Digital technology has played a central role in schools for over a decade now. If you walk in to an elementary school classroom, you will probably see computer banks and electronic projector displays. You will likely see children interacting with available technologies to conduct research, play games, and learn lesson plans. And you may even observe students using tablet computers at their desks.
There’s no question about it: modern technology, a powerful force in every aspect of life, is increasingly changing the way we teach our kids in a classroom setting. With technology students have the world at their fingertips. Finding information is far easier – after all, children can use Anywho.com instead of the phonebook and Wikipedia instead of an encyclopedia – but technology also opens the door for a wide range of possibilities and learning experiences.
Publishers, software providers, and tech companies have been looking to capitalize in those possibilities. In the latest attempt, Apple will be hosting an education-focused event later this week at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Although the company is known for regularly making announcements and holding events of this sort, this summit is unique for its complete educational bent and for the fact that we have no idea of what’s to come. There will be an announcement, we have been told, and it will involve a technology to be used in schools. That’s all we know with any certainty.
So what can we actually expect from Apple’s New York event? Here are a few of the most likely possibilities:
- Digital textbooks – Although students have been slow to adapt to digital textbooks, Apple believes that they represent the future of higher education. The company has been holding discussions with textbook writer and with publishing firms in recent years, meaning that a project has long been in the works.
- Publishing software - Rather than creating and publishing its own digital textbooks, Apple may be gearing up to announce a software product that will help third parties publish textbooks of their own. Rumors speculate that the software would be designed similarly to the company’s Garageband application, thereby making it accessible to teachers as well as large publishing firms.
- More iPads - Now before you get too excited, no, this does not mean that the company will be announcing the iPad 3 at its education event. Rather, Apple may be unveiling a new deal to place the iPad 2 in more elementary and high schools.
Based on current rumors, these are the three most likely announcements we can expect in New York. Any of the above would reflect a highly concerted push by Apple to move to the forefront of education technology. Stay tuned.
