fifth-grade class had problems with a math standard, so the teacher and his students produced a video called “Going in Circles” which explained the issue. The students came up with the topic, contributed to the script, and helped with filming and editing. Not only did they grasp the math problem, but also learned how to negotiate, cooperate, and work as a team.

Jennifer Walters, district superintendent comments, “The gains we’ve seen with Project LIVE show that we’re closing the achievement gap. In our district, where we have a number of private and charter schools, we need to compete and provide viable, creative, educational options for our kids. Apple and Project LIVE have allowed us to do just that.”