Apple has purchased education-technology startup LearnSprout, reports Bloomberg. LearnSprout is a company that develops software for schools and teachers to track student performance and other metrics. Apple will likely use its technology to build out its classroom tools to encourage schools to adopt iPads and other Apple products.
Apple confirmed the acquisition with the standard statement it gives on purchases: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
According to its website, LearnSprout software is already used in more than 2,500 schools across the United States. It aggregates all student grades across the school, letting teachers and administrators hone in on students that may need more help. LearnSprout aims to allow schools to analyze collected data, discovering trends on attendance, college readiness, student health, and more.
To combat waning iPad sales, Apple has been making an effort to make the tablet more appealing to educational customers. In iOS 9.3, Apple is introducing a wealth of new education-oriented tools, including shared iPads for students, a dedicated Classroom app that allows teachers to guide students through app-based lessons, an Apple School Manager for easily managing student accounts and courses, and new Apple ID creation and management options for schools.
Top Rated Comments
The more competition we have in this area, the better it will be for all concerned.
PS. The Apple Configurator sucks.
I have around 30 iPads managed by configurator for middle school students now. Its nice to be able to update them all at once and put apps on them. Its a nightmare having to put apps that aren't free via configurator and Apples special volume app purchasing. I really wish Apple could figure out a better way for iPad user/app management that doesn't require a central hub using a mac running configurator. Hopefully 9.3 moves us in that direction.
DEP... It's one touch setup. Been out for a while now[doublepost=1454017388][/doublepost]
Exactly. Not everything is app games and touch screen. My daughter is in 8th grade and she needs to do word processing. Google for education is what she uses. All she needs is the browser and her work is in the google cloud and saved instantly. She can start her work at school, finish it at home and vice versa. She can also submit her work to her teacher or another student to review. Everything is much much faster than with icloud.com. I cannot even make it login fast enough on icloud.com. Pain!! All I can say is that I love Apple's hardware. Their software especially cloud based is far behind. Recently, I started using Google Photos so that I will never lose my photos again - I can't believe how fast it is to look at my 94,000 photos even on my iphone.
Why would you log into iCloud.com unless you need to do web based work???? Use iPads....