Apple makes iOS more school-friendly with ClassKit educational framework

Enlarge / Apple has unveiled a new feature that allows students to share an iPad across multiple accounts. (credit: Eric Bangeman)

CHICAGO-Educators will have new ways to use iOS in schools thanks to Apple's latest software update. On a stage at a school in Chicago today, Apple announced ClassKit, a new framework for making educational apps on iOS.

We first learned of ClassKit when Apple users were sifting through a beta of iOS 11.3. It's a software development framework, in the tradition of prior Apple-developed frameworks like ARKit, HealthKit, and SpriteKit. This framework is focused on taking care of some of the heavy lifting for developers who are making apps for use in schools and other educational contexts.

Schoolwork and Classroom

Apple created a few native school programs with ClassKit and promised that more apps using the API are forthcoming. The new Schoolwork app gives students and teachers a digital space to assign, complete, and review assignments. The free, cloud-based app lets teachers assign work to students and see each student's progress while they complete the assignment in their own version of the Schoolwork app. Teachers can even grade these assignments directly in the app, making assignment management much easier than if dozens of students were to hand in individual papers.

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