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What's new in education

What's new in education

Business & EducationEducationClassKitSchoolwork
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In 2020, Apple put Schoolwork 2.0, ClassKit Catalog API, Apple School Manager and Classroom integration, Shared iPad Temporary Session and Automatic Assessment Configuration on Mac into the same set of education application access routes.

Core Content

The difficulty with educational apps is often not the lesson itself, but how it fits into the daily flow of the school. Teachers need to assign activities, students need to enter the correct content from homework, and IT administrators need to manage accounts, devices, and apps in batches. A well-done learning function, if it cannot appear in the process of Schoolwork, Classroom or Shared iPad, it will be difficult for schools to use it stably.

In this session, let’s first explain the entrance clearly. Schoolwork 2.0 has new Handout and Student views. Teachers can add ClassKit app activities to homework from the App Activity Chooser. The new selector displays thumbnails and summary information, and the assignment details page displays time, completion percentage, and quiz score. The display effect here is not completed by Schoolwork alone. It relies on the app to provide metadata and progress through ClassKit.

Next, Apple pushed content discovery from the native context store to an earlier stage. In the past, teachers often had to download an app, open it, and browse an activity before the app wouldCLSContextPublish to ClassKit. What the ClassKit Catalog API changes is this discovery path: developers can use the Web API to publish the app’s public activities, and as long as the app is installed, teachers can see these activities in Schoolwork’s Activity Chooser.

The school side is also becoming more coherent. Classes created by Apple School Manager will automatically appear in Classroom and Schoolwork. Students will enter the corresponding class after logging in with their Managed Apple ID. Classroom can also launch the app into the correct ClassKit activity. Shared iPad has a new Temporary Session. Students without Apple ID can also use the device temporarily. This data will be deleted after logging out.

The last piece is the exam. Automatic Assessment Configuration Framework comes to Mac with support for iOS, macOS, and Catalyst. The exam app allows the system to disable screen sharing, Universal Clipboard, Dictation, and other features that may affect fairness during the test. Apple also reminds developers that the old UIKit Assessment mode has been deprecated on iOS, and the new assessment framework is the follow-up entry.

Detailed Content

Schoolwork 2.0 relies on apps to provide richer activity data

(01:12) Schoolwork’s App Activity Chooser is where teachers add app activities to Handout. The new 2020 design displays activity thumbnails and summary information, and the Handout details page also displays class and individual student progress.

Key points:

  • The app needs to use ClassKit Framework before activities can enter the Schoolwork distribution process.
  • New metadata fields for Activity Chooser, thumbnails and summaries directly impact teachers’ ability to quickly identify content.
  • Apps can report time spent, percentage complete, and quiz scores to ClassKit.
  • Progress will only be displayed to those with permission, such as the teacher corresponding to the student assigned the activity.

ClassKit Catalog API Change activity discovery path

(03:10) In the past, apps had to first treat activities asCLSContextPublish to the local ClassKit store so teachers can select it in Schoolwork. This process is suitable for teachers who are already familiar with the content, but not suitable for those who are looking for course resources for the first time.

Key points:

  • The ClassKit Catalog is a centralized catalog of your app’s public activities.
  • As long as the app is installed, Schoolwork can discover the app’s activities from the Catalog, no longer relying solely on the local context store.
  • Developers publish activity data via Web API.
  • Catalog also includes new metadata fields to help teachers search and identify content.
  • This session does not expand the Catalog request format, but points to “What’s new in ClassKit” of the same year.

Apple School Manager, Schoolwork and Classroom start sharing class data

(04:29) Apple School Manager is a web portal for schools to manage accounts, devices, and content. The focus in 2020 is its tighter integration with Schoolwork and Classroom. Classes created by Apple School Manager will automatically appear in Classroom and Schoolwork, and subsequent updates will also be synchronized.

Key points:

  • IT administrators can create classes and manage teacher and student login credentials in Apple School Manager.
  • The system supports Student Information Systems, SFTP, and federated authentication based on Microsoft Active Directory.
  • Devices can be registered remotely through Mobile Device Management, eliminating the need for administrators to contact each device before distribution.
  • The Apps and Books area is where schools purchase content, and education apps need to consider procurement and deployment paths.

Classroom can direct students to the correct app activity

(06:08) Classroom allows teachers to open the same app on all students’ iPads at the same time, or open different apps according to student groups. If the app is connected to ClassKit, teachers can also open the app to the correct activity.

Key points:

  • Classroom supports viewing student iPad screens and adds pinch to zoom.
  • Teachers can display class joining information to Apple TV through the AirPlay Class Code button.
  • Classes created using Apple School Manager and Schoolwork appear in Classroom.
  • In Fall 2020, teachers can also create classes in Classroom for use with Apple School Manager and Schoolwork.

Shared iPad requires the app to sync student data to the cloud

(07:20) Shared iPad allows students to log in to a shared device and use it as their own iPad. Developers should assume that there is no local data for this student because the data may no longer be retained after the student logs out.

Key points:

  • Apps should work on Shared iPads just like they do on personal devices, but user data must be synced from the cloud.
  • Temporary Session allows students to use shared iPads without an Apple ID.
  • After logging out of Temporary Session, the data created in this session will be deleted.
  • Temporary Session is turned on by default; MDM developers can use the new supervised restriction to let customers choose to turn it off.
  • Apple explicitly mentions longLived CKOperations and UIBackgroundTasks to support background synchronization after students log out.

Automatic Assessment Configuration comes to Mac

(08:48) The Automatic Assessment Configuration Framework allows exam apps to provide a secure environment during testing. This capability first appeared in iPad standardized examination scenarios in the past, and was expanded to Mac in 2020, and supports iOS, macOS, and Catalyst.

Key points:

  • Students are locked into the Exam app during the test.
  • System features such as Screen Sharing, Universal Clipboard and Dictation are automatically disabled during the exam.
  • Developers need to apply for a new entitlement.
  • The old UIKit Assessment mode on iOS is deprecated and should be switched to the new framework.
  • iOS also allows you to customize the system features available during the exam through configuration options.

Core Takeaways

1. Let the course activities enter Schoolwork first

What to do: Create ClassKit activities for courses, units, and exercises in your education app, and complete the thumbnail, summary, and progress fields.

Why it’s worth doing: Schoolwork 2.0’s Activity Chooser will display richer activity information, and the Handout details page also relies on the progress data reported by the app.

How ​​to start: First sort out the activities in the app that can be assigned by teachers, publish them as ClassKit activities, and then add thumbnail, summary, time spent, percentage complete or quiz scores to each activity.

2. Submit public course content to ClassKit Catalog

What to do: Create a catalog submission process for public content that teachers haven’t viewed yet so that Schoolwork can discover these activities directly.

Why it’s worth doing: LocalCLSContextRather than relying on teachers to enter the app first to browse content, the Catalog API allows activity discovery to happen before teachers assign assignments.

How ​​to start: First select an activity that is public, stable, and suitable for assigning homework, and prepare metadata and release process according to the documentation of ClassKit Catalog API.

3. Create a cloud recovery path for Shared iPad

What it does: Allow students to restore course status, drafts, and learning progress when logged in from any shared iPad.

Why it’s worth doing: Temporary Session does not require an Apple ID, and local data will not be retained after logging out; education apps cannot rely on the last local cache to still be on the device.

How ​​to start: Check whether all student data has a cloud source, and use longLived CKOperations with UIBackgroundTasks to handle background synchronization before and after logout.

4. Migrate the exam app to the new assessment framework

What to do: Migrate exam flows that rely on the old UIKit Assessment mode to Automatic Assessment Configuration.

Why it’s worth it: The new framework covers iOS, macOS and Catalyst, and Mac can also enter a controlled exam environment.

How ​​to start: First apply for entitlement, and then follow the process in “What’s new in assessment” to establish exam start, end, failure and interruption processing.

5. Prepare Classroom experience for deep linking to activities

What: Let students go directly to their assigned ClassKit activities when teachers launch the app from Classroom.

Why it’s worth it: Classroom can bring a whole class or groups of students to the same app, or open the right activity in a ClassKit enabled app.

How ​​to start: Confirm that the app’s activities have been connected to ClassKit, and test that after the teacher launches it from Classroom, students will see the corresponding activities instead of the ordinary homepage.

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