Apple

Apple Opens Up Swift Playgrounds to Drones, Robots, Musical Instruments: LEGO MINDSTORMS,… https://t.co/L08NYx9Who pic.twitter.com/IPZBw9JfzR

— The Mac Observer (@MacObserver) June 1, 2017

Following on the back of this article by The Mac Observer, I am excited to hear about this significant news from Apple. Swift, Apple's Educational Coding app will now support several varieties of robots, drones and musical instruments. This will include the very popular Sphero, Dash Robots by Wonder Workshop and Lego Mindstorms EV3.

For schools like mine, that already work with these robots, it is a value add and a welcome enhancement  on what iPads can offer in schools. When it comes to selecting devices in 1:1 schools, this type of improved functionality can tip the scales. 

Competition in the education sector has been stepping up in recent years, with companies recognisng that investing in education is essentially cultivating future customers. Chromebooks and Microsoft Surfaces have taken education by storm with their accompanying ecosystems, 3rd party integration, resources and the amount of energy being thrown into teacher professional development. Meanwhile, the Apple camp has remained comparatively quiet.

This development has refreshed my interest in Swift Playgrounds and I will be making an effort to train up in the platform now viaApple's Teacher Learning Centre and at ISTE in June. It will be great to see what can be achieved with Dash and Sphero in the classroom suing Swift Playgrounds.