Many traditional classroom aids and learning supports are changing shape; they are now available as ‘apps’ that can be downloaded and used on digital tablets and phones. The Apple App Store, which supports apps for Apple products such as iPhones and iPads, is where many useful educational aids can be found.
The Education Volume Purchase Programme allows app providers to offer their apps in the store at a special discount rate, which can be ordered only by educational establishments.
Here is a brief guide from Collins on the Education Volume Purchase Programme by Apple, and what it can mean for your school. To access these special benefits, just follow these simple steps:
1. To best utilise the store, your school needs to have a dedicated Programme Manager to look after Apple orders. Your school can have as many Programme Managers as they require.
2. The Programme Manager may then set up Programme Facilitator accounts to allow teachers to browse and purchase from the site. All you need is an email address that isn’t already linked to an Apple ID.
3. Simply access the Apple Store to use the Education Volume Purchase Programme.
4. Once orders are placed, an easy to use code for each copy can be downloaded from the App Store.
5. Send the code to any student or teacher with an iTunes account. There is no time limit to use the code.
At Collins we like to support teachers using this feature. All of our Education apps, including the recently released Atlas by Collins, are eligible for a 50% discount for orders of over 20 copies.
Fertility and Birth rate screen shot view from the Population Globe, Atlas by Collins
With 7 globes full of detailed information, and 200,000 places available to browse offline, Atlas by Collins is specifically designed to inspire: the more you discover, the more you want to explore! Atlas by Collins provides an additional fun learning platform to the usual classroom equipment for both students and teachers, particularly in the run up to the Christmas holidays.
In particular, Atlas by Collins can be used as both a general interest platform within a range of subjects, such as Geography, History, Languages and the Sciences, as well as a useful reference base from teacher to students. Here are a couple of ideas for use in the classroom:
- In the run up to the holidays, why not try a quiz utilising the hundreds of embedded and interesting facts in the app?
- Or provide hours of interest by tying the app into current world events; for instance, the recent news of declining birth rates in the US?
Atlas by Collins has something for everyone, which is why we think it’s the greatest app on earth!
We hope this brief introduction has been helpful – look out for more useful guides in the near future!
Wishing you all very ‘App’y holidays…
