Skip to main content

IBM-Apple collaboration continues with launch of education-focused app

ibm apple watson element educators
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple and IBM have announced the latest product in their MobileFirst collaboration: IBM Watson Element for Educators. The app marks more than just a continued collaboration between the two companies — it’s also the first time they have teamed up for an education-focused project.

The app was designed for the iPad, and it’s aimed at helping teachers track the academic performance of students, as well as their special interests, accomplishments, and general behavior. Teachers will also be able to add notes about specific students.

“IBM Watson Element provides teachers with a holistic view of each student through a fun, easy-to-use, and intuitive mobile experience that is a natural extension of their work,” said IBM in a statement. “Teachers can get to know their students beyond their academic performance, including information about personal interests and important milestones students choose to share.”

The app also lets teachers connect to the Watson Enlight web-based app, which helps enhance lesson planning.

The IBM Watson Element for Educators app is actually already being used at the Coppell Independent School District in Texas, and according to the companies, Apple will help push its adoption as part of a package it will give to schools.

Of course, this isn’t the only app that IBM and Apple are working on — in fact, when the two announced their partnership, they cited plans to develop a hefty 100 enterprise and cloud services apps. As part of the deal, IBM will also begin supporting Apple devices and push AppleCare plans.

Apple has been making inroads into education beyond its partnership with IBM. In August, it announced that its ConnectED program had reached more than 32,000 students in the U.S., and that it was now offered at 114 schools.

Editors' Recommendations

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Guess how much Apple has paid App Store developers — you won’t even be close
Apple's App Store.

Since Apple launched the App Store in 2008, the tech giant has paid out an astonishing $320 billion to developers.

The data was revealed on Tuesday in Apple’s annual analysis of how the company's various services performed over the past year.

Read more
Apple may do the unthinkable — allow third-party iPhone app stores
App Store displayed on an iPhone 14 Pro against a pink background

Ever since 2008, Apple has only allowed its own App Store on the iPhone. In the past, if you wanted alternative digital storefronts, you’d have to jailbreak your device. But in response to impending regulations from the European Union, Apple may be allowing alternative app stores on the iPhone and iPad in the near future — potentially as soon as iOS 17 in 2023.

According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this will be the very first time that Apple will allow third-party app stores on the iPhone. It seems that Apple is already dedicating a “significant amount of resources to the companywide endeavor.”

Read more
Why this new Apple Watch Ultra app made me want to go diving
The Apple Watch Ultra and Oceanic+ app.

The Apple Watch Ultra is an adventure smartwatch, with special features aimed at hikers, trekkers, outdoors enthusiasts, and divers. Apple collaborated with Huish Outdoors to create the newly released Oceanic+ app, which in combination with the sensors on the Apple Watch Ultra, turns it into a fully functioning, certified dive computer.

Before starting this article, I set out to take an in-depth look at the Oceanic+ app, and at the same time, compare its functionality and usefulness with the G-Shock GWF-D1000 Frogman dive watch — which also has a dive computer. It was by doing this that the Apple Watch Ultra, once again, surprised me. It did so because it encouraged me to do something new, and the Frogman has never quite managed the same thing. What do I mean? Let me explain.
What do they cost and what about certification?

Read more