Apple Classroom 2020

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Changes to Apple Classroom

This year, Apple has updated how they handled classes on Apple Classroom. They are in the middle of a transition which unfortunately puts us in a awkward spot as we start the 2020-2021 school year.

End Goal:

Apple is working to get all Apple Classroom rosters synced up with PowerSchool AND have the ability to create classes yourself. When students sign into the iPad with their AppleID, all courses in which they are registered for will appear automatically. When a teacher signs into a Mac or iPad with their AppleID, all of their classes will show up as well! 

Details

Currently, all PowerSchool classes are being synced over to both student and teacher iPads.When a teacher opens the Apple Classroom app on iPad OR Mac, they should see a listing of all of the classes that they teach. 

Student iPads are set up automatically.

HOWEVER, for teachers needing to create classes that are not in PowerSchool there will be an additional step needed until the new version of Classroom is released (“Fall 2020”). Why might you need to create your own Classroom? You’ll need to create your own class anytime you want to use a grouping that is NOT in PowerSchool – for example a 5th grade team that switches students for Math/Science or an art teacher that is meeting with students in groups that aren’t reflected in PowerSchool.

Work Around Method to Create Custom Classes

  1. Open up SCHOOL WORK. Yes, you’ll need to use a separate app for now.
  2. Tap on the ‘Create Class’ icon
  3. Enter a name for the class
  4. Tap on Students
  5. Start typing student names. They should match up after a few characters. Continue until you have all the student that you want in your class.
  6. Tap Done and then “< Add Class” to go back
  7. Tap on Done.

The class will now sync up with the Apple servers. In a few minutes the class will automatically get pushed down to student iPads.

Again, the use of the School Work app is just temporary until the new version of Apple Classroom comes out. Once that is released, you’ll be able to create and modify classes directly from Apple Classroom.

Published by Matt Lee